NEW YORK, NY.- Today’s auction of American Art at Sotheby’s New York totaled 38.3 million, approaching its high estimate of $39.7 million and with a strong sell-through rate of 85.4% by lot.

Nearly 60% of all sold lots in today’s sale exceeded their pre-sale high estimates

Elizabeth Goldberg, Head of Sotheby’s American Art Department, commented: “Our sale today confirmed the vigor and interest in the American Art field that we have been experiencing in recent years. We strive to offer the highest-quality examples we can find, across a broad range of property and price points. Often that unearths really exceptional works by artists that you rarely – if ever – see at auction, such as Kenneth Davies, whose previous auction record had been $11,000 until Clapboards and Shadows sold today for $237,500. Those elements of surprise attract both established and new collectors to our sales, and today’s results are a direct testament to that.”

The auction was led by White Calla Lily, a prime example of Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic flower paintings that the artist kept in her own collection until her death in 1986, and which has remained in the same private collection for more than two decades. The final price of $8,986,000 marks the second-highest auction result for any work by the artist (estimate $8–12 million).

• White Calla Lily follows the sale of Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 for $44.4 million in Sotheby’s previous sale of American Art (November 2014), which set the current auction record for O’Keeffe as well as for any female artist

Three works by Modern master Milton Avery together brought $5.5 million, led by Spring in Vermont from 1945 that fetched $3,370,000 – the second-highest auction result for any work by the artist (estimate $1.5–2.5 million).

• Today’s result follows the May 2014 sale of Avery’s March and Sally Outdoors at Sotheby’s for $5.7 million, which remains the auction record for the artist

A number of strong prices for American Illustration were led by Norman Rockwell’s The Bookworm from 1926 that achieved $3,834,000 (estimate $1.5–2.5 million), as well as Maxfield Parrish’s Two Cooks and a Haggis that sold for $1,570,000 (estimate $300/500,000).

• The Bookworm came to auction from the collection noted Chicago businessman Roy Warshawsky and his wife Sarita, whose landmark offering of Tiffany & Prewar Design totaled $8 million yesterday at Sotheby’s New York

A significant group of late-19th and early-20th century works emerging after decades in the same distinguished private collection together totaled $7.7 million, exceeding their high expectation of $5.5 million

• The collection was led by Parrish’s Two Cooks and a Haggis (see note above) as well as Martin Johnson Heade’s Two Fishermen in the Marsh, which sold for $970,000 (estimate $700,000 – 1 million), and Thomas Moran’s Clouds in the Canyon that brought $910,000 (estimate $600/800,000)

New benchmark prices were established for five artists: John Frederick Peto, James Peale, Kenneth Southworth Davies, Otis Kaye and Charles Webster Hawthorne.