Extraordinary Paintings by Howard Terpning, Thomas Moran, and More Lead 2024 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction

The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction returns this year with its signature Fine Western & American Art sale, offering collectors a singular opportunity to own extraordinary works by both historical and contemporary artists. The event will take place in Reno, Nevada on July 27, 2024. Online bidding options are available through Bidsquare. 

Leading this 404-lot sale are several works by Howard Terpning, including 1981’s Army Mules No More (lot #107; estimate: USD 600,000 – $900,000). In this vivid oil on canvas painting, Terpning captures a scene from the Apache Wars of the mid-1800s. A group of Native American warriors, wielding shotguns, rounds up a group of mules along a narrow river. Capturing mules was a key Apache tactic for disrupting United States Army supply lines during the wars. “Although the Apaches lived primarily in Arizona and New Mexico, they ranged easily into the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico and considered Sonora and Chihuahua their own province,” Terpning wrote about this piece. “To them, both Americans and Mexicans were foreign invaders deserving of no quarter and as a general rule the Apaches offered none.”

Another key Howard Terpning painting on offer is titled Lady of the House (lot #265; estimate: $500,000 – $750,000). Executed in 2006, this work depicts a Blackfoot woman standing outside a striped tepee. She is draped in a red blanket and rests her fist on her hip. To the side, a young child emerges from the tepee, gazing at the woman. Terpning was an Illinois native who focused his painting career on the American West. He frequently depicted Native Americans and scenes from history. 

Additional works of interest were painted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the likes of William R. Leigh and Thomas Moran. Available from Leigh is Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town), a 1910 oil on canvas painting (lot #133; estimate: $600,000 – $900,000). This significant work captures a humorous scene in a frontier town as a horse bucks its rider and a group of onlookers laugh at the spectacle. Thomas Moran’s Monterey Coast from 1920 is another key item (lot #153; estimate: $500,000 – $750,000). This luminous work shows a rising or setting sun hovering just behind a grassy hill. In the foreground, leafy trees cast a dark silhouette. The auction house notes that by 1920, Moran was in the twilight of his career and preferred to reevaluate familiar themes, such as the California coast. This work reflects the artist’s career growth and fully-developed technical skills. 

Western and American artworks by Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, and Frank Tenney Johnson will be available. Additional lots of interest in the 2024 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction include: 

• Philip R. Goodwin’s Dangerous Sport painting (lot #33; estimate: $250,000 – $350,000) 
• Victor Higgins’ Taos in Autumn painting (lot #138; estimate: $200,000 – $300,000)
• Albert Bierstadt’s Longs Peak, Colorado painting (lot #149; estimate: $150,000 – $250,000) 
• Joseph Henry Sharp’s Indian by Firelight painting (lot #14; estimate: $100,000 – $150,000)
• Deborah Butterfield’s Jane sculpture (lot #66; estimate: $80,000 – $120,000)

Coeur D’Alene Art Auction specializes in the finest classical Western and American Art representing past masters and outstanding contemporary artists. The auction principals have over 100 years of combined experience in selling fine art and have netted their clients over $310 million in the last fifteen years alone. Long known leaders at the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, such as Howard Terpning, Alfred Jacob Miller, Frederic Remington, Eanger Irving Couse, Edgar Payne and William R. Leigh, amongst many others, are consistently featured in their annual auction.

The 2024 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction of Fine Western & American Art will begin at 2:00 PM EDT on July 27, 2024. Find the complete catalog and register to place a bid on Bidsquare. 

Find more information about this and other upcoming events on Auction Daily.