Although born in Germany, Alfred Bierstadt came to the United States when he was just a year old. Long associated with the Hudson River School of painting, he made a number of trips through the American west, which resulted in the sweeping western landscapes for which he became so well known. Two of those works—“Sunset Over The Plains” (1887) and “The Hetch Hetchy Valley”(1873)– are featured in a sale of 19th & 20th century Western and American art at Coeur d’Alene Auctions, in which each is estimated at $500,000-$700,000.
Sharing the spotlight with Bierstadt’s canvases at the July 21st sale is a 1945 oil by Maynard Dixon, “ “Navajos in a Canyon,” which also carries an estimate of $500,000-$700,000. Thirteen other works by Dixon are in the sale, along with two highly valued paintings from the 1920’s by Eanger Irving Couse, “Moonlight, Pueblo de Taos ($150,000-$250,000), and “Night Birds” ($300,000-$500,000). Cowboy life is the subject of 24 works by Edward Borein (1872-1945), the most highly estimated of which is “Swapping Ends,” a lively 1916 depiction of a cowboy on a bucking bronco (est. $50,000-$75,000).
