At Auction: American Art at Christie's May 22

Has illustration been graduated to the same level as fine art?

Christie's Auction House in New York City will be hosting a sale of American Art on May 22nd, and among the 172 lots are many of the usual suspects from America's legacy of art.  Among the artists represented are such familiar names from 20th century Modern Art as Milton Avery, Walt Kuhn, Marsden Hartley, and Joseph Stella, but alongside these members of the elite are a remarkable number of illustrators – and the once-disdained illustrators are expected to outshine their fine art counterparts when it comes to auction day.  

It is not that Christie's has never sold illustration art before, but it is unusual to see so many pieces by illustrators in a single auction of theirs.  Not that long ago, to find so many works from this genre for sale at once, a buyer would have had to have gone to a specialist like New York's Illustration House.  The large auction houses were not purveyors of such paintings.  But the demand for illustration art, and specifically one illustrator, Norman Rockwell – whose painting Saying Grace recently sold at Sotheby's for over $46 million – has changed the status of illustration art forever, at least in the marketplace.  Whether or not art historians will wish to follow suit and elevate illustration art to its proper standing remains to be seen, but as money is the great validator, they may not have a choice.

Rockwell, who was an admirer of Modern Art, famously felt that fine art and illustration were not equals, that the motives behind the two were vastly different, and that illustration was the inferior. He probably would not have expected the different genres to ever stand side-by-side.

Personally, I am not certain I like the mixture of styles in the American Art sales, but my opinion is influenced by an assessment of illustration art that contrasts with Rockwell's.  For me, America's early 20th century yearning for an independent world voice in the arts resulted in an unfortunate schism between fine art and illustration.  And whereas Modern Art, with its rebellious attitudes and independent thinking represented America to a certain degree, its desire to be "different" caused it to become insular, while illustration art represented America to a much greater degree, and spoke to the entire world.  Christie's and Sotheby's have it right when they include illustration art as part of an American Art sale – I would just prefer a sale that comprised nothing but illustration art, because, of the two art voices America found in the 20th century, illustration art – narrative, figurative art – is the dialect I speak.  To me, it is THE American Art.

Previews for Christie's American Art Fine Art Auction start tomorrow at Rockefeller Center in New York City, and run through May 21st.  For more information, and to see the full catalog, please visit the Christie's Auction House website.

May 17  |  10am - 5pm 

May 18  |  1pm - 5pm

May 19  |  10am - 5pm

May 20  |  10am - 5pm

May 21  |  10am - 2pm