Lone Star Art Auction
8333 Douglas Avenue, Suite 360, Dallas, Texas 75225
469-608-7600
About Auction House
The Lone Star Art Auction is a Texas-sized auction event specializing in the best American, Western, wildlife, sporting, and Texas fine art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Presented by Great American West and Phil Berkebile, Jr., the Lone Star Art Auction brings buyers, collectors, and sellers of historic and contemporary fine art together in Dallas for an exciting, enjoyable, and highly entertaining event.Auction Previews & News
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Auction IndustryLone Star Art Auction to Spotlight Early 20th-Century Western American Art
In the early 20th century, Western-themed American art was finally being taken seriously. The style– which predominantly features cowboys and Native Americans– had long been considered inferior to European art due to its emphasis on subject over style. However, the new century brought new appreciation for Western American art that celebrated the nostalgia, sweeping vistas, and mythos of the West. The upcoming Lone Star Art Auction, presented on October 28, 2023, shines a spotlight on early 20th-century Western American art. Here are some of the key artists featured in this sale. Frank Tenney Johnson, The Lawless Frontier, 1930. Image courtesy of Lone Star Art Auction. Frank Tenney Johnson A noted painter and illustrator of the American West, Frank Tenney Johnson specialized in painting cowboys bathed in moonlight. Johnson was born on an Iowa ranch in 1874 and fostered a lifelong interest in the American West. He made frequent trips to Colorado, Montana, and California, gaining inspiration for paintings that would later be finished in his New York studio. Many of Johnson’s paintings show solitary cowboys paused or at rest, gazing serenely at the landscape from atop a horse. Available with Lone Star Art Auction this month is a more active composition by Frank Tenney Johnson. The Lawless Frontier from 1930 is presented with a presale estimate of USD 250,000 to $300,000 (lot #120). This rare daytime painting shows two riders galloping along a ridge. Potentially in conflict, one rider reaches for his holster while the other wields a lasso. Joseph Henry Sharp, Crow Camp Near Custer Battlefield, Montana, c. 1908-09. Image courtesy of Lone Star Art Auction. Joseph Henry Sharp The nation’s growing respect for Western American art in the early 20th century was boosted by the Taos Society of Artists, an artist organization dedicated to promoting works of Western American art. This group was an outgrowth of the Taos art colony of New Mexico and was active from 1915 until the Great Depression hit. Painter Joseph Henry Sharp was one of six founding members of the Taos Society of Artists. Born in Ohio in 1859, Sharp studied art in…
Auction PreviewOctober Sale at Lone Star Art Auction Features Works of George Molnar, William Aiken Walker, and More
The upcoming sale at Lone Star Art Auction will offer some of the finest examples of American, Western, sporting, wildlife, and Texas fine art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the top lots is a George Molnar painting titled Cowboy and Calf. An Arizonian artist, George Molnar is revered for his lifelike and realistic portrayal of Native Americans, the Navajo Indians. Although Molnar offers impressive technical mastery in both surface and color, it is the spiritual presence of his images that has the greatest impact on the viewer. There are no indications of restoration on the available oil on canvas. Another notable piece in the auction is The Cotton Plantation by William Aiken Walker. A genre painter, Walker is best known for his depictions of cotton fields, plantations, African Americans, and dock scenes. In The Cotton Plantation, the artist provides a vivid depiction of sharecroppers engaged in cotton farming on a plantation. Beyond fine art, the auction will present James Cox’s The Cattle Industry of Texas and Adjacent Territory Historical and Biographical 1895, a classic among cattle books. This compendium provides a comprehensive overview of the cattle industry in American society following the Civil War. The first edition contains 293 pages of historical information regarding the cattle industry, although most of the book, about 400 double-column pages, is dedicated to the biographies of 449 cattlemen. To view the complete catalog of the Lone Star Art Auction and to find other online auctions, visit Bidsquare.
Auction Industry, Press ReleaseTexas-Sized Sale by Lone Star Art Auction Brings Paintings by William Aiken Walker, Frank Tenny Johnson, and Others
Lone Star Art Auction is a Texas-sized auction specializing in the best American, Western, wildlife, sporting, and Texas fine art of the 19th to 21st centuries. Lone Star Art Auction will showcase 218 quality lots in its upcoming sale. This live art event is held annually in Texas and will take place this year on October 28, 2023. Collectors can view the complete catalog and place bids by visiting Bidsquare. William Aiken Walker (1838 - 1921) The Cotton Plantation, 1881 Leading the sale is a painting titled The Cotton Plantation by William Aiken Walker (1838 – 1921) (lot #165; estimate: USD 300,000 - $400,000). William Aiken Walker was an American artist best known for his genre paintings of Black American sharecroppers. He painted sharecroppers of the American South in the post-Reconstruction era. The Cotton Plantation is an oil on canvas, signed W Walker in the lower right corner. Fine craquelure is visible under magnification and is likely the reason for restoration. Completed in 1881, this painting is one of the artist’s finest. The Cotton Plantation offers a detailed snapshot of a southern plantation as sharecroppers work the cotton fields. Frank Tenney Johnson (1874 - 1939) The Lawless Frontier, 1930 Capturing the spirit of the Old West is The Lawless Frontier by Frank Tenney Johnson (lot #120; estimate: $250,000 - $300,000). It is a 1930 oil on canvas, signed and stamped on verso. Johnson (1874 - 1939) is considered a master painter of the Old West and a proponent of a specialized moonlight painting technique. He began his career as an illustrator in New York for numerous national magazines and the Western novels of Zane Grey. He was influenced by his artist peers including Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell. Johnson eventually got a taste of the West, joining Russell on a sketching expedition to the Blackfoot Reservation in Montana. He began painting cowboys and Native Americans. He concentrated on his easel paintings when they grew more popular than any of his other works. Johnson’s The Lawless Frontier from 1930 is a testament to his remarkable skill as a painter. This rare daytime action scene by the artist is new…
