Innholdsfortegnelse for January-February 2021/ No. 55 i American Fine Art Magazine

Welcome to 2021 and the January/February issue of American Fine Art Magazine. As the market continues to open again, our magazine serves fine art collectors better than any other in this market. Fine art collecting has not only survived, but it has thrived in these past few months. This is our annual Museum Issue and it is spectacular, with articles on a number of important exhibitions that will be on view around the nation, whether virtually or in person. We also made the decision to upgrade our paper for 2021. This provides better images and color for you—the reader, the gallery and the auction house as you peruse through the pages. Our features and preview sections showcase upcoming museum exhibitions as well as our “Art Market Updates” and comprehensive calendar…

Curator of American Art MICHENER ART MUSEUM, DOYLESTOWN, PA (215) 340-9800, www.michenerartmuseum.org What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? I hope I have a chance to see Alexander Von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., this winter. Humboldt was an important figure in my doctoral dissertation, which investigated the way artists engaged with environmental conditions and change in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. What are you reading? I recently received the catalog for the exhibition America’s Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution, which will be traveling to the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens and the Brandywine River Museum in 2020…

American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship General Editor: Stephen M. Sessler with foreword by Elizabeth Broun, PhD (Merrell Publishers, Autumn 2020). Hardback with jacket, 304 pages with 180 illustrations, $70. One of the things that can be admired about the historic American art industry is the camaraderie that exists between collectors, dealers, auction specialists, museum curators, scholars and many more. They recognize that there is a wealth of knowledge to share and it is beneficial to work together to bolster success at all ends of the market. There is also passion for the history, culture and context and then translating that into building cohesive and beautiful art collections. In the new publication, American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship, general editor Stephen M. Sessler leads with his own passion for historic American art…

An exhibition currently on view at WOLFS Gallery in Beachwood, Ohio, Sommer’s Children explores the portraiture of 20th century American modernist William Sommer. While many artists depicted the likeness of youth at some point in their careers, usually their own children or those of friends and acquaintances, few made it their focal point. Sommer, however, transformed the niche genre into his specialty, creating dozens of children’s portraits in his illustrative, storybook style. “There is only one artist from this period who has left behind a large group of children’s portraits of sufficient distinction and originality as to warrant a separate sub-chapter in the art history of 20th-century American painting and that was William Sommer, considered by many the most important artist of the Cleveland School,” the gallery notes. Sommer’s Children…

MARLBOROUGH, MA SKINNER INC. JANUARY 22 American & European Works of Art Skinner Inc. will host its first 2021 American & European Works of Art sale on January 22 with livestream audio and online, telephone and absentee bidding. While Skinner does not anticipate in-person bidders, the sale will be live virtually. Highlights include an oil sketch of a young girl by Mary Cassatt; a large Ludwig Bemelmans autumn view of Miss Clavel and the 12 girls from the Madeline series; Hudson River School paintings by John F. Kensett and David Johnson; and works by artists such as Gilbert Stuart, Jane Peterson and Theodore Clement Steele. Florine Stettheimer is represented in the auction by Seated Dancer in a Halo of Electric Light, which “emphasizes the intense color and rhythmic patterns that…

DALLAS, TX HERITAGE AUCTIONS OCTOBER 16 Illustration Art $2.16 million A new artist world auction record for Patrick Nagel was set during Heritage Auctions’ October 16 Illustration Art Auction. The painting Jeana—depicting model Jeana Keough who appeared in rock videos in the early 1980s and was a cast member of The Real Housewives of Orange County—soared above its presale estimate of $60,000 to $80,000, selling for $350,000. Stevan Dohanos’ Great Stories from The Saturday Evening Post paperback cover, 1947, was a surprise hit. It sold well over its high estimate of $5,000 when it achieved $62,500. Other standouts included Alberto Vargas’ 1935 painting Martini Time, which sold for $47,500; Charles Robinson’s 1911 interior book illustration An Eve in this Eden for the publication The Sensitive Plant at $35,000; and Gil…

ADDISON ROWE GALLERY 229 E. Marcy Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 982-1533, www.addisonrowe.com Represents work by the early American and Southwest modernists, including the Stieglitz Circle, the Taos Society of Artists and the Santa Fe Art Colony. ADELSON GALLERIES 595 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022 (212) 439-6800, www.adelsongalleries.com A family-owned gallery specializing in 19th- and 20th-century American art. A.J. KOLLAR FINE PAINTINGS, LLC 1421 E. Aloha Street, Seattle, WA 98112 (206) 323-2156, www.ajkollar.com Specializing in American paintings from 1840 to 1940, Hudson River School, still life, Western art, American impressionism, post-impressionism and modernism. AVERY GALLERIES 100 Chetwynd Drive, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 (610) 896-0680, www.averygalleries.com Specializing in American paintings, watercolors and drawings from the 19th and 20th centuries. Avery is committed to the preservation and presentation…

Henry Morrison Flagler Museum awarded accreditation by AAM After undergoing a rigorous process of self-assessment and peer reviews, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida, was awarded Accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums at the most recent meeting of AAM’s Accreditation Commission. Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, 1,087 are currently accredited. John Waters gifts nearly 375 works to BMA The Baltimore Museum of Art recently announced a gift of nearly 375 works from celebrated, outlandish filmmaker John Waters’ fine art collection. The bequest includes photographs and works on paper with important examples by 125 artists, including Diane Arbus, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and others. The collection also includes around 90 prints, sculptures, mixed-media and video pieces by Waters himself, making the BMA the greatest repository of…

Director, Fine Arts Bonhams My area of focus is on early California paintings and Western art. I have been overseeing these auctions for over 30 years, believe it or not. I am always amazed at how consistent many of our auctions have fared through those years. Although the market overall took a dip after the 2008 recession hit, our auction results have been quite steady ever since. Quality and rarity continue to be what sells well, of course. Works that are a bit different compositionally and particularly well-executed tend to grab the most attention. I think there is plenty of money in the hands of collectors that are always waiting for just the right work to come along. The vast majority of our buyers today are private collectors. American modernism…

While impressive auction results of historic American paintings and sculpture or an occasional celebrity collector may garner a newspaper headline now and then, there is no magazine, until now, that has offered complete and comprehensive coverage of the upcoming shows and events of this always-fascinating market that is so deeply tied to American history, society and culture. Previews of Upcoming Shows and Auctions The historic fine art of America’s greatest artists is in big demand and if you are serious about acquiring it, you need to know about it sooner so you can plan your collecting strategies. When you subscribe to American Fine Art Magazine you’ll know in advance what major works are coming to market because, every other month, you’ll have access to this valuable information when we email…

THROUGH JANUARY 3 Hockney to Warhol: Contemporary Drawings from the Collection MCNAY ART MUSEUM San Antonio, TX www.mcnayart.org THROUGH JANUARY 3 Los Tres Grandes: Obras de Rivera, Siqueiros y Orozco MCNAY ART MUSEUM San Antonio, TX www.mcnayart.org THROUGH JANUARY 3 Wayne Thiebaud 100 CROCKER ART MUSEUM Sacramento, CA www.crockerart.org JANUARY 7-10 Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary PALM BEACH MODERN + CONTEMPORARY PAVILION West Palm Beach, FL www.artpbfair.com JANUARY 7-10 Washington Winter Show ONLINE www.washingtonwintershow.org THROUGH JANUARY 10 Betsy James Wyeth: A Tribute BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM OF ART Chadds Ford, PA www.brandywine.org JANUARY 10-MAY 2 She Knew Where She Was Going: Gee’s Bend Quilts and Civil Rights BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART Baltimore, MD www.artbma.org THROUGH JANUARY 18 David Park: A Retrospective SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART San Francisco, CA www.sfmoma.org…

Explorations of exotic, faraway lands have long captured our fascination. There is an allure to the romanticism of traveling to an unknown place, with new cultures, people, architecture and landscapes that feel quite literally worlds away from our own. During the second half of the 19th-century, many American artists embarked on a grand tour of Europe as an expected part of their training. And while Italy and France are widely known to have been some of the most frequented locales for the great masters of the 19th and 20th centuries, less often discussed but equally as captivating are their exploits to Spain. Some of the greatest names in American art—from William Merritt Chase, Mary Cassatt and Ernest Lawson to Robert Henri, Childe Hassam and John Singer Sargent—all made the journey…

On October 28, Christie’s kicked off its spring American art sales by offering a single-owner collection of materials related to the American West. The sale, The Legend of the West: Iconic Works from the T. Boone Pickens Collection, would go on to eclipse the full American art sale nearly seven times over. The 79-lot sale realized $20.4 million and set a few world records as well. “It was a phenomenal sale,” says Tylee Abbott, Western specialist at Christie’s. “Obviously this has been a unique year, but this would be considered a strong sale even in a normal year. Everyone is really thrilled with the results.” Not only did the sale top $20 million, but it also had a 92 percent sell-through rate and achieved several notable auction records. The top…