Innholdsfortegnelse for March-April 2020/ No. 50 i American Fine Art Magazine

“Art is at least in part a way of collecting information about the universe.”— Rebecca West I was thinking about this quote as I was researching and writing the story about the Vida Americana exhibition that recently opened at the Whitney Museum. What struck me about the quote, and the exhibition for that matter, is how artists are drawn to each other, create movements, create meaning and open us up to truths—some universal and some much more subtle. The beauty of Vida Americana is it shows us how there are still truths being discovered about the assumed narratives that, woven together, create the history of art in this country. Two hundred years is not a long time, to be sure, but within such a short period, there have been so…

frost.fiu.edu Transitional Nature: Hudson River School Paintings from the David and Laura Grey Collection follows the change from a primarily agricultural America to one run by technology, impacting the way artists experienced nature and their changing world. Focusing on American landscapes, the exhibit follows the travels of artists who sought to find untouched land and emphasize the beauty that only nature can produce. These landscapes led to one of the most prominent art movements in the country, that of the Hudson River School. Transitional Nature will be on view through May 17.…

www.norton.org An exhibition highlighting a gift of American impressionist and realist works from long-time museum supporters Priscilla and the late John Richman is on view at the Norton Museum of Art through March 15. Among the artists whose works are in the collection are Thomas Hart Benton, Robert Henri and Rockwell Kent. In total, the Richmans have gifted the Norton Museum 11 paintings, ranging from scenes of harmonious nature to representations of subjects from American history.…

www.americanart.si.edu Chiura Obata was best known for his depictions of California landscapes and drawings of his experiences of Japanese-American incarcerations during World War II. As one of the most influential California-based artists and Japanese-American cultural leaders of the century, his works create a fusion of Eastern and Western styles. Chiura Obata: American Modern provides a rich and vivid overview of his works, exploring his change in tone and medium after the War had begun. The show will be up through May 25.…

www.artic.edu The Art Institute of Chicago presents the collection of Richard and Mary L. Gray, an expansive exhibition spanning seven centuries of art from Europe and America. While the collection is home to the artwork of celebrated names like Rubens, Boucher, Canaletto, Tiepolo, Seurat, Van Gogh, Degas, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, de Kooning and Hockney, an array of works by lesser-known artists round out the grouping as well. Pure Drawing: Seven Centuries of Art from the Gray Collection will be up until May 10.…

www.chrysler.org Chrysler Museum of Art’s The Norfolk Rooms tells the story of the heritage port city of Norfolk, Virginia, through a blend of art and artifacts. The show has been on display since 2014 in the historic 1794 building the Willoughby-Baylor House, once home of the Norfolk History Museum. The long-running exhibition celebrating the culture and history of the Tidewater region finally comes to a close on March 29.…

Since 2016, the National Museum of Women in the Arts has asked its social media followers if they can name five women artists. The prompt is more challenging than you’d think—most people start off with Georgia O’Keeffe, move on to Frida Kahlo and then they draw a blank. That gap in knowledge makes more sense after you learn that from 2008 to 2018, works by women represented only 11 percent of museum acquisitions and 14 percent of exhibitions in museums in the United States. This year marks an important anniversary in American women’s history: the centennial of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote. As the nation reflects on the progress women have made in the last century, many museums are committing to highlighting…

Opens March 3 Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art 445 N. Park Avenue Winter Park, FL 32789 t: (407) 645-5311 www.morsemuseum.org Portraits tell two stories. One is that of the subject itself—the life of the person being portrayed, and the history surrounding that life. The second is the story of the artist’s vision, their creative interpretations, influences and personal touches. “Portraiture is always sort of a remnant of painting as far as classification, but there’s always so much revealed when you look at the sitter as well as how they’re depicted by the painter. The painters are really defined by their styles and the times in which they painted,” says Jennifer Perry Thalheimer, curator and collections manager at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park,…

April 2 Swann Auction Galleries 104 E. 24th Street New York, NY 10010 T: (212) 254-4710 www.swanngalleries.com Twice yearly Swann Auction Galleries hosts its African-American Fine Art sale with approximately 150 to 180 lots hitting the market. There is always a range of artwork available, from the late 19th century through modern masters, with the majority of the pieces being postwar and contemporary. “As far as this auction goes, we have some exciting pieces,” says Nigel Freeman, director of African American art at the auction house. “There’s a group of artists we’ve done well with that we continue to get more of their consignments so we’re building on their past successes.” Just over a year ago, the auction house sold a Jacob Lawrence painting for a stellar price, and he…

JAY E. CANTOR Jay E. Cantor started the American Art Department for Christie’s in the late ’70s, is on the board of the Winter Antiques Show, the Art Committee for The Century Association, the board of directors of The Century Archives Foundation, and recently retired as the chairman of the Collections Committee and a member of the Steering Committee for Friends of American Arts at Yale University. He also served as the founding president of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. JOHN O’HERN John O’Hern retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico, after 30 years in the museum business, specifically as the Executive Director and Curator of the Arnot Art Museum, in Elmira, New York. John was chair of the Artists Panel of the New York State Council…

www.americanart.si.edu Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture celebrates the worldwide explorations of one of the most important naturalists of the 19th century. Through his 36 books and thousands of letters, Humboldt created a lasting influence on the way we think about our relationship to our environment. The exhibition, which includes more than 100 paintings, centers on the fine arts as a lens through which to understand how deeply intertwined Humboldt’s ideas were with America’s emerging identity, grounded in an appreciation of nature. Running March 20 to August 16, works from artists like Albert Bierstadt, Karl Bodmer, George Catlin, Frederic Edwin Church and many others will be on view.…

www.pafa.org In March of 2019, American educator and arts advocate, Constance E. Clayton, gifted the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts more than 70 artworks by African American artists. The collection consists primarily of paintings and works on paper dating from the late 19th to 20th centuries. There are also sculptures by Richmond Barthé, Augusta Savage and one attributed to May Howard Jackson. The gift also includes several works by PAFA alumni such as Barkley L. Hendricks, Henry O. Tanner, Laura Wheeler Waring and many more. Highlighting this collection is the exhibition Awakened in You running through July 12.…

www.cmoa.org A Delight for the Senses: The Still Life revels in the humble and often overshadowed art of the still life, exploring over 250 years from the 17th century to America’s Gilded Age. These simple paintings offer more meaning than what meets the eye—beyond the skillful techniques and aesthetics are metaphors related to class, morals and life itself. Held at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, this collection of still lifes loaned from the Detroit Institute of Arts and local collectors, will be on view through March 15.…

www.rockwellmuseum.org On view at the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York, is Prints by Women: Selected Works from the Georgia Museum of Art running through April 26. A diverse body of 46 works will be on view—woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, screenprints and more—spanning the 19th to the 21st century, all by American or European women artists. The exhibition runs through April 26 and includes works by American artists Peggy Bacon, Victoria Hutson Huntley, Ella Fillmore Lillie and Elizabeth Olds, and European artists Rosa Bonheur, Berthe Morisot and Käthe Kollwitz, among others.…

An intriguing little mystery lies buried at the heart of a major new exhibition at the Denver Art Museum: Did two of America’s greatest 19th-century artists and illustrators, Frederic Remington and Winslow Homer, ever meet? There is ample evidence, all circumstantial, that would seem to suggest they could have. Both artists lived in New York City and even frequented some of the same Manhattan venues, including the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League and M. Knoedler & Co. Gallery. Some of their separate haunts—including publishing companies, watering holes and studios—were often down the street or around the corner from each other. Both men were close friends with artist J. Alden Weir, with Homer even rooming with him for a year before Weir left for Paris. Both Remington and…

Through April 26 Peabody Essex Museum 161 Essex Street Salem, MA 01970 t: (978) 745-9500 www.pem.org Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson wrote the acclaimed book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration in 2010. She wrote, “Well, I’m a daughter of the great migration as, really, the majority of African Americans that you meet in the north and west are products of the great migration. It’s that massive. Many of us owe our very existence to the fact that people migrated.” From 1915 to 1970, during the Great Migration, 6 million Southern black people moved from the agricultural south to the industrial centers of the northeast, Midwest and west, seeking a better and a safer life. Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was born in Atlantic City, New…

April 4 Scottsdale Art Auction 7176 Main Street Scottsdale, AZ 85251 t: (480) 945-0225 www.scottsdaleartauction.com In the overlap of history and mythology, that’s where you’ll find Western art. Its themes, settings and even many of its subjects—cowboys, bronco busters and Native Americans—are rooted in history, but have, over the course of a century, worked their way into the magic and myth of the Old West. On April 4, the Scottsdale Art Auction will offer pieces of the American West when it brings more than 375 works of Western art to bidders in Scottsdale, Arizona. “We have a great number of amazing works of art this year, including some really important works from artists like Maynard Dixon, as well as the artists of Taos, New Mexico,” says auction partner Brad Richardson.…

FEBRUARY 17-MAY 17 Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925-1945 WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART New York, NY www.whitney.org FEBRUARY 24-APRIL 24 John Marin & the Critics MENCONI + SCHOELKOPF New York, NY www.msfineart.com FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 1 The Art Show ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA New York, NY www.artdealers.org FEBRUARY 28-MAY 24 Something Over Something Else: Romare Bearden’s Profile Series CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM Cincinnati, OH www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 1 Winter Auction THOMASTON PLACE Thomaston, ME www.thomastonauction.com OPENS MARCH 3 Selected Portraits from the Morse Collection MORSE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART Winter Park, FL www.morsemuseum.org MARCH 3-APRIL 17 Werner Drewes DEBRA FORCE FINE ART New York, NY www.debraforce.com MARCH 5 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES New York, NY www.swanngalleries.com MARCH 5-8 Art on Paper New…

www.cummermuseum.org A focused exhibition of 10 works spanning the 19th century to today will be displayed during Eclectic Ecology: Landscape Perspectives from Ponce de León to Florida Man at the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, Florida. The paintings detail the ways artists saw and captured the Floridian landscapes and beauty over the past 100 years, often depicting a lush and unfamiliar land. The exhibit seeks to explore the dichotomy between Florida and the people living in it as well as ways artists captured the complex landscape. The show runs through the end of the year.…

www.worcesterart.org Rare prints, silver tea sets, everyday objects and artwork provide a deeper look into the historical figure, Paul Revere, most widely known for his famous “midnight ride” during Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere at Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts. Revere was a versatile artisan who dabbled in many mediums beyond being a silversmith. Through seeing and understanding his works, viewers have the opportunity to learn more about the entrepreneurial, patriotic man who lived during the formative period of a new nation.…

www.denverartmuseum.org Norman Rockwell: Imagining Freedom showcases Rockwell’s World War II-era works that reinforced the positive approach of bringing Americans together for the common good during a turbulent time. The exhibition, which opens May 2 and runs through August 23, sheds light on the ways in which Rockwell and his contemporary illustrators became important storytellers who advanced critical civic ideas through their creative advertising and imagery.…

www.crystalbridges.org For more than 50 years, Ansel Adams captured America’s natural landscapes through his iconic photographs. Widely known for his black-and-white landscapes, Adams’ work will be showcased in Ansel Adams: In Our Time running May 23 to September 7. Visitors can dive into scenes of national parks, the American Southwest, deserts and wilderness through the 180 photographs that will be on display, including the works of 20 of Adams’ contemporaries.…

www.gibbesmuseum.org Hosted by the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection brings together for the first time the paintings and sculptures of 42 diverse women artists who made significant contributions to the art of the South during the late 1890s to early 1960s. On view through May 3, this exhibition examines the challenges female artists faced during a period in which women’s social, cultural and political roles were being redefined and reinterpreted. The works of these artists, which include Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Anne Wilson Goldthwaite and Augusta Savage, challenged the status quo and encouraged future generations of women to create art.…

The seventh annual FOG Design+Art recently concluded this past January 16 to 19, bringing in nearly 15,000 visitors to the four-day event, the highest the fair’s seen thus far. With 48 of the top international design and visual art galleries, the event provided engaging talks with creative thinkers and innovators in the art and design industries, including conversations with artists like Rashaad Newsome, Simon Denny and Rodney McMillian. The Preview Gala, which benefits educational programs and exhibitions of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, was held on January 15 and saw more than 1,800 guests including dealers, curators, collectors and leaders in the art, design, tech and business communities. “There is likely no other fair quite like FOG. The alignment of a wide-ranging, high level, ever-changing and expanding circle…

LOS ANGELES, CA BONHAMS MARCH 17 California and Western Art On March 17, Bonhams will host its California and Western Art sale with a strong selection of paintings and sculptures hitting the market. The standout of the auction is Frederic Remington’s bronze The Broncho Buster, which was modeled in 1895 and cast around 1902. This work, coming from the estate of Barron Hilton, features a brownish-black patina and measures 23¾ inches high. It has a presale estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. Known for their California Impressionist offerings, the auction house also brings to market Elmer Wachtel’s The California Coast, which is expected to sell between $100,000 and $120,000. Another coastal scene in the auction is Arthur Grover Rider’s Bringing in the Boat, which has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.…