Innholdsfortegnelse for September-October 2023/No. 71 i American Fine Art Magazine

Welcome to the September/October issue of American Fine Art Magazine! In this issue you will find prestigious auctions and exhibitions throughout the country to help you discover your next treasured piece. The gallery previews combined with commentary from industry experts help you track prices, and provide insight into trends and changes in the market. In every issue we want you to acquire, enjoy and learn about unique and important American fine art. The market is very strong right now and it is a good time to be collecting historic art! This issue is unique as we spotlight museums and upcoming exhibitions across the country. These pieces are not traditionally for sale as they are displayed for the world to see at the greatest museums in the country. As you move through…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY to get the premier historic American fine art magazine in the country, and the only bi-monthly magazine that showcases the remarkable artwork from this era, as well as the galleries, museums and auction houses that support them in the art market. Need proof? The proof is in your hands. Flip through this stunning issue to find the most thorough coverage of the historic American Art genre through: » Previews of the most significant gallery shows, museum exhibitions, fine art fairs and auction sales. » Special genre sections to expand your collecting power. » Insights from industry experts. » 6 issues a year, each one presenting work by the most notable artists of the 19th and 20th centuries and practical means to add them to your collection. Join our…

Processing Abstraction “Pour, drip, splash, stain, spray, soak, splatter—these words are often used to describe abstract artists’ experimental application of paint. The creative process of many abstract painters is highly visible in their finished artworks. Vigorous brushstrokes, saturated canvases, and atmospheric surfaces all demonstrate the expansive use of the medium,” notes the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. The museum is currently holding an exhibition celebrating experimental art, highlighting large-scale abstract paintings from the museum’s collection spanning the mid-1950s to the late 2000s. Processing Abstraction will be on view through the end of the year. Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village Having spent years in preparation, this past spring, the Colby College Museum of Art in Maine unveiled Painted: Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village, an exhibition that places…

Brian Gallagher Senior Curator of Decorative Arts The Mint Museum 2730 Randolph Road Charlotte, NC 28207 www.mintmuseum.org What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? I can’t wait to see Shinichi Sawada: Agents of Clay, which opens at the Mint Museum in April 2024 and is being co-organized by the Mint and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Sawada is a self-taught Japanese ceramic artist, and to be honest, I did not know about him until my colleague presented her proposal at one of our exhibition selection meetings. I was immediately taken by Sawada’s clay sculptures, each of which has vaguely human or animal features but is so uniquely imaginative and powerful. What are you reading? I just started…

August 27, 2023-January 7, 2024 Amon Carter Museum of American Art 3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard Fort Worth, TX 76107 t: (817) 738-1933 www.cartermuseum.org Beginning August 27, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art will present a stunning new exhibition on sculptor Louis Nevelson, whose works featuring discarded bits of wood furniture and other material have captivated audiences for nearly a century. Her work—which will certainly speak to generations of people who have embraced craft, DIY or recycling—has been seen around the world, and it still inspires dialog about the environment, postmodern anxieties about material wealth, sexism in the art world and the subversion of industrialization. The World Outside: Louise Nevelson at Midcentury is the first major exhibition devoted to the artist since a 2007 exhibition that originated at New York’s Jewish…

Through June 9, 2024 Philbrook Museum of Art 2727 S. Rockford Road Tulsa, OK 74114 t: (918) 748-5300 www.philbrook.org In 2010, the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, received a bequest of 15 paintings by three generations of one of the country’s most important creative families. Marylouise Cowan (1921-2009) was born in Tulsa and went on to be the publisher of two newspapers on the Maine coast. She collected the paintings of three members of the Wyeth family: N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945), his son Andrew (1917-2009), and grandson Jamie (b. 1946). The second floor of the Wyeth Center at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine, is named in her honor and shows primarily the work of Jamie Wyeth. Her bequest to the Philbrook added to its already significant collection…

September 9, 2023 to January 7, 2024 The Rollins Museum of Art 1000 Holt Avenue-2765 Winter Park, FL 32789 (407) 646-2526 www.rollins.edu/rma For the last couple of years, the Rollins Museum of Art, located on the campus of Rollins College, has amassed a significant collection of American art. With a combination of gifts and long-term loans, the collection has grown to include late 18th - to early 20th-century works that will be on display as a comprehensive exhibition titled American Visions. “These extraordinary gifts came as we were completing an in-depth research and reevaluation of the American collection made possible by a multi-year grant from the Henri Luce Foundation, and we realized they were both complementary and additive to the existing collection, bolstering areas of strength while also filling important…

CALIFORNIA 1 Langson Intitute and Museum of California Art: Irvine Through September 9 Indefinitely Wild: Preserving California’s Natural Resources t: (949) 476-0003; www.imca.uci.edu 2 Laguna Art Museum: Laguna Beach Through September 24 Joseph Kleitsch: Abroad and At Home (pg. 78) t: (949) 494-8971; www.lagunaartmuseum.org Editor’s Pick 3 Oceanside Museum of Art: Oceanside Through November 5 Art for the People: WPA-Era Paintings from the Dijkstra Collection (pg. 44) Drawn from the collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra, this exhibition features works created during the years between the American stock market crash of 1929 and World War II. t: (760) 435-3721; www.oma-online.org COLORADO Editor’s Pick 4 Denver Art Museum: Denver November 12, 2023-March 3, 2024 All Stars: American Artists from the Phillips Collection With works by more than 50 artists this landmark show explores…

October 26, 2023, 6 p.m. Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers 49 Research Drive Milford, CT 06460 t: (203) 877-1711 www.shannons.com After a successful April sale, Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers is returning with another Fine Art Auction on October 26 in Milford, Connecticut. The lots, many of them fresh to the market, come from numerous private collections from all around the country. “We are thrilled to present this remarkable Fine Art Auction, featuring extraordinary artworks by revered artists such as Norman Rockwell, Aldro Thompson Hibbard, Frederick Carl Frieseke, William Merritt Chase and more,” says Sandra Germain, owner of Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers. “This auction offers a unique opportunity for collectors to add excellent pieces to their collections, each representing the mastery and artistic brilliance of the featured artists.” One highlight in the…

September 21, 2023 Swann Auction Galleries 104 E. 25th Street, Suite #6 New York, NY 10010 t: (212) 254-4710 www.swanngalleries.com On September 21, Swann Auction Galleries kicks off the season with its highly anticipated offerings of American fine art. Leading the highlights of the auction is Will Barnet’s 1979 oil on canvas Sleep Walk. Barnet (1911-2012) was a key figure, whose work drew from Native American art. Space Walk, executed in a minimalistic style, is expected to fetch between $50,000 and $80,000. Known for her modernist figurative work, as well as landscapes and marine scenes, March Avery’s oil Resting Models from 1976 is executed in a similar style, featuring two seated women in bold blocks of color. The piece has an high estimate of $15,000. March is the daughter of…

On July 15, the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, made up primarily of paintings and bronzes that depict the American West, achieved more than $21 million with a 94 percent sell-through rate during its annual sale in Reno, Nevada. “It’s the biggest sale we’ve had in more than 10 years. We are extremely pleased with the outcome,” auction partner Mike Overby says. “Our consigners are quite happy as well. We even had several who called in just to make sure they were seeing the numbers right.” The top lot was Howard Terpning’s 70-inch-wide Paper That Talks Two Ways – The Treaty Signing (est. $2/3 million) from 2008. The painting, with dozens of figures and faces, broke Terpning’s auction record when it sold for $2.36 million. It surpassed a 2012 record of $1.9…

I was studying art history in Florence, Italy, during my junior year of college, when I realized that art could be so much more than something to look at. Art and literature were my passions, and I found disciplines like history and political science, and economics mind-numbingly dull. That is, until I realized that I could learn about those topics through art. The example I remember most clearly is learning about Renaissance-era politics through studying portraits of the Medici family. Soon, I realized all works of art contained clues and insight into life at the time it was created, and deciphering them was a source of great satisfaction. Maybe that sounds obvious, but to a 20-year-old me, it was like a magic wand had been waved in front of my…

On July 3, Laura L. Lott began her tenure as the National Gallery of Art’s new administrator, leading the operational, architecture and sustainability strategy of one of the largest and most visited art museums in the world. The Portland Museum of Art in Oregon recently named Sayantan Mukhopadhyay the museum’s new assistant curator of modern and contemporary art. Mukhopadhyay has a an extensive background in contemporary art research and education, having recently worked as a lecturer in art history at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also earned his MA and PhD in art history. Amanda M. Maples joins the New Orleans Museum of Art as its new Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art. In this role, Maples will oversee the museum’s significant collection of historic African…

September 1-October 15, 2023 Hawthorne Fine Art New York, NY By Appointment Only t: (212) 731-0550 www.hawthornefineart.com Anna Mary Richards Brewster (1870-1952) was the daughter of the great landscape and seascape painter William Trost Richards (1833-1905). Historically her father’s reputation eclipsed her own but Anna was an accomplished artist in her own right. “Brewster exhibited at the National Academy of Design when she was just 14 years old,” says Megan Bongiovanni, research associate at Hawthorne Fine Art. “At the age of 20, Brewster received the academy’s Dodge Prize for ‘best picture by a woman.’ As a young woman, Brewster moved to England, established an art studio and spent nine years pursuing her artistic career.” After her marriage to William Tenney Brewster, the couple settled in Scarsdale, New York, where she…

October 14, 2023 to May 5, 2024 Nevada Art Museum 160 W Liberty Street, Reno, NV 89501 t: (775) 329-3333 www.nevadaart.org Charlotte B. Skinner (1879-1963) was a painter of the Sierra Nevada and Desert Country of Owens Valley. She is best known for her renderings of Lone Pine Peak, Mt. Whitney, the Alabama Hills and other iconic landmarks in the region, which define the artist’s body of work. Forty examples of such pieces are on view October 14 through May 5, 2024 at the Nevada Art Museum in an exhibition titled End of the Range: Charlotte Skinner in the Eastern Sierra. Skinner grew up in San Francisco where studied at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute and California School of Fine Arts. There she met and painted alongside notable artists including…

September 19, 2023 Bonhams Skinner 274 Cedar Hill Street Marlborough, MA 01752 t: (508) 970-3000 www.bonhams.com The fall edition of Bonhams Skinner’s American Art auction will take place at the auction house’s Marlborough, Massachusetts, location. Featured in the upcoming sale are approximately 90 lots emphasizing 19th- and 20th-century American artwork, including the Hudson River School, Ashcan School and Cape Ann artists, as well as American illustrations. Numerous highlights are sprinkled across the sale for collectors to explore and keep a keen eye out for. Among these is an illustration by N.C. Wyeth, titled Ramona, which has a presale estimate of $200,000 to $400,000. “N.C. Wyeth contributed four illustrations to the 1939 edition of Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona (originally published in 1884),” explains Robin Starr, Bonhams Skinner’s vice president of American…

September 20, 2023, 11 a.m. Freeman’s Auctions 2400 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 t: (215) 563-9275 www.freemansauction.com On September 20, Freeman’s will host a 65-lot sale from the eclectic fine art collection of New Jersey art patron Angela Gross Folk. First married to Charles Folk, a collector of American silver and coins, Ms. Gross remarried with Robert Gross, a radiologist who collected Haitian art and the work of modernist Joseph Stella—some of whose works will be featured in the sale. A passionate afficionado of American Art, Angela Gross Folk obtained art through auctions, galleries or by contacting collectors directly. In turn, her son, Thomas Folk, developed a strong interest in the Pennsylvania Impressionists and is now considered the leading and esteemed authority on Edward W. Redfield. Some of these works…

REGINALD MARSH (1898-1954) Eldorado: The Sorrow and Futility of Man Before the Beauty of Woman Known for his depictions of New York City life, Reginald Marsh often turned to scenes of the city that existed outside the realm of popular culture. Eldorado: The Sorrow and Futility of Man Before the Beauty of Woman was inspired by one of the artist’s many trips to Coney Island. Here, the artist captures a couple passing through the Tunnel of Love amusement park ride, Eldorado. In a letter from the artist to Senator William Benton, the original owner of the work, Marsh describes the painting as, “It is Coney Island, but not a merry-go-round. It shows the futility and sorrow of man before the beauty of woman in a tunnel.” According to Benton, he…

Museums are places to think, learn, wonder and feel. They serve as gathering points for people of all backgrounds and generations to bring their own unique perspectives to exhibitions thoughtfully curated to engender dialogue. The 35,000 museums in this country range from the most iconic metropolitan institutions, to the intimate and highly-specialized, but they share the same purposes; their only differences lie in scale, focus and breadth. People visit museums for many reasons. Some want to learn about the past, while others are looking for insight into the present through more conceptual and contemporary art. Some simply go for the aesthetic pleasure. No matter what you enjoy about the museum experience, they open our minds, make us reflect, and connect us to ourselves and each other. as well as the…

In their curators’ preface to the catalog for the exhibition Fashioned by Sargent, Erica E. Hirshler and James Finch write, “What happens when you turn yourself over to the hands of an artist? Who decides what you wear when your portrait is crafted, and what message will it send when your image goes out into the world? This book, and the exhibition it accompanies, explore these questions in John Singer Sargent’s portrait practice from his early career in Paris to his late studies of figures in the landscape. Through the dynamics of dress, we can see that Sargent did not pander to his clients—his art always came first. Paying particular attention to the choices he made, we can contrast his depictions with the types of garments his sitters wore, illuminating…

Through September 24, 2023 Laguna Art Museum 307 Cliff Drive Laguna Beach, CA 92651 t: (949) 494-8971 www.lagunaartmuseum.org Perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific sits the Laguna Art Museum, well known for exhibiting works by California artists across genres, mediums and eras. On view through September 24 is an exhibition that explores the life and work of Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931), a Hungarian-American portrait and plein air painter who was an important figure in the early California School of Impressionism. Featuring more than 70 paintings that capture the energy and beauty of Southern California, this rare compilation of works draws from private collections, and loans from galleries and museums. “We cannot wait to welcome guests to this exhibition that touches upon every period of Joseph Kleitsch’s artistic output,” says Julie…

Through January 7, 2024 Reading Public Museum 500 Museum Road Reading, PA 19611 t: (610) 371-5850 www.readingpublicmuseum.org In what curator Scott A. Schweigert calls one of the largest and most valuable bequests in the museum’s 120-year history, the Reading Public Museum has received the second generation from the estate of Dr. Luther Brady, a Philadelphia oncologist and a longtime patron of the arts who died in 2018 at the age of 92. The gift includes over 120 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by important 20th - and 21st-century artists that include iconic abstract expressionists Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Esteban Vicente, Friedel Dzubas and Kenzo Okada. These paintings will join works by American modernists Jules Olitski, Frank Stella, Louise Nevelson, George Segal and Nancy Graves, among…

September 16, 2023, 10 a.m. Jackson Hole Art Auction Center for the Arts 240 S. Glenwood Street Jackson, WY 83001 t: (866) 549-9278 www.jacksonholeartauction.com Western and wildlife art are the major themes of the Jackson Hole Art Auction that will take place on September 16 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The sale will offer more than 300 lots, including many historic works from top artists who documented the American West. The sale has often had a strong focus on wildlife, and this year’s auction will be no exception. “Wildlife has always been our stronghold within the sale. Wildlife consistently comes to us, whether that is Carl Rungius, Bob Kuhn, Ken Carlson, Wilhelm Kuhnert or many others, our sales are typically well represented by many of the greats,” says the auction’s managing…

It was a busy summer for Freeman’s in Philadelphia after the auction house presented four sales in what it was calling American Week. The four sales realized a combined $7 million, of which $2.45 million came from the sale of one N.C. Wyeth piece. The four sales were two single-owner sales featuring works from the Sydney F. Martin estate on June 4 and 6, a literature and history sale on June 8 and, the anchor for the week, the June 4 American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists sale, which featured the Wyeth painting, Jetty Tree (Port Clyde, Maine). The Wyeth was estimated at $200,000 to $300,000, but the painting and its passionate bidders had other plans—it closed after furious bidding at $2.45 million, more than eight times over its high estimate.…