Christie’s spring sale of American Art on May 22 nearly hit targets with its $64 million total, just below the pre-sale estimate of $65.7 million, the highest estimate ever for the category at Christie’s. 

Four of ten lots with the sale's highest estimates were passed, including works by notables Norman Rockwell, John Singer Sargent, and Andrew Wyeth, estimated to fetch over $2 million each. Of 167 offered lots, 115 were sold (69% sold by lot; 84% by value).

Boosting the sale's total was Norman Rockwell’s The Rookie (Red Sox Locker Room) which garnered $22,565,000 (est. $20m-$30m). The iconic sports painting, offered at auction for the first time, followed the upper trajectory in prices for the artist. (Rockwell's Saying Grace brought an artist auction record of $46 million last fall and ten works at Sotheby's sale earlier this week brought $20 million total.)

With all the enthusiasm for the American illustrator's work, a few of the Rockwells in Christie's sale failed to find buyers. Yet, interest skyrocketed for his Spirit of America, featuring an array of multicultural faces against an American flag, which doubled the high estimate to fetch $1,085,000. One other Rockwell performer was his 1971 work The Collector, snapped up for $965,000 by dealer Michael Altman who also bought Edward Hopper's watercolor titled Coast Guard Boat I for $1.745 million (est. $1m-$1.5m).

Thomas Moran’s 1904 panoramic masterpiece The Grand Canyon of the Colorado brought $12,485,000 (est. $8m-$12m). One of the artist's most ambitious oils of the period, the painting had not been offered at auction in two decades. It had been exhibited at both the Royal Academy in London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Enthusiasm was also high for John Marin's Side Slope of Taos Range, New Mexico,  a vibrant watercolor from 1930, that surpassed a low estimate of $30,000 to fetch $161,000.

"Fresh-to-the market works with esteemed provenance commanded top prices; five lots from the Estate of Edgar Bronfman realized a total of $2,357,000, led by Milton Avery’s The Mandolin Player," said Liz Sterling, Christie's Head of American Art. "We look forward to the sale of An American Dynasty: The Clark Family Treasures on June 18, in which works by John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase are among the top lots.”