Texas and Beyond

The Lone Star Art Auction aims to unite Western, historic American
and Texas art in one massive annual sale.

Western Art Collector

Since its debut in 2022, the Lone Star Art Auction has boasted terrific selections of Western material in its annual fall sale. However, the auction has been offering a broader appeal year after year since the inaugural sale. Now in its fourth year, the sale is embracing its larger collections – American art, Western art and Texas art – as it returns to Dallas on November 1.

“It certainly looks like a Wester sale because it is Western heavy, but we also pick up a lot of great Texas art and we’re also expanding more into the larger American art category,” says owner Phil Berkebile Jr. “So, as we see more of that traditional American art, and even contemporary art, we are leaning into it for our great Texas collectors.”

Western art fans will certainly be thrilled to bid on pieces by Martin Grelle, Tom Ryan, Frank Tenney
Johnson, Ed Mell, John Nieto and Billy Schenck. But the auction will also offer works by Andy Warhol, Ansel Adams, John Marin, Roy Lichtenstein and Wolf Kahn from the broader American category, and then pieces by John Alexander, David Bates, Otis Dozier, Julian Onderdonk, Porfirio Salinas and Robert Wood from Texas.

For Berkebile, this union of categories is key to his bidders, who don’t just collect cowboy art, but art that speaks to a broader region and style of American art.

A microcosm of this shift is on full display within the works of G. Harvey in the sale. Fifteen pieces by the famous Texan will be offered, and they come from every segment of his career, including his classically Western paintings of cowboys in the West, city paintings from the East Coast and images of his travels to Russia, including Red Square.

One of the Harvey highlights is the 1980 painting Wall Street, showing the famous New York City street during the late-19th century when horses were still used for transportation. The painting comes from the Connecticut estate of investment banker Josiah O. “Joe” Low III, who was known as the Wall Street
Cowboy. Low purchased the painting the year it was created, after which he coordinated with investment management company Merrill Lynch on the commission of Harvey’s famous bronze longhorn sculpture, A Breed Apart. The bronze monument came at a fascinating time for the company as it was shifting its marketing campaigns from “Bullish on America” to “A Breed Apart,” which remained its slogan for the next decade. Wall Street will be offered with estimates of $200,000 to $300,000. Additionally, the auction will offer a 17-inch version of Harvey’s A Breed Apart, with estimates of $15,000 to $20,000.

Other Harvey works include Chow Time (est. $25/35,000), In Full Moonlight (est. $40/50,000), Low-Water Crossing (est. $50/70,000) and The Warmth of Friendship (est. $70/90,000), as well as two works from Russia, Old St. Petersburg (est. $35/55,000) and Light Rain on Red Square (est. 70/90,000).

Berkebile points out The Warmth of Friendship as an especially strong Harvey work. “It’s a classic cowboy scene in a small town in the winter with horses and two cowboys around a Texaco gas pump. This is the kind of painting that is one of the top one or two G. Harvey scenes that the best collectors seek out,” he says. “It’s an exceptionally strong piece coming out of a Houston collection. It’s never been on the market before.”

Other top lots include several key pieces from Grelle, whose images of Native American figures have lit up auction houses for many years. Grelle offerings include Trackers at Blacktail Ponds (est. $100/150,000), Warriors of Winter (est. $90/120,000) and an early work from 1988, Siesta (est. $25/35,000).

The sale will have two works by Frank Tenney Johnson: the 1931 nocturne Night Sentinel (est. $70/90,000) and an action painting from 1930, The Lawless Frontier (est. $200/300,000).

In the category of wildlife, the sale will have works from Tucker Smith, Ken Carlson and two works by Bob Kuhn: the 1991 painting North Country (est. $75/100,000) and the fox bronze Winter Chase (est. $20/30,000).

Lots originating from Northern New Mexico include Billy Schenck’s Rattlesnake Ridge (est. $9/12,000), Bert Geer Phillips’ Taos Indian with Pony (est. $70/90,000), Leon Gaspard’s Taos Woman (est. $20/30,000), Robert Daughters’ Ranchos Chapel, Taos (est. $15/25,000) and Eanger Irving Couse’s The Red Ear of Corn (est. $40/60,000).

John Nieto, whose works have been popular at auctions for several years, will have three works for bidders:
Desert Magic (Navajo Sand Painter) (est. $30/50,000), Gathering of Nations War Dancer (est. $45/65,000) and Nambe (est. $35/55,000). “Nieto is extremely hot right now. Two of our pieces came from a Dallas collection, and then another from outside of Texas. Nieto is definitely an example of Western art that is more contemporary being offered at the sale,” Berkebile says. “Others are Earl Biss, Fritz Scholder, Malcolm Furlow and Louisa McElwain’s Indian Lands Santa Clara III, which could be the sleeper hit of the sale. It’s a stunner of a piece.” The McElwain piece is estimated at $30,000 to $40,000.

Berkebile has been watching the other sales of 2025 and says he feels strong going into his own sale. “Seeing the numbers around the market, you have to feel pretty good. It always bodes well when the market is showing how strong it is,” he says. “Bidders are always seeking quality pieces, and that’s what we’re striving for here in this sale.” In addition to the sale on November 1, the Lone Star Art Auction will also
feature a festive auction preview, reception and dinner on October 31.

Lone Star Art Auction – November 1, 2025 – Renaissance Dallas Hotel – 2222 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 469-608-7600