An extraordinary selection of paintings by Norman Rockwell leading at Sotheby’s American Art Auction in New York on 4 December 2013. Rockwell’s seven works including “Saying Grace” and “The Gossips,” are being offered by the family of Kenneth J. Stuart Sr., the artist’s longtime friend and art editor at the Saturday Evening Post magazine. Highlight of the collection is “Saying Grace,” voted the favorite cover by readers of the Post, estimated at $15 – 20 million and “The Gossips”, estimated at $6 – 9 million, as well as “Walking to Church”, estimated at $3 – 5 million, and a color study for “Breaking Home Ties”, estimated at $200 – 300,000), the final version of which set the artist’s current auction record when it sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2006 for $15.4 million.
“To offer any one of these masterworks would be a great privilege. To present two of Norman Rockwell’s most iconic works in one auction is unprecedented,” Elizabeth Goldberg, the head of Sotheby’s American Art department, said in a statement. Sotheby’s estimates the collection could sell for a total of more than $24 million. Select works will be on view in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and New York throughout the fall.
