Paintings worth millions of dollars from the estate of Linda Bean, the Maine businesswoman and heiress to the L.L. Bean company who died earlier this year, will go up for auction in New York next month.
The 24 Bean-owned items in the Nov. 19 auction from international auction house Bonhams include 20 paintings from the Wyeth family of artists, including the renowned American painter Andrew Wyeth, his father, illustrator N.C. Wyeth, and his son, painter Jamie Wyeth, as well as other artist members of the Wyeth family, all of whom have longstanding ties to Maine.
It also features notable works owned by Bean from other Maine and American painters including Edmund Darch Lewis, Ronald Frontin and Douglas Allen. The entire value of Bean’s paintings up for auction is estimated at between $3 and $4 million.
Bean, who died in March at age 82, was a Maine businesswoman, philanthropist and activist for conservative causes. She founded companies including Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine and Linda Bean’s Maine Lobster, and owned fishing wharfs in Tenants Harbor, Vinalhaven and in her town of residence, Port Clyde, as well as a general store and restaurant. She was a benefactor of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland and the Monhegan Museum of Art and History.
Bean was one of the wealthiest Mainers at the time of her death, and her estate sought to seal her will and other documents from becoming public documents, though a judge in May denied that request.
There are three Andrew Wyeth paintings up for auction, including “The Gam,” painted in 1938, “Gray Ledge Cove,” and “Island Dawn,” painted in 1941. The former is expected to sell for between $100,000 and $150,000; the latter, for between $120,000 and $180,000. “Gray Ledge Cove” is expected to fetch between $50,000 and $70,000. A pencil sketch by Wyeth of Helga Testorf, the artist’s model and muse, is valued at between $10,000 and $15,000.
There are five paintings by N.C. Wyeth, including “Self Portrait,” with an estimated value of between $400,000 and $600,000, and “Unknown (Coastal Scene with Apple Tree in Foreground),” estimated at between $1,200,000 and $1,800,000. Jamie Wyeth’s painting “Dead Cat Museum, Monhegan Island” is expected to fetch between $300,00 and $500,000.
