Nestled within the Scottsdale Art Auction’s April offerings—featuring an array of Western art depicting cowboys and cattle, soaring mountain landscapes and frontier themes—is a collection of works by master painter Richard Schmid. It’s not the first time consignors have placed their Schmid paintings at the Arizona sale, and it won’t be the last.
Richard Schmid (1934-2021), Carnation and Gold, oil, 12 x 20 in. Estimate: $20/30,000
The auction house, which holds its next sale on April 10 and 11, has long championed Schmid’s work and has seen success with bidders, even prior to the artist’s passing in 2021.
“He was a remarkable painter who made high-quality work,” says auction partner Brad Richardson. “His whole life he had the utmost respect from other painters, some of whom were his students. That affection for him and his work has filtered down to the collectors, who admire him and his paintings. He had a great way of handling paint, and that influence is quite strong.”
Richard Schmid (1934-2021), Rist Canyon Barn, oil, 18 x 30 in. Estimate: $25/35,000
The Schmid lots in the April sale include many of the subjects that the artist was famous for painting and teaching: landscapes, figures and nudes, still lifes and florals. The sale will have nine works from the artist. Among the highlights is Lady in Black, showing a figure in a matching ensemble in a moody interior space. The painting is estimated at $30,000 to $50,000. Other figurative pieces are Chriss (est. $4/6,000), Nude (est. $7/11,000) and The Fainting Couch (est. $4,500/6,500).
Richard Schmid (1934-2021), Lady in Black, oil, 20 x 34 in. Estimate: $30/50,000
The landscapes in the sale are both winter-themed paintings: Connecticut (est. $3/5,000) and Rist Canyon Barn (est. $25/35,000), which was painted near Fort Collins, Colorado. In a third painting, Carrara Porches, Schmid paints an Italian village scene. That work is estimated at $5,000 to $8,000.
Richard Schmid (1934-2021), The Fainting Couch, oil, 8 x 12 in. Estimate: $4,500/6,500
One of the still life paintings is Carnation and Gold, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. Among the flowers and vessels, Schmid painted a porcelain doll in the work. “Antique dolls are fascinating. You might think I’m rather a bit too old, not to mention the wrong gender, to regard dolls with any interest other than their high value these days,” wrote the artist in Alla Prima II: Everything I Know About Painting—and More. “However, from both a sociological and artistic point of view, dolls are rich subjects in many ways. Dolls are little versions of people, not so much of ourselves as such, but rather of how we choose to see ourselves. The dolls of any period or place are little idealized renditions of the people who made them. They are also clothed and coiffured according to their contemporaneous status (just as we are)…Though they can sometimes seem spooky, dolls continue to engage me, especially the well-worn ones with one eye left—which I know have been loved by a human child.”
Bidding begins at noon on both April 10 and 11. —
Scottsdale Art Auction
April 10-11, 2026
7176 Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 945-0225 • www.scottsdaleartauction.com
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