AN AMERICAN IN GIVERNY: FREDERICK CARL FRIESEKE
An American who lived in France for most of his career, Frederick Carl Frieseke’s work often featured his favorite model: his wife Sadie. In Gray Day on the River, painted by 1908, she and her companion float serenely on a boat, surrounded by the verdant landscape of Giverny (estimate $1.5/2.5 million). Exhibited across the United States, including Massachusetts, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, this striking example of American Impressionism will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being completed by the artist’s grandson, Nicholas Kilmer.

EXPLORING THE WEST WITH ALBERT BIERSTADT
Albert Bierstadt’s Indians Crossing the Columbia River brings the American West of the 19th century to life this November (estimate $1.5/2.5 million). Belonging to a distinguished American collection for over 40 years since its acquisition in the 1970s, the work offers a romanticized vision of the Oregon landscape; Mount Hood, the imposing peak in the background, majestically rises above the radiant Columbia River where a group of Indians row across the water towards shore. Embodying tranquility and serenity, the sublime landscape attests to the national desire for renewal and peace following the Civil War.

AMERICAN SCULPTURE
Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, is represented in three sculptures in the November auction of American Art: Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Diana of the Tower, sold to benefit the Berkshire Museum (estimate $250/350,000), Paul Manship’s Diana (estimate $400/600,000), and Anna Hyatt Huntington’s Diana of the Chase (estimate $150/250,000). All three bronze sculptures feature the goddess with her bow, drawing the viewer’s attention to her immorality, while those of Paul Manship and Anna Hyatt Huntington also include a bounding hound at her feet. Combining classical aesthetics with contemporary academicism, each of these sculptures symbolize Diana’s strength and beauty, while also revealing each artist’s distinctive interpretation of this iconic subject.