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W ith its presale estimate ranging between $17–24.4 million, The Spirit of America, the marquee auction of The Wolf Family Collection, was destined to become one of the most important sales of American art and objects in recent memory. As its 58 lots passed the block on 19 April, not only did each object find a buyer – bestowing the auction coveted white-glove status – they consistently soared past their high estimates. In fact, almost two-thirds of the works on offer, ranging from a painting by Winslow Homer to rare Tiffany glass, broke their estimates, bringing the auction’s total to an astounding $39 million.
A ceiling light from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Francis W. Little House in Peoria, Illinois, sold for $2.9 million, establishing an auction record – the first of two significant milestones the iconic American architect achieved this week. Fitz Henry Lane’s Bar Island and Mount Desert Mountains from Somes Settlement sold for $6.1 million (another auction record), while Homer’s On the Beach at Marshfield went for $4.3 million and Marsden Hartley’s Summer Sea Window reached $3.8 million, shattering the paintings’ $1.5 million, $3 million and $1 million respective high estimates. Paul Howard Manship’s life-sized sculpture of an Indigenous hunter – part of an edition including casts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Corcoran Gallery of Art – sold for $1.1 million, among the highest values the Art Deco sculptor has achieved at auction.
Jodi Pollack, Sotheby’s Chairman and Co-Worldwide Head of 20th Century Design, says: “As one of the finest collections and last of its kind to celebrate American artistry in all its forms, the Wolf Collection was a momentous occasion for the American art and design markets and beyond.”
And it was only opening night.
Comprising 10 sales, The Wolf Family Collection went on to earn $68 million over the next week, becoming the most valuable collection of American art and objects ever offered. Exceptional Jewels earned $8 million in another white-glove event, while Glorious America and Modern America earned $5.3 million apiece. Cross-Currents in America, focused on cultural exchange, realized $4.2 million; Forging America and Building America each realized $2.3 million; America Without Reserve realized $1.5 million; Luxury Handbags: Vintage Icons realized $285,242; and Ex Libris realized $264,541.
All said and done, the auction series realized a staggering 140 percent of its presale high estimate.
One especially noteworthy result is the sale of 38 drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright charting six decades of his career, carefully assembled by Daniel Wolf, the late son of Joy and Erving Wolf. His prescience in acquiring a majority of the drawings directly from The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation paid off when the group sold to Art Bridges, a philanthropy founded by Alice Walton of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, only days after Wright’s new auction record. Art Bridges CEO Paul Provost says the organization hopes to loan the drawings to institutions and universities with architecture programs, “so that museum visitors and students can come to know this renowned American architect and his unique vision.”
Mathew Wolf, Daniel’s brother, finds the week-long auction series a fitting culmination. “The tremendous success of the collection is a tribute to the life and legacy of my family whose collective curiosity and passion for discovery will be treasured by many for generations to come.”
