American Fine Art Magazine

Welcome to the January/February issue of American Fine Art Magazine and Happy NewYear! I hope your collecting adventures include attending a live auction this year. You will see why in our popular and ever-expanding Collector’s Guide to 2026 Auctions, where you will find more than 50 pages devoted to this incredibly dynamic sector of the fine art market. Inside, we highlight prominent auction houses and their sales in the year ahead. We bring you market reports from the experts, as well as coverage of recent auctions and previews of those happening this month and next. The collector base for historic fine art has grown in 2025, and we see it in auction and gallery sales, increasing numbers of art shows and events, on social media and, yes, in our many…

The big news about this issue of American Fine Art Magazine is that it contains our annual guide to 2026 auctions. Our auction-related content begins on Page 49 and for the next 44 pages (!), you will hear expert assessments of how the market fared last year, what was hot, what was not, its current overall state, and projections for 2026 (spoiler alert: the forecast is favorable). You will learn about top auction houses in the country, their biggest sales of 2025 and what they have lined up for the near and distant future. We also have in-depth coverage of the busy fall season of sales, and previews of the fine art auctions happening this month and beyond. Our auction section is robust, but this issue contains a lot of…

ONGOING Nicolai Fechin: An Artistic Journey FRED JONES JR. MUSEUM OF ART - UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA • NORMAN, OK This exhibition focuses on how a lifetime of travel, as well as his family, friends and training influenced Fechin’s work. www.ou.edu/fjjma ONGOING Jazz Age Illustration NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM • STOCKBRIDGE, MA Featuring more than 120 original works by the era’s most influential illustrators, this exhibition captures the sights, sounds and spirit of a nation in transition. www.nrm.org ONGOING Some American Stories COLBY COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART • WATERVILLE, DE This exhibition showcases paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper created before the founding of the U.S. through current times. museum.colby.edu OPENS DECEMBER 13, 2025 Marina Stern: Light CW AMERICAN MODERNISM & BEL AMI GALLERY • LOS ANGELES, CA Stern will…

Remembering Howard Rehs Howard L. Rehs, president of Rehs Galleries, passed away this November at the age of 66 following a year-long battle with ALS. One of the most respected authorities on 19th - and early 20th-century French academic art, Rehs joined the family business in 1981 and quickly became a driving force behind its evolution. He became president of the gallery and began shaping the gallery into what it is recognized as today, one of New York’s most distinguished art dealers. Over the course of his career, he became the world’s leading authority on the works of Antoine Blanchard, Émile Munier, Daniel Ridgway Knight and Julien Dupré. More than a scholar and art dealer, Rehs was a mentor to countless artists, colleagues and young professionals who credit him with…

WILLIAM ROBINSON LEIGH (1866–1955) The Colts’ Yard at Stony Ford, New York William Robinson Leigh is best known for his dramatic depictions of the AmericanWest and Southwest, but early in his career, he made illustrations for Scribner’s Magazine. In 1896, he was sent on assignment to Stony Ford Farm, an estate and horse-breeding farm near Middletown, NewYork, to create paintings to accompany two articles on trotting horses. The current example is one of these paintings and shows a group of Hambletonian horses—descendants of a famous English racehorse trained for travel on roads—rendered in precise detail which captures the individual characteristics of the horses in addition to demonstrating the artist’s academic training and skilled draftsmanship. Debra Force Fine Art 13 E. 69th Street, Suite 4F • NewYork, NY 10021 (212) 734-3636…

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? We are thrilled to present our original exhibition, Shattered Glass: The Women Who Elevated American Art, which will be on display through March 1, 2026. This exhibition is the culmination of over six years of intensive research, development and organization by myself, permanent collection curator Kaleigh Pisani and curatorial assistant Kate Hatcher. It feels surreal that the opening date is finally upon us! The exhibition will spotlight both well-known figures in American art, and those women who have historically been overlooked or omitted from history books. What are you reading? My strong interest in history, particularly as it relates to my current exhibit projects, has heavily influenced my recent reading selections,…