A Jamie Wyeth portrait of his late father has sold for $2.4 million at an auction to benefit a Rockland museum that is devoted to the Maine-related artworks of three generations of Wyeths.

The 1969 oil painting, “Portrait of Andrew Wyeth,” was among 12 pieces that sold Nov. 29 at the Adelson Galleries in New York City as part of the Farnsworth Art Museum’s endowment campaign to sustain the artistic legacy of Andrew Wyeth, said David Troup, spokesman for the museum. It was a record amount for a Jamie Wyeth painting.

The auction raised about $4 million for the campaign. In all, $9 million has been raised toward the $12 million goal.

The sale began online Nov. 8. Final bids were made in person and by phone at the Adelson Galleries. The auctioned pieces were donated by artists, collectors and philanthropists who have an interest in sustaining the museum’s mission.

The Andrew Wyeth portrait was donated by Jamie Wyeth. The buyer wished to remain anonymous.

Other auctioned works were Andy Warhol’s “Self-Portrait With Skull,” which sold for $650,000; Andrew Wyeth’s “From the Back,” which drew $230,000; Jamie Wyeth’s “Asleep and Awake, Monhegan,” which sold for $220,000; and Fernand Leger’s “Circus Performers,” which went for $110,000.

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The auction gave a big boost to the campaign, which began in September 2009, Troup said.

“Certainly, $9 million is a place we were hoping to be at, but we never expected to be there this soon,” he said.

The endowment will be used to support the operation of the Farnsworth facilities devoted to the Maine-related work of Andrew Wyeth, as well as that of his father, N.C., and son Jamie.

Andrew Wyeth, whose work focused on coastal Maine and Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley, died in January 2009 at the age of 91.

 


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