Saying Grace, 1951
From Artlyst:
Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell Achieve Record Prices At Auction
It has been a record breaking week for two icons of American realism. A Depression era view of New Jersey by Edward Hopper has sold for $40m (£24.4m), setting an auction record for the US artist, at Christie's sale of American art. While Rockwell's "Saying Grace" has fetched a record price of $46 million at Sotheby's on Dec. 4. The work was one of seven Rockwells sold from the collection of Kenneth J. Stuart Jr., a longtime friend of the artist's and the art editor of The Saturday Evening Post.Rockwell was paid $3,500 for "Saying Grace." It appeared on the cover of the magazine's Thanksgiving issue in 1951 and was voted Post readers' favorite cover in a 1955 poll.-New York Daily News
The entire collection brought $59.7 million. Hopper's 'East Wind Over Weehawken', created in 1934,a Depression era view of New Jersey sold for $40m (£24.4m), also setting an auction record for the US artist. The previous record was $26.9m (£16.4m), set in 2009, for his work Hotel Window. Hopper died in 1967 and was known for his depictions of contemporary American life. The painting located in New Jersey, was one he considered his best artworks. It belonged to the Pennsylvania Museum of the Fine Arts' collection for more than 60 years and has been sold to free funds to buy newer works....MORE
Here is the Saturday Evening Post's pre-auction coverage and here is the Post's Rockwell archive, 1920's-1960's.
The other two pieces hammered down were: The Gossips, 1948 and Walking to Church, 1951
