Art auctioned for $4.3 million

An auction of traditional American art Wednesday night at Christie’s Los Angeles brought $4.3 million in sales and set records for three artists. Focusing on works made in California and other Western states, the sale was the most successful to date in a continuing series launched in 1998 at the international auction house’s West Coast outpost.

“Morning Mists,” an ethereal landscape by Guy Rose, commanded the top price, $791,500. Next came “Desert Mesa,” a dramatic depiction of two buttes under a big sky by Maynard Dixon, at $679,500; and “A Mixed Bouquet of Roses,” a still life by Elmer Bischoff, at $321,100.

The Bischoff set a record, as did paintings by Jack Wilkinson Smith ($287,500) and Fremont F. Ellis ($95,600). Of the 112 paintings, drawings and sculptures consigned to the auction, only 15 were not sold.