Artfact Live! will offer live online bidding on works by leading American and California artists spanning the mid-19th to mid- 20th centuries at John Moran Auctioneers’ third California and American Art Auction of 2011.  The sale represents a broad survey of the American experience, with 210 oils and watercolors including Impressionist landscapes, still lifes, Westerns, American Scene subjects and California School watercolors, as well as sculptures.  With estimates ranging from under $1000 up to $80,000, the sale presents excellent opportunities for new collectors entering the market as well as for seasoned buyers.  The sale is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18 and live online bidding is available at www.Artfact.com.

The highest-value lot in the sale is one of the highly covetable beach scenes by Edward Henry Potthast (1857–1927).  The charming, softly colored oil depicting two young girls wading in the surf is offered for $60,000 – 80,000.  Other East Coast artists represented include Emile Gruppe (1896–1978), Alexis Fournier (1865–1948), whose tonalist sunset landscape ‘’Evening’’ is estimated to sell for $10,000 – 15,000, and Augusta Savage (1892–1962) who is represented by two sculptures, a plaster titled ‘’Gamin’’ (estimate: $10,000 – 20,000) and a cast-metal work titled ‘’Lift Every Voice and Sing’’ (estimate: $8000 – 10,000).

Among the later 20th century works is a typically, and wonderfully, cryptic work by Henry Koerner (1915–1991) titled ‘’The Wedding Party’’ (Birth of a Book).  Replete with many of Koerner’s distinctive and jarring iconographical devices, and a multitude of disparate, clashing figures in various roles, this dream-like scene is a fine example of his ‘Magic Realist’ style.  It arrives at auction from the private Los Angeles, CA collection of close friends of the artist and is estimated to realize $15,000 – 20,000.  Moran’s recently sold an important work by Koerner from the early 1950’s at their June 14, 2011 auction for $252,000.

Additional sale highlights include:

• A stunning, icy winter scene with figures set beside a bridge over a stream in a Normandy village by George Ames Aldrich (1872–1941) 

• A superb Paul de Longpre (1855–1911) watercolor composition of chrysanthemums in a woven basket with three bumblebees (estimate: $20,000 – 30,000) 

• One of Jessie Arms Botke’s stylized oil and gold leaf bird paintings, a depiction of egrets, from a Private San Francisco, CA collection (estimate: $40,000 – 60,000) 

In addition to this important auction, Artfact Live! also offers live online bidding at premier auctions around the world.  Artfact Live! bidders benefit from an enhanced, easy-to-use bidding console; a comprehensive auction database; and a powerful search engine that allows bidders to search consignments by keyword, auction house, artist name and more.  To register to bid at this or any other Artfact Live! auction, please visit www.Artfact.com.

Artfact.com is the largest global marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions.  In 2009, Artfact launched two live online bidding platforms, Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! In the UK, allowing users to bid in real-time on auctions held around the world reaching a community of more than 10 million knowledgeable collectors and dealers worldwide. In 2010, Artfact merged with AuctionZip.com, increasing the reach of their platforms to include thousands of auction houses around the country.  Artfact's industry leading database includes more than 57 million complete auction results totaling more than $204 billion in value, including information on more than 500,000 international artists.

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