Sotheby's recent sale of American works from the collection of Meyer and Vivian Potamkin totaled above $15.3 million—more than $2 million above the high estimate

Art Business News, August, 2003 by Vanessa Silberman

* Sotheby's recent sale of American works from the collection of Meyer and Vivian Potamkin totaled above $15.3 million--more than $2 million above the high estimate. Top lot in the sale was the 1907 New York City scene "Easter Eve" by John Sloan, which brought $2.2 million, a new auction record for the artist.

Together with the mixed owner sale of American art, Sotheby's total for American art was $31.9 million. Auction records were set for works by Theodore Robinson, Robert Henri and Jacob Lawrence, among others. Meanwhile, Christie's auction of American art totaled $17.7 million, with 71 of the 92 lots finding buyers. Top lot was an unusual Wild West picture by Thomas Eakins, "Cowboys in the Badlands" (1888), which sold for $5.38 million (est. $5 million to $7 million)--an auction record for the artist. Christie's also set an auction record for Milton Avery when his "Bathers by River" (1943) sold for $735,500, well above the presale high estimate of $500,000.