NEW YORK.- This December, Sotheby's is honored to offer Property from the Collection of Rita and Daniel Fraad. This is one of the most extraordinary collections of American art ever assembled, and the most valuable ever to come to auction. The single-owner auction, which will be held the morning of December 1st, will feature 79 lots estimated to bring a total of $31,799,500-$47,809,000. Some of the most important American artists are featured, including John Singer Sargent, George Bellows, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn and Winslow Homer. Highlights from the Collection will be exhibited this fall at Sotheby's in New York in conjunction with the Jeffords and Agnelli Collections and other major sales including Prints, which will feature the complete set of George Bellows boxing prints from the Fraad Collection and Impressionist and Modern Art. The full exhibition of American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture will open on Saturday, November 27th and continue through Tuesday, November 30th.

"We are honored to offer one of the most important collections of American Art. Rita and Daniel Fraad were true pioneers among collectors, purchasing the core of the collection between 1955 and 1965, with a handful of major acquisitions in the 1970s and 1980s. The Fraads would educate themselves by spending time with dealers and in such galleries as Babcock and Hirschl & Adler which specialized in American art," commented Dara Mitchell, Head of Sotheby's American Paintings Department. "They built their collection by following their instincts, and buying what they loved. What underlies the Fraad Collection is an absolute attention to quality. It is also important to note that the Fraads were generous with their art, often lending pieces to important exhibitions around the country, and bequeathing important works such as Theodore Robinson's Drawbridge-Long Branch Rail Road, Near Mianus and Robert Henri's Cumulus Clouds-East River to museums."

Foremost among the highlights is John Singer Sargent's Group with Parasols (A Siesta). Estimated to bring $9/12 million, this celebrated example of Sargent's mature work was inspired by his travels in the Alpine region and is admired as a particularly personal and aesthetically progressive composition. It was painted in 1905 while Sargent was traveling in Giomeil and features his traveling companions and close family members in the picturesque countryside. The arrangement of men and women in relaxed repose with intertwining limbs and unusual familiarity was a bold contrast to the social context of the age. The closely cropped landscape further emphasizes the intimacy of the subject matter, and Sargent's treatment of the surface and the handling of paint reinforce his daring and modern vision. Sargent's focus on the effects of shadows and light, combined with the richly patterned decoration, result in a nearly abstract composition.

Also featured are several works by George Bellows, including Kids, estimated at $2.5/4.5 million. The dark palette and broad brushstrokes illustrate the influence of the artist's friend Robert Henri and the Ashcan school. This major canvas by Bellows was praised by the critics when it was first shown in 1906 at the final exhibition of the Society of American Artists. It remained in the Bellows family until the Fraads purchased the work through H.V. Allison & Company, New York in 1964.

Bellows is perhaps best remembered for his boxing paintings, and included in the sale is The Knock Out, a pastel and ink on paper executed in 1907 (est. $1.5/2.5 million). Given that Bellows was an accomplished athlete, it is not surprising that he was taken with sport as subject matter. The proximity of his studio to many of New York's boxing clubs gave him the perfect opportunity to witness matches on a regular basis. The present work was Bellows' first boxing image and is a highly finished work rendered in the artist's bold and direct style.

Everett Shinn's fascination with the glamour and drama of the theater is reflected in his paintings from the turn of the century through to the 1930s. In Stage Scene, painted in 1906, Shinn depicts two young starlets bowing to the audience. In direct contrast to the typical gritty Ashcan subject matter, Shinn takes his influence from Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, whose work Shinn saw on a trip to France at the turn of the century. What is perhaps most interesting is the viewer's perspective from above the orchestra pit with fashionable patrons in the adjacent box filling the foreground of the painting. The artist presented this work to the Lotos Club in New York in 1946 when he became a member, and the Fraads purchased it through Hammer Gallery in 1964. It is estimated to sell for $2.5/3.5 million.

Winslow Homer is renowned as one of America's foremost artists, and Spring, a work from 1878 (est. $1.5/2.5 million), is a quintessential and classically charming example of the watercolors the artist produced during this particularly prolific time. Homer spent the summer of 1878 at Houghton Farm, the country home of his friend and patron Lawson Valentine near Mountainville, New York. The timeless nature of rural life in America captured Homer's imagination, and the present work shows two local children dressed in work clothes. Spring belongs to a series of four watercolors in which a girl and boy meet by a fence or stile. Homer's masterful technique imbues a freshness and spontaneity to the composition, thanks in part to the flexible and fast-drying qualities of watercolor, his favored medium.

The Fountain at West Church, Boston (est. $1.2/1.8 million) is a classic example of Maurice Prendergast's fully realized and mature watercolor style, which reached a peak in its richness of color and complexity of design just before the turn of the century. During this time Prendergast turned his eye toward larger scenes, often painting groups of elegantly dressed people at leisure. Painted circa 1900-01, the present work depicts a picturesque crowd around a fountain in Boston. Looking away from the church, Prendergast illustrates the busy park with a careful attention to the architectural details of the wrought iron fence and arched windows beyond. The result is a kaleidoscope of jewel-like color, drawing the viewer into the elaborate scene.

Sotheby's October 29th sale of Prints will feature an important group of George Bellows lithographs which is representative of his work in the medium and includes the complete set of his boxing prints. The set is one of only three known and the only one in private hands; the other two sets are in the Amon Carter Museum and the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. Foremost among the highlights is A Knockout (est. $75/100,000), one of only four impressions of this print known to exist.