A museum-quality collection of fine art will be auctioned in a North Scottsdale home near the Troon North community on Saturday, February 25.
Scottsdale-based J. Levine Auction & Appraisal is handling the auction, which features hundreds of original paintings and sculptures along with the home’s furniture, décor and other household items.
A free preview will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, February 24, with the auction starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25. For security purposes, interested bidders must RSVP and register to bid before gaining access to the luxury home. Online bidding also will be available at www.jlevines.com.
“This is a remarkable collection of art, not only because there are several hundred pieces, but because the collector spent more than 30 years buying from well-known living artists, many of whom he considers to be good friends,” said Josh Levine, auctioneer and owner of J. Levine Auction & Appraisal.
The collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, remembers growing up wanting to be an artist. Instead, he became an entrepreneur, opening up his financial planning business in 1982. He bought his first painting, “The Captain’s House,” in the early 1980s from artist Paul Strisik’s gallery in Rockport, Massachusetts.
“From there he was addicted to collecting,” Levine said. “He would reward himself for his hard work with a piece of art, and he also found that being surrounded by art had a calming effect on him.”
Three decades later, the collector and his wife have two homes full of traditional oil paintings and figurative sculptures. Their museum-quality collection caught the attention of American Art Collector, which profiled the art in their New Hampshire home in 2011.
Levine said the art collection in the Scottsdale home is extensive.
“Literally all of the wall space is taken up in this four-bedroom home,” Levine said. “While the owner is passionate about his collection, he and his wife are ready to downsize.”
Some of the notable pieces include paintings by Paul Strisik, Ken Davies, Dan Mieduch, James Ayers, and Buck McCain’s iconic painting “Invocation.” The auction also includes sculptures by David McGary, Harry Jackson, Ken Rowe, Vala Ola, Richard MacDonald, Paul Rhymer, Bryce Pettit, Scott Rogers, Paige Bradley and many others. In addition, the collection includes a rare Márton Váró Carrara marble torso of a woman that the collector paid $90,000 for in 2003.
