Thomas Hart Benton's politically-motivated painting of 1951, titled "Flood Disaster," fetched $1.87 million at a Sotheby's sale of American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture totaling $27.1 million on Thursday.

American private collectors purchased the top ten lots of the sale. Six works went above $1 million.

Benton's poignant rendition of the Mississippi's flood effects six decades ago, which had a high estimate of $1.2 million, was among a number of paintings that far exceeded presale estimates.

New artist auction record prices were forged for Ernest Leonard Blumenschein, William J. McCloskey, Herbert Haseltine and William Aiken Walker.

Ernest Leonard Blumenschein's 1919 work "White Blanket and Blue Spruce" took in $1.5 million, more than double the low estimate of $700,000 and a record price for the Western artist.

Leaving its $150,000-250,000 estimate in the dust, William Aiken Walker's scene of Southern plantation life, titled "The Cotton Wagon," brought $434,500, the artist's new auction record price.

William J. McCloskey's highly detailed 1897 oil of "Wrapped Oranges on a Tablecloth" soared to $782,500 from a $250,000-300,000 estimate and well above his previous auction record of $546,250, according to askart.com.

Equestrian sculptor Herbert Haseltine (1877 - 1962) reached a new artist auction record of $182,500 for his bronze "Percheron Stallion: Rhum."

Notable performers also included Milton Avery's "Playing the Cello," which fetched $1.4 million from a $800,000—1,200,000 estimate; "Dock Builders,"  by George Bellows, brought $3.89 million, above its $3 million high estimate and the top lot of the sale; and "Longchamps Race Track" by Guy Pène du Bois, doubled the high estimate to snag $602,500 for the elegant 1926 French scene.

Fetching four times its low estimate, "Lucero's Place, Springtime," a circa 1920 oil on canvas by Santa Fe artist William Penhallow Henderson, brought $410,500.

An oil on paper study by Norman Rockwell, depicting the Main Street of Pittsfield, Mass., more than doubled its low estimate to fetch $422,500. The 19-by-55-inch work was a study for a commission from the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. Rockwell was derailed from finishing the commission when his wife died in 1960. Muralist Clifford Young was eventually enlisted to complete the final 6-by-17-1/2 foot painting which hangs in the company's cafeteria.

Of the 121 lots offered, 84 sold (69.4% sold by lot; 77.6% sold by value).

(Final prices include buyer's premium, but estimates do not.)