Auction: September 29 at 1 PM CT

Our curators picked their favorite items from our upcoming September 29 American Art Within Reach Showcase Auction.
| Liz's Picks Liz Goodridge | VP, West Coast Director of American Art
Benny Andrews, Untitled (Street Scene)
Andrews moved to New York in 1958 and this urban sketch, while undated, is likely a scene from this period, capturing his environs of the Lower East Side. The present work is likely an early example of the artist's experimental works in oil, before he transitioned to working with his preferred medium of collage. The abstract blocks of color that appear in the composition resemble the same piecemeal assemblage characteristic of collage and it was this "sense of rawness" the artist sought to achieve in his works. The areas of exposed canvas at left and right also appear to resemble the artist's striking use of negative space in his most accomplished collages.
Charles Wysocki, Covered Bridge in Vermont
Vermont was the subject of many of the Wysocki's landscape works which depicted the region through all seasons. Here, the plentiful spring or early summer landscape is decorated with fields of blooming daisies and trees full of flowers and buds. The composition includes the whimsy which has become characteristic of the artist's work, including two figures jubilantly playing catch in the lower left corner. The American flag pictured at upper left is another patriotic symbol Wysocki often featured in many of his New England landscapes.
| Julia's Picks Julia Matthiesen | Fine Art Department Coordinator, NY
Will Barnet Study for "Anticipation", 1980
Will Barnet loved his cats. They were a constant presence in his home and a recurring subject in his art, where he often explored domestic spaces and intimate relationships with meditative care. Study for "Anticipation" reflects his final stylistic evolution: figural forms set within geometric backgrounds and clever compositions. Here, Barnet distills his skill of line and form, making visible the quiet, and sometimes mischievous, companionship of a beloved subject.
Henriette Wyeth Listening to the Ocean
Henriette Wyeth, eldest daughter of the Wyeth family, infused her art with an understanding of resilience and a profound appreciation for life. Having contracted polio as a young child, she carried its challenges throughout her career, yet it never diminished her lifelong devotion to painting. Celebrated for her mastery of color and light, she was most highly regarded as a portrait painter, capturing presence and sensitivity in her sitters. In Listening to the Ocean, her composition conveys both an innocence and quiet wonder, while the shimmering tonalities of the shell reveal her refined command of light across surface and form.
| Max's Picks Max Condon | Associate Specialist, Fine & Decorative Arts
Richard Hayley Lever, Job Site
Well known for his marine scenes of ships and harbors, Richard Hayley Lever had an eye for the tension of transitions. It could be seen in buildings, docks, and boats, the manmade sprawling from the land across the water. Sometimes it was subtler, fresh snow on trees, or a change in the light or wind. In Job Site, a verdant landscape is torn apart by the bustling progress of industry. Broad bands of color compose this jarring juxtaposition; the dark refuse of the foreground gives way to the rusty reds of heavy machinery in orange earth beneath the tranquil greens and blues of the surface. It feels at risk of falling apart, but Hayley Lever skillfully holds it together, a careful balance of destruction and creation.
William S. Schwartz, A Working Man, 1926
William S. Schwartz was impossible to pin down. The Chicago artist's work rejected any single style or classification. Across abstract, figural, regional, surreal, the quietly quaint, or the scandalously garish, the only common thread was his virtuosic use of color. A Working Man is strikingly framed by negative space. A beam of light crowns the subject, simply adorned, his face glows in faceted cubist folds. He becomes like stained glass; blue shimmering eyes set in the generous palette of a warm hearth. With the weight of his colors, Schwartz helps us recognize a moment of humanity.
Find these and other fine artworks in our September 29 American Art Within Reach Showcase Auction. Session starts at 1 PM CT, Monday, September 29. Sincerely,
|  | Liz Goodridge VP, West Coast Director of American Art LizG@HA.com (214) 409-3223
|  | Julia Matthiesen American Art Coordinator & Assistant, New York JuliamM@HA.com (214) 409-3051
|  | Max Condon Associate Specialist, Fine & Decorative Arts MaxC@HA.com (312) 260-7234