Innholdsfortegnelse for November-December 2023/No. 72 i American Fine Art Magazine

Welcome to the November/December issue of American Fine Art Magazine! As WI was perusing through the features in this issue I read the preview of Art for the Millions, an exhibit at The Met that remains very much relevant today. The Met has assembled more than 100 works from 1930s America, a decade of political and social upheaval. American historic art plays a role in recording the emotion and perspective of Americans at any given time. Our museums are the great protectors of our country’s artistic and historic legacy. You can find the feature about this landmark exhibition on Page 64. As we head into the holiday season with our friends and family we bring to you a tradition of history in our pages, pieces of which you can own and…

ONLY $45 FOR 6 ISSUES! 50% OFF NEWSSTANDS! 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…

The National Gallery of Art has recently announced several new appointments. Laura Lott, previously president and CEO of AAM, is the NGA’s new administrator. Sean O’Connor was named chief development officer, having previously held the title at the National Audubon Society. The NGA’s new head of exhibitions is Steven Mann, former senior director of exhibitions and program alignment at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Finally, Andrews Sears was appointed assistant curator of Northern European paintings. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has named two appointments to its senior leadership team. Paul Dien is the new chief marketing officer, and Kimberly Watson is chief development officer. A Pennsylvania native, Dien is returning to the city where most recently he was vice president of advancement and partnerships at the GRAMMY Museum. Watson joins…

A new exhibition at CW American Modernism delves into the works of modernist Charles Goeller, many of which have not been seen publicly in more than 75 years. Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness is the artist’s most comprehensive show to date, featuring over 30 works ranging from Goeller’s Paris paintings of the late 1920s to his abstracted landscapes of the early 1950s. “Prior exhibitions have been smaller in scale and focused mainly on Goeller’s precisionist/magic realistoriented works,” says Chris Walther of CW American Modernism. “Our exhibition will cover works from the 1920s when Goeller produced immaculate Art Deco influenced portraits, through his moody and mysterious landscapes from the 1940s and ’50s, which addressed the artist’s concern for the environment.” The exhibition will feature more than 20 of Goeller’s oil paintings,…

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Freeman’s has established itself as the leading auction house for Pennsylvania Impressionists, a movement of the first half of the 20th century centered in and around Bucks County, in particular the town of New Hope. In addition to quintessential works representing the genre, Freeman’s brings a broad range of American art to their twice-annual American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists sale on December 3, that spans the late-19th century to nearly 1980. Artists of note include Hudson River School landscapist Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908), expat painter Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Pennsylvania Impressionist Martha Walter (1875-1976), New Hope School artist Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), California Impressionist Jessie Arms Botke (1883-1971), sporting artist Edmund Henry Osthaus (1858-1928) and Henry Koerner (1915-1991). “The true highlight of the sale is a large-scale painting…

This November 16 and 17, Eldred’s is holding its annual Fall Sale. As the oldest continuously operating auction house in New England, the anticipated two-day sale will be taking place at Eldred’s headquarters in East Dennis, Massachusetts, on the beautiful island of Cape Cod. The upcoming sale will include close to 200 paintings—primarily 19th - and 20th-century American fine art. There will also be an impressive selection of antique furniture as well as Americana and folk art, predominantly sourced from private collections across New England and the rest of the United States. Among the highlights in American painting during the forthcoming sale is a watercolor by Jamie Wyeth titled Corbett House, depicting a house in Monhegan Island, Maine, surrounded by lush foliage. The painting is expected to bring in between…

Swann Auction Galleries kicked off the fall season with its highly anticipated sale of American fine art this past September. This sale featured a wide array of works in a diversity of mediums like oil paintings, watercolors, sculpture and pencil/charcoal drawings spanning the 19th and 20th centuries—including a number of dynamic works by early 20th-century American modernists Edward Hopper, Marsden Hartley, Walt Kuhn, William Zorach, John Marin and many others. The highest selling lot was Edward Steichen’s oil on canvas, Child Seated in a Garden. Painted in 1905, the piece achieved $37,500, against a low estimate of $30,000. Woman with a Fur-Collar Jacket * Man with a Pipe Seated on a Stool in Tyrolian Costume, a pencil on cream wove paper by Hopper, broke well past its $10,000 high estimate…

More than 75 exhibitors offering a colossal range of quality art and antiquities will converge in San Mateo, California, during the Hillsborough Antiques + Art + Design Show. Held in the middle of November, this three-day event features everything from paintings, prints and bronzes, to fine antique furniture, silver, jewelry, pottery and much more. “We are so excited to return to the Bay Area to present this well-established antiques, art and design show,” says Rosemary Krieger, president of Dolphin Promotions, the show’s organizer. Proceeds from the event benefit the United Veterans Services, a non-profit national organization that enlists volunteers and raises funds to support hospitalized veterans in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers across the country. “We have a great lineup of dealers this time, and [I] think that the diversity of…

Welcome to the November/December issue of American Fine Art Magazine! If you can’t tell, I am still feeling the energy of a recent trip to New York City where I was exposed to so much incredible art. On the ground in one the world’s epicenters of art, I’m happy to report back that the fine art market is stronger and more vital than ever. Although officially in New York on contemporary art business, I devoted an equal amount of time to historic American art, visiting the galleries we work with on a regular basis and others that we would like to feature more often in the future. I began my tour on the Upper East Side at Lincoln Glenn and Graham Shay 1857, where the breadth and quality of art…

FRANCIS AUGUSTUS SILVA (1835-1886) Morning on the Shrewsbury River Francis Augustus Silva is best known for his luminist paintings of New York Harbor and the Hudson River. In 1880, he moved from New York City to Long Branch, New Jersey, and the surrounding area became his new source of inspiration. Morning on the Shrewsbury River depicts the short stream and estuary that borders the northern edge of the town. The clarity of light, bright palette and crisp, linear composition are exemplary of the artist’s work in both watercolor and oil during this period. The scale of the watercolor and its probable inclusion in 14th annual exhibition of the American Watercolor Society in 1881 make it an exciting rediscovery, as the work has descended through the collection of a Southern family.…

While working on the sale of works by artist George Tooker, (1920-2011), Debra Force Fine Art director, Bethany Dobson, stumbled upon a large body of work by the civil rights activist and painter, William R. Christopher—Tooker’s romantic partner and contemporary. After more research, the New York gallery came to realize how overlooked and forgotten the artist had become, despite his many achievements and contributions to his era. For the aptly titled show of 17 works titled A Rediscovery, Dobson explains that the show is divided into several categories, spanning Christopher’s artistic career and interests. “His paintings from the 1950s are primarily magic realist in style; he was part of the group that included Tooker, Paul Cadmus, Jared French and others,” Dobson says. “Paintings like Side Show and Happy Jenny were…

Featuring more than 45 paintings, pastels, watercolors and prints, A Shared Vision: The Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art unveils the entirety of a promised gift to the Chrysler Museum, comprised of one of the most impressive collections of American art assembled in the 21st century. The exhibition will be on view in the museum’s Frank Photography Gallery from December 8, 2023, through March 10, 2024. Spanning nearly 100 years of American art, from the wake of the Civil War to the mid-20th century, the Brock Collection includes works by a wide range of artists from Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, John La Farge, Thomas Wilmer Dewing and John Singer Sargent, to Marsden Hartley, Max Weber, George Bellows, Charles Sheeler and Milton Avery. Works by more obscure artists such…

With the Princeton University Art Museum closed during new construction, the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, is the last of only three museums to showcase more than 100 works of American art from the university’s collection. Stories Retold, which spans four centuries of Euro-American, African American and Native American art will be on display at the Speed through January 7, 2024, after which it will be installed in the Princeton Art Museum’s new galleries, set to reopen to the public in the spring of 2025. Organized by Karl Kusserow, the Princeton University Art Museum’s John Wilmerding Curator of American Art, the exhibition focuses on three areas of critical inquiry and topical relevance: race, gender and the environment. The works of art have been organized into 30 separate groups designed…

Collectors will not want to miss Bonhams’ fall sale which brings works by some of the most sought-after names in historic American art to the block on November 7. Beginning at 2 p.m., both online and in person at their New York location, the auction features roughly 90 lots by artists that include Martin Johnson Heade, Childe Hassam, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Mary Cassatt, George Tooker, Andrew Wyeth, Wolf Kahn and Ernie Barnes. “We have a great selection of works from the late 19th century to the late 20th century to offer this season,” says Aaron Anderson, Bonhams associate specialist of American art. “We are also thrilled to be offering paintings from the William Dana Lippman collection. Mr. Lippman was a phenomenal collector and the paintings from the…

The star of Bonhams Skinner’s most recent American Art sale was N.C. Wyeth’s Ramona, breaking well past its $150,000 low estimate when it sold for $191,000. “The work, one of four illustrations the artist created for the 1939 publication of Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel, Ramona, showcased Wyeth’s uncanny ability to create a complete narrative through subtle body language, glances and facial expressions of his figures,” says Robin Starr, vice president and director of American & European Works of Art at Bonhams Skinner. “Here, the young and beautiful Ramona has a climactic showdown with her formidable foster mother. The painting’s whereabouts had been unknown until recently, when it was purchased from a New Hampshire thrift store for $4.” In total, the September 19 sale achieved $661,798 with a 78 percent sell-through…

EAST DENNIS, MA ELDRED’S JULY 27-28 Summer Sale $1.4 million Just over 750 lots crossed the block during Eldred’s annual Summer Sale on July 27 and 28, yielding nearly $1.4 million in sales. Competition came from online platforms as well as phone and absentee bidders and an audience in the sales room. The Summer Sale featured an outstanding group of Provincetown and Cape Cod art, and an unprecedented collection of works by the Lynn Beach painters. Top lots included several works of historic American art, including a pencil on cream wove paper attributed to Grant Wood, titled Study No. 1 Fall Plowing. The piece absolutely shattered its high estimate of $5,000 when it sold for $94,500 to a phone bidder. Another highlight was Alfred Thompson Bricher’s Morning Sunlight, Narragansett Bay,…

The eighth annual Nantucket Show, formerly the Nantucket Summer Antiques Show, enjoyed a successful run at the Boys and Girls Club of Nantucket in early August. The event kicked off with a VIP preview party that benefitted the Nantucket Historical Association and drew more than 1,200 attendees over the course of the weekend who came to browse the booths of 31 hand-picked fine art and antique dealers from the United States, Europe and England. Highlights included an extremely rare early 19th-century map of Nantucket that still had its original scroll bars, courtesy of Arader Galleries; and three chairs from the coronation of King George VI, the coronation of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, and one from Prince Charles’ investiture as the Prince of Wales brought to the show by William…

If the success of The Newport Show is at all telling, the decorative arts and antique market is experiencing an upswing in collector interest. During this year’s late-July event, the show raised a record-breaking $375,000 for the Newport Historical Society and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newport County, and more than 500 guests attended the Gala Preview party on opening night, where they got a sneak peek at the 40-plus exhibitor booths. “It was great to be back home at St. George’s School,” says show co-founder and chair, Anne Hamilton. “We were thrilled with record-breaking turnout for both the gala and the weekend. Most importantly, it was the best year of support to date, benefitting two important Newport non-profits.” According to fellow show cofounder and show manager Diana Bittel,…

Schoelkopf Gallery moves to Tribeca One of the leaders in American art, Schoelkopf Gallery has recently moved to a new location on 390 Broadway in Tribeca, New York City. Founded by Andrew Schoelkopf, who served 10 years at Christie’s as senior VP of the American paintings department (among other positions), Schoelkopf Gallery now occupies a 4,800-square-foot gallery space designed by Markus Dochantschi from studioMDA. The gallery’s previous location at 22 East 80th Street is now closed to the public. In a Time of Witness The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is publishing an innovative twist to a collection catalog. In a Time of Witness generates new scholarship around works of art through original poems and short stories from some of the most celebrated writers of our time. The…

In an online exhibition that aptly dovetails with Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s, currently on view at The Met and also featured in this issue, Helicline Fine Art presents works by prominent WPA-era muralist, Joseph Cain (1904-2003). A painter, muralist and art educator, Joseph Cain’s work remained infused by the color and vibrancy of his native New Orleans long after he left at the age of 16, first to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and then at the Art Students League of New York, where he was instructed by Kenneth Hayes Miller, Kimon Nicolaïdes and Vaclav Vytlacil. He later studied under the abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann and at the Sorbonne in Paris. Cain’s style was constantly evolving throughout his career. His 1920s…

Now open at The Met in New York City is Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s, an exhibition that focuses on a vibrant period of art and culture. Featuring more than 100 works, the exhibition focuses on how artists expressed political messages and ideologies through a range of media. “American artists witnessed astounding hardships in the 1930s and responded fervently,” says Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. “As the nation confronts similar issues of political polarization and widening inequality today, this insightful exhibition serves as a poignant reminder of how artists then, like now, used their craft to connect with audiences, take action, and illuminate social ills. This presentation also brings to the fore women artists and artists of color who…

John Moran Auctioneers will present its seasonal California & American Fine Art Sale on November 14 in Monrovia, California. The popular sale routinely brings strong pieces to the market, including pieces by prominent California Impressionists, and this sale is no exception. Leading the auction are three Edgar Payne paintings, each one showing different subjects for which he was well known—a boat-filled harbor scene, a coastal painting of waves crashing and a high-mountain scene. The harbor painting, The Water Front, Sottomarina, Italy (est. $30/50,000), was inspired by Payne’s European travel, particularly a period between November 1922 and September 1923. After a stay in Rome, Payne headed to Chioggia, an island known for its Adriatic fishing boats. There he painted dozens of works of boats, reflections in the water and other harbor…

On September 22, the Jackson Hole Art Auction realized nearly $4 million in sales across a variety of categories. With collectors, both locals and those traveling into Wyoming, on hand for the sale, the auction house saw impressive results with images of Native Americans and also wildlife. These came from living artists, as well as historic artists whose names perform strongly at auction all around the country. The top lot was Status Symbols, a Howard Terpning portrait of a Native American figure holding a spear and shield. The piece, estimated at $200,000 to $500,000, sold within estimates at $390,000. Terpning also had a second work among the top-10 lots, Blackfeet Regalia, which sold for $84,000, just below its $100,000 low estimate. Terpning, who’s now in his 90s, was a student of…

Returning with yet another dazzling display of antiques, art and design is the Delaware Antiques Show—one of the nations most distinguished shows of its kind. Hosted at the Chase Center on the Riverfront and organized by the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, the 2023 show boasts more than 60 dealers featuring furniture, paintings, rugs, porcelain, jewelry and more. “The [show] has been running for 60 years and it’s as strong as ever,” says Chris Strand, Charles F. Montgomery director and CEO for the Winterthur. “We’re holding true to our roots because we think it’s important. We’re known as the ‘last true Americana show.’” While there’s a little something for everyone to enjoy at the Delaware Antique Show, Strand notes that they are branching out to reach new and younger collectors.…