Spanning George Washington to the Wild Things, Heritage Auctions latest American Art Signature Auction set numerous auction records on May 10 and concluded with a $6 million gross total finish. There were 850 bidders participating in the near-sellout event, which saw records set for such revered and influential artists as Maurice Sendak, Margaret Keane, Manierre Dawson and James Lesesne Wells. A myriad of artists also saw their profiles elevated, chief among them Joseph Francis Kernan, whose ca. 1940 advertisement for DB&Ms Royal Bohemian Beer sold for $137,500. It would appear Kernan has finally shed his sobriquet as the poor mans Norman Rockwell. Heritage Auctions is also proud to announce that Wells ca. 1930 Wanderers, which set an auction record for the artist at $37,500, was acquired by the Delaware Art Museum. Wanderers, which depicts three Black women migrating (likely northward from the South), is among the artists major early works, having received the Gold Medal at the Harmon Foundations 1931 Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists. We pared down this auction to highlight all the genres that make up what we call American art, said senior vice president Aviva Lehmann, director of American Art. We showcased these works in Chicago, New York City and Dallas, always to great acclaim, and knew we had a hit on our hands. But I had no idea it would so wildly exceed my expectations thanks to participation from both beloved institutions and private collectors. Topping the list of historic lots was a familiar favorite, Joseph Christian Leyendecker, whose First Long Suit, painted for the Sept. 18, 1937, cover for The Saturday Evening Post, sold for $615,000. That not only bested its high estimate, but became the second-highest price ever paid for a painting by the fashion-ad illustrator behind 1914s Beat-up Boy, Football Hero, which sold at Heritage Auctions one year ago for a record-setting $4,121,250. Its clear Leyendeckers work is having his moment in the sun. Another Saturday Evening Post cover, Playing Hooky from June 13, 1914, sold for $300,000. And the lesser-known Tramp Feeding the Birds, painted for The Saturday Evening Post Nov. 20, 1915, cover, realized $150,000. Another Saturday Evening Post cover proved to be one of the auctions smash hits, Stevan Dohanos stunning After Church, which appeared on the magazines cover on April 16, 1949, a painting of the Wilton Episcopal Church congregation exiting Easter Sunday services, sold for $225,000. Leyendecker and his illustration art compatriots were certainly in excellent company atop the list of top-performing lots. Rembrandt Peales ca. 1855 porthole portrait of George Washington soared to a final price of $591,000 after several bidders tussled over this historic work. From the collection of American treasures assembled by Portland real estate developer and philanthropist Melvin Pete Mark, this was the second-highest price ever paid at auction for a Washington porthole (the current record of $662,500 was set by Heritage Auctions in 2013). When the Peale painting sold, the auction room burst into applause for the first but not last time throughout the event that spanned the breadth of American art, from Ashcan to Impressionism, Regionalism to Hudson River, illustration to sculpture. Indeed, there were cheers, too, for one of the oft-exhibited works in this auction. George Tookers Un Ballo in Maschera, a tempera-on-gessoed board from 1982, sold for $325,000. Most recently displayed at the Columbus Museum of Art for a Tooker retrospective, this is among the artists most reproduced works. The original now has a new home. The auction room again erupted with applause when Sendaks Let the Wild Rumpus Start! (Happy Birthday Wild Things!), painted in 1988 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Where the Wild Things Are, sold for $212,500. Heritage set the previous Sendak auction record in 2021, when the original art for an Art Institute of Chicago poster sold for $175,000. But as Lehmann notes, Everyone loves Sendak, and its high time for him to climb to the level of Rockwell. Gertrude Abercrombies self-portrait Lonely House, from 1938, was painted for the Illinois Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration. It was made when the artist was 30 years old and is an honest, cheeky work whose intention is far more than a depiction of the rural American Scene requested by the WPA. It more than doubled its estimate when it sold for $175,000. But even the seemingly smallest moments contained their shares of enormous thrills. Manierre Dawsons 1913 oil-on-canvas Family opened live bidding at $15,000. But a heated bidding war drove the work to its final price of $137,500, an auction record for the artist. Not long after that, Margaret Keanes 1962 painting The Lookout sold for $47,500, also an auction record for the beloved pop-culture phenomenon adored by Andy Warhol and portrayed by Amy Adams in the film about the artist. To learn more, visit www.HA.com.