Scottsdale Art Auction
Live Auction

Spring 2026 | Session 2 (Lots 196-462)

Sat, Apr 11, 2026 03:00AM EDT
  2026-04-11 03:00:00 2026-04-11 03:00:00 America/New_York Scottsdale Art Auction Scottsdale Art Auction : Spring 2026 | Session 2 (Lots 196-462) https://bid.scottsdaleartauction.com/auctions/scottsdale-art-auction/spring-2026-session-2-lots-196-462-22666
This will be a two-day auction April 10th and 11th, 2026 featuring over 400 works. All lots displayed and open to the public for viewing beginning March 23, 2026 in our state-of-the-art exclusive showroom in Scottsdale, Arizona. Private viewing can be arranged by calling (480) 945-0225 or email info@scottsdaleartauction.com. Scottsdale Art Auction miranda@scottsdaleartauction.com
View Catalog (267)

Prev Lot
Next Lot
John Ford Clymer (1907-1989) 20 x 40 inches
Lot 307

John Ford Clymer (1907-1989) 20 x 40 inches

Estimate: $200,000 - $300,000
Inquire
Starting Bid
$140,000
[0 Bids]Bidding History
Bid increments chart

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,500
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
Artist: John Ford Clymer Title: The Métis Brigade Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 20 x 40 inches Signed: Signed/CA and dated 72 lower right Verso: Titled verso Framed/Base: 30 x 50 inches

Condition

Download Condition Report
This lot's overall appearance is Excellent. For more details please view the attached Condition Report.

Condition Reports are for guidance only and should not be relied upon as statements of fact, and do not constitute a representation, warranty, or assumption of liability by Scottsdale Art Auction. Scottsdale Art Auction strongly encourages in-person inspection of items by the bidder. All lots offered are sold “AS IS”. Please refer to item two (2) in our Terms and Conditions for further information.

Overall Dimensions
Height: 30.00
Width: 50.00

Available payment options

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • Amex
  • Diners
  • Discover
  • JCB
  • Union Pay

If you are the winning bidder, you will receive an invoice (via email) within 3 days.

SHIPPING If you are shipping your items out of state, you may or may not have to pay tax for your state. After the auction, if you are the winning bidder you will be emailed the link to our Shipping Form to fill out (as soon as possible). If applicable your invoice will be revised and re-sent according to your state's Nexus tax laws. Shipping Instructions Form can be found here: https://scottsdaleartauction.com/shipping-instructions/ The form asks for a credit card. In addition to the $100 per lot deposit included on your invoice for shipping, your card will be charged and you will receive an updated invoice for any charges over and above the deposit for the cost of shipping (including the box(es), carrier fees and $50 handling per lot). IMPORTANT: If you choose to coordinate shipping through a third party shipping company or pickup your items from the auction we are required by Arizona State law to charge Arizona sales tax on this transaction AND our insurance will not cover the shipment. Your item(s) will be shipped (or released for third party shipping) after verification of good funds.

Provenance:
Eddie Basha Collection, Arizona
 
Literature:
John Clymer: An Artist’s Rendezvous with the Frontier West, Walt Reed, Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ, 1976, p. 124
The Western Paintings of John Clymer, Paul Weaver, Peacock Press/Bantam Book, Bearsville, NY, 1977, Plate 40.
 
Exhibited:
Clymer, Lovell & Teague at the Gilcrease, The Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK, 1987.
People, Places, Predicaments: John Clymer’s West, Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, Scottsdale, AZ, October 8, 2024-October 26, 2025.
 
 
The Métis Brigade is one of John Clymer’s most endearing and reproduced images, and it showcases many of the qualities that the artist was known for throughout his successful career: narrative devices in the painting to maximize its story, historical detail acquired through dedicated research, a compelling composition, complexly rendered figures and a sense of cultural context within the larger canon of Western art. Clymer, who was a student of history, didn’t pull at low-hanging fruit when it came to his subjects. He found unique new angles and offered fresh perspectives from the American frontier. All of this is on display in this 1972 painting.
 
“The picture shows a band of Métis, descendants of the Hudson Bay employees and their Indian wives, spread out, single file, traveling in their Red River carts from the Red River settlement en route to their annual summer buffalo hunt on the prairies,” writes Walt Reed in John Clymer: An Artist’s Rendezvous with the Frontier West. “Their carts were entirely hand made of wood, fastened together with wooden pins and rawhide. The wooden wheels were wrapped in rawhide, put on wet, which when dried became very hard and durable. In this manner, the wheel was introduced to the Indian culture of the Northern Plains by the early French employees of the fur companies. The women and children rode in the carts, pulled by a single ox or horse, while the hunters traveled alongside..”

7176 MAIN STREET • SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA 85251

(480) 945-0225

Terms & Conditions