Auction introduction: This spring, Sotheby’s is pleased to present The American Scene including Important Photographs from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, an online sale which will featuring 19th Century and Western American art. This auction will be lead by George Inness’ monumental exhibition piece A Summer Morning being sold by the Brooklyn Museum of Art to support Museum Collections. A selection of still life paintings by William McCloskey, Margaretta Peale and Severin Roesen will be offered alongside exceptional Hudson River School paintings by Albert Bierstadt, Alfred Bricher, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Sanford Gifford and Francis Augustus Silva. Additional properties will be sold by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Late Paula and Don Gaston, and Barbara and Ted Alfond. Additionally, this auction will include an important suite of photographs by Ansel Adams being sold by the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation to support their continued mission. For nearly 70 years, the Foundation’s residency program has benefitted artists from Agnes Martin to Hee Sook Kim and including Ansel Adams. This collection of ten photographs executed in the 1940s capture the topography of the Taos landscape and will be positioned alongside works of American Western art by artist such as Walter Ufer, William Wendt and Cyrus Dallin. The sale will be live for bidding from 9 – 24 May, closing at 1PM EDT on Tuesday 24 May. The exhibition preview will be open in our York Avenue galleries from 19 – 24 May. For bidding registration questions, to request condition reports or set up an appointment to view these lots in person, please contact the American Art department at +1 212 606 7280 or americanart@sothebys.com.