LOS ANGELES, CA.- Bonhams starts the fall auction season with a fine selection of artworks from many esteemed private collections and notable U.S. institutions including property from the De Young Museum, San Francisco and an important Midwestern Institution in its Made in California: Contemporary Art auction, October 21 in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Notably, Bonhams was pleased to offer in the sale a Joan Brown oil painting on canvas, Portrait of a Watermelon, 1964, from the collection of the late lauded American sculptor Stephen De Staebler, which sold for $118,750 including premium (est. $30,000-50,000).

Highlights continued with such offerings as Billy Al Bengston's highly anticipated painting entitled Skinny's 21, 1961, which sold for a record-breaking $149,000 with premium. Various other works by Mary Corse, Ronald Davis, Frank Lobdell and John Register achieved well over their high estimates. In particular, Corse's untitled work fetched $60,000 (est. $15,000-25,000) and Davis's Red Top Slab (from the Ray Trace Shape series) sold for $47,500 (est. $15,000-20,000), both achieving more than twice their high estimates.

A painting by Lobdell, 19 Feb. 48, 1948 had an estimate of $30,000-50,000 and achieved $60,000. Key works from Lee Mullican, including Meditations on a Landscape, and Bruce Conner's assemblage Cherries both fetched top prices at $47,500.

Alexis Chompaisal, Made in California: Contemporary Art department director at Bonhams, says of the auction, “We are quite pleased with the results of today's auction and the strong prices confirm California's importance in today's art market." The sale's overall results concluded with 86% of artworks sold and realized a sold total amount of $1.32 million.