Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2025/No. 238 i American Art Collector

Welcome to the August issue of American Art Collector! This is our art of the Wportrait issue and managing editor Sarah Gianelli takes you into the world of portraiture in her editor’s letter with passion and depth on the following page. As publishers and collectors ourselves, Adolfo and I both have portrait art in our collections and have commissioned several artists over the years to bring images of our family to life. In fact, Adolfo has a lovely portrait of his wife Robin in what we call Gallery Castillo—his office. And I have Gallery Martin in my office right next door. And yes, as collectors we’re just a little competitive. We have a third gallery in our lobby with original art by Dale Terbush, Nathan Durfee and Aron Weisenfeld, to…

Sculptor Diana Al-Hadid defies centuries-old conventions of S femininity and womanhood in the exhibition unbecoming, on view through December 14 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (MSU Broad Art Museum). The survey exhibition features large-scale installations that consume the gallery and push visitors to adjust to their presence, standing in stark contrast to antiquated social norms that define a becoming woman as subtle and quiet. The show spans nearly two decades of Al-Hadid’s career and marks the debut of four new works.…

This year, from August 1 through September 2, the American Impressionist Society (AIS) is presenting its 26th annual National Juried Exhibition in Hamilton, Montana, at Cassens Fine Art. AIS received 1,750 submissions for the juried show, from which only 166 paintings were selected by the organization’s top-tier artists. An additional 15 paintings by AIS Masters, board members and officers will also be part of the exhibition. Collectors can expect paintings in oil, casein, pastel, oil sticks, watercolor, acrylic and gouache by many of the most acclaimed impressionist artists working today. Among them is Lea Doise, whose landscape Evening Light was selected to be in the show. “My painting allows me the time and space to study the often-overlooked aspects of the world around us, closely observing its patterns, textures, shapes,…

Two exhibits at the Parthenon in Nashville celebrate the 35th anniversary of the unveiling of sculptor Alan LeQuire’s 42-foot-high recreation of its colossal statue of ancient Athena. The first show, Goddess in Progress, reveals LeQuire’s extensive research into the long-ago lost original, the engineering that supports the enormous weight of the modern sculpture, and the lengthy creative process of shaping the gilded goddess. The second exhibit, titled Monumental Figures, showcases recent work by the artist. We owe the existence of the world’s only full-sized replica of the Parthenon as it stood two and a half thousand years ago in Athens to the wise minds of the last days of the 19th century who guided the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition of 1897, celebrating 100 years of statehood. The organizers of…

Portraiture is one of the most enduring and essential forms of artistic expression, not only because it captures physical likeness, but because it reflects the inner life of both the sitter and the artist. Through brushstrokes and subtle nuance, portraiture offers something deeper than realism—it’s a record of humanity. For 27 years, the Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition has championed this tradition. Artists from around the world submit work in hopes of being recognized not just for skill, but for their ability to communicate with the viewer. With a $50,000 grand prize and a legacy of excellence, the International stands as one of the most prestigious portrait competitions globally. It is more than a contest—it is a celebration of stories, craftsmanship and courage. This year’s finalists have created…

Scott Yelonek was last in these pages—and on the cover—in March, when he had a show at Altamira Fine Art’s location in Scottsdale, Arizona. The response to his work was so positive, Altamira Fine Art is hosting another exhibition of Yelonek’s paintings, this time at their gallery in Jackson, Wyoming. In his new body of work, Yelonek continues to explore his fascination with the unknown stories embodied in relics of the past—vintage cameras in particular. Yelonek remembers going through his grandparents’ belongings a couple of decades ago, and coming across his grandmother’s sewing machine and old typewriters; his grandfather’s tools and random items like metal Folgers cans. They triggered memories from his childhood and soon he was arranging still lifes out of the objects, then he moved on to painting…

There is a lot of portraiture in every issue of American Art Collector, but especially in August, which contains our annual Collector’s Focus: Art of the Portrait. Today, portraits are no longer limited to formal depictions of prominent figures or the wealthy. They can be candid. They can be of people with no particular status and who don’t fit this culture’s norms of beauty. Inside these pages, you will find it all. Standards of beauty have changed throughout the course of history, reflecting socio-economic circumstances and cultural values. From the Renaissance through the 18th century, curviness in women was a sign of fertility and health, corpulence a signal of affluence. What struck me most about the portraiture in these pages is the number of artists who are challenging stereotypical ideals…

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. recently announced details of its “Across the Nation” partnership program, which brings key works of art from its permanent collection to regional museums across the United States throughout 2025 and 2026. Through this program, the National Gallery has lent works of art by celebrated artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Dorothea Lange, Sandro Botticelli, Rembrandt van Rijn, Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko to 10 partner museums nationwide. “We are so thrilled to bring some of the most beloved works from the nation’s collection of art directly into communities across the country,” says Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art. Loans include paintings, photography and full-scale installations. Across the Nation is part of the National Gallery’s programming commemorating the 250th anniversary…

Pamela Carroll and her late husband, Chris, raised their son, Dustin, in a charming cottage in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Filled with light, their home overlooked the surrounding landscape of the Monterey Peninsula and the dome of the Carmel Mission Basilica. The cottage had been designed and constructed in 1940 by Julia Morgan, the first woman architect licensed in California after having been the first woman admitted to the architecture program at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Morgan walked the five miles from her home and studio in Monterey to oversee construction of the cottage in Carmel. At the same time, she was designing and overseeing the building, furnishing and decoration of William Randolph Hearst’s Castle, Cuesta Encantada (Enchanted Hill), in San Simeon, California, a project she began in 1919 and…

I’ve come across several artists who paint underwater figurative scenes, but Anne Leone, who began painting them 30 years ago, is a master of the craft. She began exploring the motif when her daughter was born, wanting to create paintings that were very expressive and personal, yet universal. Swimming seemed to tick all the boxes. Back then, she also liked the metaphorical underpinnings of water as a symbol of life, emotion, the feminine, purity and transformation, concepts that resonated with her as a new mother. Leone started out painting single figures in ordinary swimming pools but while hiking in the jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula, she and her family stumbled upon locals swimming in a “pond” and joined them. She didn’t know it then, but she was swimming in a…

The tranquil and atmospheric paintings of Utah-based artist Jared Sanders will be showcased in a one-man show at Altamira Fine Art starting at the end of July. An art graduate of Utah State University, where he studied under Glen Edwards, Sanders currently lives near the small town of Heber City, Utah. His moody paintings capture the farmlands, hills, rivers and trees that the artist intimately knows and loves. “I’m very inspired by the landscape of the American West. It’s part of who I am,” says Sanders. “Using the landscape as a starting point, I try to eliminate all the distractions and nonessential parts until all that is left are only the most important shapes and colors. I think this pursuit of finding the essence of the landscape and the manipulation…

Illinois, USA • tfrein.artspan.com • tracyfrein@gmail.com Chicago-based artist Tracy Frein’s colored pencil portraits begin with weeks of preparation, generating concepts that elevate the textures, patterns and moods he hopes to convey in his work. Once Frein lands on a concept he’s satisfied with, he then moves on to a photoshoot with his subjects, which typically involves an easygoing conversation to gain his sitter’s confidence and help them to pose less self-consciously—ultimately revealing the individual quirks and personality traits that makes each individual unique. Frein’s artwork is grounded in realism and always contains a deeper narrative beneath the surface. “What drives me is the process and not the end. The process is [made up of] moments of unexpected changes, accidents of discoveries that can separate my work. Sometimes, the beauty of…

Corey Helford Gallery in downtown Los Angeles is holding Ca major solo exhibition of works by artist Richard Ahnert. Known for his vivid anthropomorphic paintings that fuse classical realism with imaginative storytelling, Ahnert’s whimsical animal subjects and scenes reflect on human emotion and the natural world. Balancing playful satire and thoughtful symbolism, the artist’s paintings convey a depth of feeling and luminous detail, and explore the kinship between humans and animals. Bad Company will hang through August 23.…

In Adrienne Stein’s painting Riverbend, the viewer is invited I into a world that feels both sacred and wild, where a moment of stillness is carved out from the noise of modern life. Stein chose a vertical composition intentionally, likening the structure of the piece to that of a soaring cathedral. This decision was not just aesthetic, but deeply symbolic. “The trees are towering, vaulted pillars,” Stein explains. “The light coming through the grass, the hair, the leaves and the pheasant wing are reminiscent of a stained-glass window.” The verticality draws the viewer’s eye upward, invoking emotions one might feel when entering a great place of worship: a sense of reverence, wonder and introspection. At the heart of Riverbend stands Felissia, the model and muse. Stein speaks with admiration about…

Amy Werntz is quick to share that she has always had an unusual preoccupation with time, the passage of it, and a fear of being forgotten and what will happen to the things she holds dear when it runs out. A sensitive artist, Werntz has poured these themes into her paintings, which often depict the elderly, creating a body of work that recently earned her the coveted $50,000 Bennett Prize, after being a finalist once before. Despite her fixation on the arc of life, death and what comes after, Werntz seems surprisingly at ease with the aging process, something she attributes to having close relationships with her grandparents throughout her life. As a result, she sees the accumulation of years and the marks it leaves on our bodies as beautiful…

While Eunika Rogers’ new show at Blue Rain Gallery is themed around finding light—physically, emotionally and spiritually—her technique and process are equally important to her body of work. In roughly 8 pieces for her show Never Miss a Daylight, Rogers brings the landscape alive by painting with clay and other natural materials, “holding a conversation with the earth itself,” says Bekah Kolbe, manager of Blue Rain’s Durango, Colorado, location. Rogers explains, “My primary intention is to explore fragility of the earth as it relates to time. I combine the origin of our existence (medium) with the subject, leading me and also the viewer to a thought-provoking narrative about our purpose and interconnectivity…I don’t just represent landscape in my work, but it is through this collaboration with nature that I construct…

Larry Blizard has nothing against painting but at some point in his long career as an artist, working across many mediums, the 85-year-old observed that the drawings in his sketchbook seemed to contain a special quality that the paintings he was creating at the time, did not—a kind of vitality or intensity. “Gradually, I began to devote more effort to sketching, until drawing took over completely,” he says. Drawing, he found, also calms his nerves. “I lose myself in the act of moving my pencil, bringing to life forms from my imagination, and the whole process becomes a kind of meditation.” Blizard also feels that sketches provide more room for the viewer to interact with the work, and for his own pieces to interact with one another. “When I look…

A plein air artist through and through, Tom Curry captures the nature, architecture and cultural treasures of his East Coast home. For Curry, who works out of a studio in Brooklin, Maine, painting outdoors is a chance to connect directly with his subjects, be it craggy shorelines, harbors packed with sailboats or quaint cottages. From August 2 to 31, Curry will be presenting about 20 works at Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth, Maine, featuring a variety of coastal island scenes that highlight the artist’s bold and highly textured style. Look to pieces like Eggemoggin Reach and Spinnakers for prime examples of Curry’s precision palette knife work. “The oil paintings in my newest body of work explore form and texture—expressing the muscularity of the ocean, the roughness of stone, the weight of…

The cover painting for the May issue of American Art Collector by Mian Situ was one of three paintings that Sanders Galleries sold directly out of the magazine that month. Situ’s Snowy Mountain sold for $85,000 to collector Brian Schroeder. “Brian has been a client of mine for awhile now and has a spectacular collection,” shares Chris Sanders, who owns the Tucson gallery. “He called me up and said, ‘I have to own this painting.’” The two other paintings that sold were bought by collectors who saw them in Sanders Galleries’ advertisement. Another work by Situ, Ronda, Spain, sold to Tucson collectors Dean and Sue Ghizzone for $48,000. “They have also been clients of mine and were looking for a piece for their home and couldn’t find the right one,”…