Christie's NYC Oct 26, 2020

Monday, Oct. 26, 2020 - I have been looking at past blogs, and I see that there is usually a Fall American Art Auction at both Sotheby's and Christie's. Sotheby's web-site did not show one, and for their one interesting auction (Master Paintings - 14 October 2020; Bernardo Bellotto: "Architectural Capriccio with a Palace beside a Moat and Figures in the Foreground"), I had already seen the Bellotto on my trip to San Diego in 2015 (read blog here). So I checked Christie's, and they have 2 auctions coming up on October 28:

I left the house at 7:15, bought gas, stopped for coffee in Connecticut, and got to my SpotHero parking garage in NYC at 11:30 AM.

On the West Side Highway, they do know how to build BIG BUILDINGS:

On Sixth Avenue, the buildings are so tall, they just disappear up into the clouds:

It is always a pleasure checking in:

This is the first time I have visited when they are in the midst of putting up new shows. As a result, 60% of the space was closed; but that still left the 2 viewings that I was interested in! "American Art" first:

Thomas Moran - "Venice", 1896 watercolor:

Albert Bierstadt - "Seal Rock, Farallon Islands", c. 1872 oil:

Jasper Cropsey - "Autumn on the Hudson River", c. 1861 oil:

Andrew Wyeth - "Crescent", 1987 tempera:

Frederic Remington - "The Mountain Man", bronze cast:

and then it was time to see T. Boone Pickens' collection:


Thomas Moran - "Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming", 1913 oil:

Albert Bierstadt - "Landscape with Lake", c. 1870 oil:

Thomas Hill - "Sir Donald Peak in the Selkirk Mountains, Canadian Pacific", 1890 oil:

N.C. Wyeth - "Indian Love Call", 1927 oil:

Frederic Remington - "The Buffalo Signal (If Skulls Could Speak)", 1900 oil:

On my way out, I saw the dresses for their "Nashville" auction (Online, 15-29 October 2020), with their 3 "ensembles" [I thought they were dresses] worn by Carrie Underwood at the 55th ACM Awards in 2020:

Note from the Future - these pieces sold for:

Lot 110 - Thomas Moran - Venice - $
(estimate 15,000 - 25,000)

Lot 105 - Albert Bierstadt - Seal Rock, Farallon Islands - $
(estimate 400,000 - 600,000)

Lot 106 - Jasper Cropsey - Autumn on the Hudson River - $
(estimate 200,000 - 300,000)

Lot 120 - Andrew Wyeth - Crescent - $
(estimate 600,000 - 800,000)

Lot 102 - Frederic Remington - The Mountain Man - $
(estimate 150,000 - 250,000)

Lot 39 - Thomas Moran - Index Peak, Yellowstone, Wyoming - $
(estimate 700,000 - 1,000,000)

Lot 42 - Albert Bierstadt - Landscape with Lake - $
(estimate 70,000 - 100,000)

Lot 40 - Thomas Hill - Sir Donald Peak in the Selkirk Mountains, Canadian Pacific - $
(estimate 120,000 - 180,000)

Lot 15 - N.C. Wyeth - Indian Love Call - $
(estimate 2,000,000 - 3,000,000)

Lot 16 - Frederic Remington - The Buffalo Signal (If Skulls Could Speak) - $
(estimate 3,000,000 - 5,000,000)

Lot 15 - Carrie Underwood - 55th ACM Awards, 3 Ensembles, 2020 - $
(estimate 2,000 - 4,000)

Back out on the street, my homage to Childe Hassam and his Flag Paintings:

And my continuing study of St. Patrick's Cathedral - today in the mist/light-rain, late October:

493 miles driving - Home at 4:45 PM - Thank You God for a Great little adventure!!

Driving music:

John Coltrane - Blue Train, 1958, recorded 1957
I like starting the day with jazz, especially when it is dark outside. Often I'll turn on WHRB 95.3 FM - Harvard Radio Broadcasting, which plays jazz from 5 AM to 1 PM (then they switch to classical music). Regarding John Coltrane, I actually do not like almost all of his stuff - he goes "off the rails" too easily and way too aggressively. But I do have 4 albums by him where that sort of stuff is very limited - and he sounds wonderful: Blue Train (1958, recorded 1957), Ballads (1963, recorded 1961-62), My Favorite Things (1961, recorded 1960), and Standards (2001, recorded 1961-65)

Neal Stephenson (a sci-fi author I really like) wrote his opus Cryptonomicon in 1999, and I'm doing cds 21, 22, 23, 24 + 25 today:

then "music I don't usually listen to":

Imagine Dragons - Night Visions, 2012 debut album

Maine Art Hill & Portland Museum of Art

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 - There is a Winslow Homer/Frederic Remington exhibit up at the Portland Museum of Art that is open through Nov. 29, so Wendy and I were able to do a nice day-trip.

But on the way there, we stopped at our "new favorite Maine art gallery" - Maine Art Hill in Kennebunkport:

Aside from being a really nice place, they have a current exhibition of new works by an artist we really like - Craig Mooney:

And the rest of the place is pretty nice too:
I LOVE the OPEN, AIRY feel of the place.

We had a nice lunch at Federal Jack's, with its nice upper-deck view:

Made it to Portland for our 2 PM tickets. Highlights include:

Winslow Homer - "Watching the Breakers", 1891 oil (Gilcrease Art Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma):

Frederic Remington - "The Fall of the Cowboy", 1895 oil (Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas):

Winslow Homer - "Undertow", 1886 oil (Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass.):

Frederic Remington - "A Dash for the Timber", 1889 oil (Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas):

Frederic Remington - "The Wounded Bunkie", 1896 bronze (Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas):


Elsewhere in the Museum:

Claude Monet - "The Manneporte Seen from Below", 1884 oil:

John Frederick Kensett - "A Quiet Day on the Beverly Shore, Magnolia, Massachusetts", 1871 oil:

Frederic Edwin Church - "Mount Katahdin from Millinocket Camp", 1895 oil:

It's FUN going to Museums with my Wonderful Wife:

And then we headed on home (and dinner at 5 Guys!) - Thank You God for a Great little adventure!!

Music today:

Sting - The Soul Cages, 1991

The Tallest Man on Earth - Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird, 2010 5-song EP

Ben Howard - Every Kingdom, 2011 debut album

Roger Daltrey - Gold: , 2006 greatest hits double cd

Christie's NYC Oct 5, 2020

Monday, Oct. 5, 2020 - This quick trip allows me to write one of my favorite things: The Crossover Blog. Today's subject deals with art, which is the purview of my "Dixon Heading West" blog series (no National Parks this year, I'm sorry), while tomorrow's blog will deal with hiking in the Adirondacks, which is what "Dixon Heading North" is all about. Today was an Art Trip:

I left the house a little before 7, returned a book at the Waltham Library, and got to my SpotHero parking garage in NYC at 11:15 AM.

It is always a pleasure driving down the West Side Highway to get into The City:
and seeing the George Washington Bridge:

I think Wendy, Ellie and I had a meal here:

Times Square certainly looks empty:

Wow - I paid $23.99 (including taxes and fees) for 3 hours. Good thing I didn't just "show up here" - ($49.84 + 18.375% = $59.00):

Fun walking through The City:
Shades of Childe Hassam and his "Flag paintings"!

Christie's at 11:30 AM:
I was 30 minutes early for my appointment, but they allowed me in with no problem.

WHAT FUN - Tyrannosaurus rex named "Stan":
(Note from the future: According to wikipedia: "The auction house Christie's sold Stan in New York, as part of its 20th Century Evening Sale, on October 6, 2020. Stan sold for a record $31.8 million to an anonymous buyer.")

Today's Other Highlights include:

Auguste Rodin - "L'Ombre, taille originale dite taille de la Porte", bronze cast 1963:

Claude Monet - "L'église de Vernon", 1883 oil:

Claude Monet - "Falaise près de Dieppe", 1897 oil:

Jackson Pollock - "Red Composition", 1946 oil:

I don't know - I think the painting is a little small for my taste (19 inches by 24 inches):
and I like the poster outside a lot better:

"I think" that Jackson Pollock's "perfect period" was a rather narrow window - 1946-to-1953; but, as you can see, even then it was hit-or-miss:

Jackson Pollock - "Untitled", 1951 ink and watercolor on Howell paper:

Tiffany Studios - "Laburnum" Table Lamp, c.1905:

And then, simply because of its OUTRAGEOUS ESTIMATE ($35,000,000-50,000,000):

Cy Twombly - "Untitled [Bolsena]", 1969 oil:

Someone who reminds me of the Jackson Pollock paintings I like::

Sam Francis - "Untitled", 1986 acrylic:

Note from the Future - these pieces sold for:

Lot 59 - Tyrannosaurus rex - $31,847,500
(estimate 6,000,000 - 8,000,000)

Lot 556 - Auguste Rodin - L'Ombre, taille originale dite taille de la Porte - October 8 auction: unsold
(estimate 200,000 - 300,000)

Lot 21 - Claude Monet - L'église de Vernon - $4,710,000
(estimate 4,000,000 - 6,000,000)

Lot 47 - Claude Monet - Falaise près de Dieppe - $2,190,000
(estimate 1,500,000 - 2,000,000)

Lot 5 - Jackson Pollock - Red Composition - $13,000,000
(estimate 12,000,000 - 18,000,000)

Lot 42 - Jackson Pollock - Untitled - $600,000
(estimate 350,000 - 550,000)

Lot ... - Tiffany Studios - 'Laburnum' Table Lamp - December 11 auction
(estimate 250,000 - 350,000)

Lot 16 - Cy Twombly - Untitled [Bolsena] - $38,685,000
(estimate 35,000,000 - 50,000,000)

Lot 334 - Sam Francis - Untitled - $250,000
(estimate 200,000 - 300,000)

It is always fun to get a quick look "behind the scenes":

very nice walking back to my car:

And I feel like Claude Monet with my pictures of St. Patrick's Cathedral:

I then headed over, and up the West Side Highway, with the George Washington Bridge in the distance:

4 hours later I was up in the Adirondacks, looking for a mountain that Winslow Homer painted ("Burnt Mountain"). It turns out that there are at least 2 "Burnt Mountain"s up here, but it was a nice dirt-road-drive through the woods:

And it was lovely crossing the Hudson River on my way back to "civilization" (meaning "Interstate 87 North"):

521 miles driving - Checked into the Super 8 in Ticonderoga about 5:30 PM, Pepperoni pizza and Monday Night Football (Patriots and Chiefs in an early game)!! - Thank You God for a Great little adventure!!

Driving music:

Neal Stephenson (a sci-fi author I really like) wrote his opus Cryptonomicon in 1999, and I'm doing cds 7, 8 + 9 today:

then "music I don't usually listen to":

Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix, 1977

then, because I was in NEW YORK:
various artists - Saturday Night Live: 25 Years Of Musical Performances, Vol. 1, 1999

Grateful Dead - Woodstock: 40 Years On, 1969
Only one song - "Dark Star" - 19 minutes 12 seconds.

Frank Turner - Positive Songs for Negative People, 2015 (standard and acoustic versions)
chorus/lyrics for "The Next Storm":

But I don't want to spend the whole of my life indoors
Laying low, and waiting on the next storm
I don't want to spend the whole of my life inside
I want to step out, and face the sunshine

Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night, 1987
A really nice Fleetwood Mac album, from the late-1980s.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories, 2013
Um, the only "keeper" on this album is their hit "Get Lucky", which won the awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2014 Grammy Awards.