Stolen Art DealerOil painting by Albert Bierstadt, 1862, of Native American figures spearing fish in a landscape.
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Catalogue No. 1001 · Christie's · New York
Indians Spear Fishing
About $11.4 million in today’s money: 130 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- Albert Bierstadt (American, 1830-1902)
- Title
- Indians Spear Fishing
- Date
- 1862
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 48.9 x 74.3 cm (19 1/4 x 29 1/4 in.)
Albert Bierstadt painted Indians Spear Fishing in 1862. It is an oil on canvas of about 49 by 74 centimetres and shows Native American figures spearing fish in a landscape. Christie's lot essay links the scene to sketches Bierstadt made on his first journey west in 1859.
The picture was in a private collection in New York around 1873 and then passed by descent to the owner who later consigned it. Christie's offered it in New York on 21 May 2008, in the Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture sale, as lot 93. The estimate was $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
Christie's reports a price realised of $7,321,000 and describes it as a world auction record for the artist at the time of sale. ARTnews gave the figure as $7.3 million. The Christie's lot page does not say whether the price includes the buyer's premium, so the figure is given here as the house reports it. Later results for the artist were not checked.
The sale
- Auction house
- Christie's, New York
- Date
- 21 May 2008
- Lot
- 93
- Estimate
- $2,500,000-$3,500,000
- Sold for
- $7.3 million (including buyer’s premium) · $7,321,000
- Record
- World auction record for the artist at the time of sale (Christie's). (as of May 2008)
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Provenance
c. 1873
Private collection, New York, circa 1873.
to 2008
By descent to the present owner.
21 May 2008
Christie's, New York, Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, lot 93.
Sources
- Christie's lot page: Albert Bierstadt, Indians Spear Fishing (price realised, estimate, medium, dimensions, provenance)
- Christie's: Albert Bierstadt artist page (sold 2008 in New York for a world auction record, US$7,321,000)
- ARTnews: 'Extraordinary' Offerings Fuel $160M American Sales (June 2008)
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.