National Cowboy Museum’s “Small Works, Great Wonders” on view through Sunday
Oklahoma painter Linda Tuma Robertson received the Cynthia Post Buyers’ Choice Award for her oil painting “Frosty Cimarron” at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s “Small Works, Great Wonders” Winter Art Sale. Remaining art from the show is available for view and purchase through Sunday. (Photo by Chris Landsberger/The Oklahoman Archives)
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum played host to more than 100 artists at the fourth annual “Small Works, Great Wonders” Winter Art Sale on Nov. 19. The event included 245 Western paintings and sculptures by some of the finest contemporary Western artists in the nation. With a festive holiday atmosphere and high-caliber Western art, the one-night art sale generated more than $400,000, according to a news release.
The event attracts beginning and veteran art collectors at a relaxed, yet exciting, show. “Small Works, Great Wonders” kicked off in 2006, when the museum organized the inaugural sale designed to send art buyers home with purchases in hand and give new collectors an opportunity to start a Western collection with works that are smaller in size and price.
The small works of art created by nationally acclaimed artists went on display Nov. 5. Artists selected for the sale included many from the ranks of the museum’s annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale, along with other invited painters and sculptors.
Buyers selected the works of art they wanted to purchase and awaited the fixed-price sale to come to a conclusion. A percentage of the sales from the yearly event benefits the nonprofit museum.
The small-size works bring a lower price than typically found in larger, higher-profile pieces, and the “Small Works” event serves as a fairly relaxed training atmosphere for the fixed-price sales process used at Prix de West. Two potential buyer names were drawn from those buyers who submitted ballots for a work, and the first name drawn had 30 minutes to complete his or her purchase before it went to the second name on the list. After 50 minutes from the start of the sale, unsold art was made available for purchase by anyone attending the event.
The 2009 sale marked the first Cynthia Post “Small Works, Great Wonders” Buyers’ Choice Award, given to the artist who created the most popular work of art at the sale as voted by ballot book purchasers. The cash award, named in memory of the museum’s assistant director of development, was given to Linda Tuma Robertson for her oil painting “Frosty Cimarron.” In addition, the museum also was able to purchase a “Small Works” piece to add to its permanent collection. The work selected was Thomas Quinn’s watercolor, “Antelope Consideration.”
At the conclusion of the sale, 100 pieces remained available for purchase. These works are on display and available for purchase through Sunday. Additional castings of certain sculptures also are available.
For more information, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.org.
-BAM
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment