Art museum sells 6 of its paintings at N.Y. auction

In a New York auction Wednesday that brought record prices for paintings by Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell, the Seattle Art Museum sold six of eight paintings it had offered.

SAM deaccessioned the eight paintings to raise money for other acquisitions.

The highest-valued painting of SAM's group, John Marin's "New York Abstraction," sold for $688,000, including the buyer's fee. Total sales for the museum came to $1,018,000. Sotheby's spokesman Matthew Weigman said that the amount SAM will net from the sale is confidential.

Preston Dickinson's "Still Life No. 1" (valued at $150,000-$250,000) and Hovsep Pushman's "The War God" ($30,000-$50,000) did not meet their minimum bids.

It's still possible the Dickinson and Pushman paintings will receive private post-auction offers and be sold by Sotheby's. If not, the paintings will be returned to SAM. No one at SAM was available to comment on the sale yesterday afternoon.

Overall sales were good at the auction of American art, Weigman said. He said Hopper's 1955 "Hotel Window" went for more than $26 million, a new high for the artist's work. Rockwell's "Breaking Home Ties" sold for more than $15 million, also topping that artist's previous sales.

Sheila Farr: sfarr@seattletimes.com. Staff news researcher Gene Balk contributed to this report.