CHICAGO, IL.- The December 14 American and European Art sale at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers includes top lots from private collections. The one hundred and sixty two lot sale with a range of represented artists offers a nice collecting opportunity.

The sale is led by an early Bernard Buffet work, La Tour Eiffel, 1955, which is a strong example of his atmospheric work from the 50s. In this work, Buffet depicts one of the world¹s most recognizable monuments. By including La Grand Roue, a Ferris wheel long torn down in 1920, he imbues the painting with a sense of nostalgia and melancholy. The painting has an estimate of $200,000 ­ 300,000.

Another leading painting by a French artist is Jean Beraud's Le Pont de Bercy ($200,000 ­ 300,000). Beraud, known for his talent in depicting everyday scenes of 19th century Parisian life, chooses here to show Bercy, a separate commune from Paris until 1860. In this painting, one can see the influence of both his fellow Impressionist artists and the Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock tradition, especially in the empty space and strong diagonal lines.

Three exceptional ink and wash works by Thomas Hart Benton lead the American session. The first is a dynamic sketch of a Holly Roller gathering from Benton¹s time in Appalachia. Movie Set ($25,000 ­ 30,000) and Burning of Chicago ($25,000 ­ 30,000) are sketches Benton completed while hired by Life magazine to document the movie business in Hollywood. He would later turn these and other sketches into a major composite oil painting entitled Hollywood, 1937-38. This composite is currently in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO.

Also included in the American session are Joseph Rusling Meeker's Near Lake Maurepas ($20,000-30,000) and William Lamb Picknell's Annisquam River ($15,000-25,000).

The December 14 American and European Art sale will be following by the Post War and Contemporary Art and Fine Prints sales on December 15. The Fine Prints sale includes works by Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Thomas Hart Benton and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.