Center for the Arts, Jackson, WY September 13
One of the most anticipated highlights of the Fall Arts Festival in Wyoming, the Jackson Hole Art Auction draws dedicated collectors of Western and wildlife art to bid on museum-quality works that have seldom been seen, let alone made available to the highest bidder. Now celebrating its 19th year, the event will feature some 300 to 400 lots, all of which will have gone on view in the auction’s gallery space as they’ve arrived.
With as many as 300 people likely attending the live sale, which—following an 11 a.m. luncheon for attendees—begins at noon in downtown Jackson’s Center for the Arts. (Even more collectors will participate worldwide via a webcast on online bidding platforms.) The action, led by auctioneer Jason Brooks, is expected to last up to six hours. “It’s a very lively room,” sums up Kevin Doyle, the auction’s managing director and partner.
This year’s proceedings promise to be even livelier than ever. Doyle is dedicated to rounding up the highest-quality and broadest selection and is enthusiastic about the offerings. In particular, he points to 38 pieces in what is billed as the “Titans of the American West”—a corporate collection assembled for KSA Industries, Inc. in Houston by its late founder and owner, oil and gas magnate Bud Adams—which will be sold in sequence.
“He purchased them from various sources in the 1980s and ’90s, so they’re all fresh to market,” Doyle notes. Just a few highlights include C.M. Russell’s beautifully detailed 1898 watercolor START OF THE ROUNDUP, with an estimated selling price of $180,000 to $250,000; Joseph Henry Sharp’s moving Native portrait CONTEMPLATION (est. $30,000-$50,000); and E.I. Couse’s 1917 moody sylvan scene THE HUNTER (est. $150,000-$250,000). Doyle calls these and many other “Titans” artworks “the real anchor of the auction.”
Adding more quality and variety to the sale are art and objects from the estate of noted Scottsdale collector H.B. “Tony” Turner, also sold in sequence. Bidders will no doubt find abundant interest in pieces by such artists as Couse, W. Herbert Dunton, Olaf Wieghorst, Clark Kelley Price, Paul Pletka and William de la Montagne Cary. These collections don’t even begin to touch on the manifold pleasures of the wildlife art available that includes stellar names like Bob Kuhn, Tucker Smith and Ken Carlson, as well as two monumental bronzes from Dan Ostermiller.
Still one more lot, though not Western- or wildlife-themed like most items, merits particular attention this year: the 1919 oil on canvas COURTING COUPLE AT MIDNIGHT (est. $500,000-$700,000), an iconic early work done for a Saturday Evening Post cover by legendary illustrator Norman Rockwell. It is a well-documented piece that has appeared in several major museum retrospectives. Explains Doyle, “It ticks every box in capturing the quintessential Americana of the time”—serving as yet another example of the Jackson Hole Art Auction’s ability to surprise and reward art lovers. —Norman Kolpas
contact information(307) 734-9739jacksonholeartauction.com
This story appeared in the August/September 2025 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.
The post Show Preview | Jackson Hole Art Auction appeared first on Southwest Art Magazine.