Innholdsfortegnelse for May-June 2024/No. 75 i American Fine Art Magazine

Welcome to the May/June issue of American Fine Art Magazine—one our favorite Wissues of the year! Adolfo, Robin and I are headed to NewYork City to attend several special shows and events during Manhattan’s biggest week for historic American art. Our first show, The American Art Fair, focuses on 19th - and 20th-century works and will feature more than 400 landscapes, portraits, still lifes, studies and sculptures. We are a proud media sponsor of this event. The lectures are legendary, with talks by leading scholars on Emil Bisttram, Louise Nevelson, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt and many more. This fair showcases the legacy of historic American artists and highlights their importance in a collection. We are here to connect you with the dealers and experts who can guide you as you…

Through May 31, 2024 CW American Modernism Los Angeles, CA By appointment t: (310) 383-0463 cwamericanmodernism@gmail.com www.cwamericanmodernism.com The second installation in a series of exhibitions mounted by CW American Modernism picks up the art historical narrative in the era of WorldWar II and the immediate aftermath. The conflict shaped all aspects of art, society and culture, and as the devastating economic times of the Great Depression faded, the United States emerged as a global superpower that resulted in widespread prosperity for many, but by no means all Americans. By the end of the 1940s, a sense of existential dread had crept into the nation’s consciousness as the threat of nuclear war became a real possibility for the first time. Despite this era of great turmoil, the number of American artists…

Through June 30, 2024 New Britain Museum of American Art 56 Lexington Street, New Britain, CT 06052 t: (860) 229-0257 www.nbmaa.org Two strains dominated American painting in the period from the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913 to the early 1950s. One strain, which we might call high modernism, grounded itself in abstraction patterned after and springing from cubism and the affiliated -isms that characterized European art. The other, American scene painting, found its style in the Mexican muralism of Diego Rivera and others, and found its subjects in daily life in urban and rural America, and in the hardships of the Depression. That the two strains “strained” against one another is the stuff of art history, which is always invested in a good fight. However, Modern Times: 1920s-1950s, an exhibition…

May 15, 2024 Heritage Auctions 2801 W. Airport Freeway Dallas, TX 75261 t: (877) 437-4824 www.ha.com On May 15, Heritage Auctions will present its seasonal American Art Signature Sale in Dallas. Among the 100 lots will be offerings related to women artists and classic Golden Age Illustration, as well as artworks from many other categories of American art. “We’re loving this sale, says Aviva Lehmann, the director of American art at Heritage. “Over the past few years, we’ve been pushing the envelope with American art, American realism, the Hudson River School, impressionism, realism and much more. What we decided to do this season was listen to the marketplace and find out what our bidders are looking for. What we found was that they are desperately looking for American illustration and…

May 2, 2024, 6 p.m. Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers 49 Research Drive Milford, CT 06460 t: (203) 877-1711 This spring, Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers is presenting an excellent selection of fresh-to-market works during its May 2 Fine Art Auction. The sale will bring to collectors some of the most elite names in historic American artwork, including William Merritt Chase, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Maurice Prendergast, John Sloan and more. Collectors should be on the lookout for Chase’s 1897 oil on canvas, Portrait of Caroline Allport. “This portrait descended in the family of the sitter and was purchased by an important private collection. It has never been offered for sale at auction. We are excited to feature it this spring,” says Shannon’s owner Sandra Germain. “The lot is accompanied by a letter…

Sotheby’s has a lot to boast about as they wrap up another successful season of Visions of America—bringing New York City a rich array of historic American art and objects in several sales and events. Kayla Carlsen, Sotheby’s head of American art, shares that 231 bidders vied for the American art offerings across several sales during Visions of America including Art of America; Western Art and Design from Bar Cross Ranch, Wyoming; and The Hudson River School in Focus: Property from the Friedman Collection. The Art of America sale in particular, held on January 20, left Sotheby’s very pleased as the sale achieved a total close to $6.5 million with a sell through rate close to 80 percent. The auction house “experienced outstanding sell-through rates for single-owner collections due in…

May 9-11, 2024 28th Annual American Art Conference Heritage Auctions 445 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022 t: (646) 485-1952 www.artiniatives.com For nearly 30 years, Initiatives in Art and Culture (IAC) has been presenting its American Art Conference, an immersive, meticulously-curated weekend of scholarly lectures, tours, outings and events that explore the delightfully complex underpinnings of a given topic. This year’s conference, which tackles the subject of Multiple Modernities, has several exciting new facets. It was intentionally scheduled to coincide with the American Art Fair—the centerpiece of what has become known as New York’s American Art Week—and Heritage Auctions will be hosting the formal conference sessions. Participants in the IAC conference will be guests of the American Art Fair’s invitation-only Gala Preview. Additionally, conference attendees are invited to an exclusive preview…

While working on this issue of American Fine Art Magazine, an art scholar I was interviewing said, “After all, you can’t collect what you don’t know.” We were talking about how American art history is so much richer and more layered than the way we tend to think about the past. The human mind is inclined to compartmentalize, to break things down sequentially, into movements with linear timelines, to chop up history into manageable bites that are easier for the intellect to digest. But the past—and present—is much more fluid, and fueled by cross-pollination, overlap and evolution. Visual artists from different backgrounds, regions and generations interacted and influenced each other, while immersed in equally vibrant music, architecture, philosophy and literature that reflected the times as well. These creatives experienced life simultaneously…

Emil Bisttram first came to the American Southwest in 1930 with an adventurous sense of experimentation. At first, he found it overwhelming to illustrate the Southwest’s expansive landscapes. Through his sense of artistic expression, and the modernist ideal that visual elements were more important than realistic artistic expression, his art continuously evolved. By the time he moved to Taos, New Mexico, in 1931, he was more prepared to depict life in the Southwest in his unique way. Bisttram’s modernist ideals furthered his own works and revolutionized the art community in Taos. Bisttram was born in Hungary in 1895 and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1906. They settled in NewYork City where he began his art training in 1913 at the National Academy of Design. He also…

Thursday, May 16, 2024, 2 p.m. Freeman’s | Hindman Chicago 1550 W. Carroll Avenue, Chicago, IL 60607 t: (312) 280-1212 www.hindmanauctions.com Not missing a beat after the merger of the two auction houses in January, Freeman’s |Hindman are rolling out several auctions in May and June including its American Art sale at the Chicago showroom on May 16 at 2 p.m. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with the Freeman’s team,” says Pauline Archambault, associate vice president and senior specialist of fine art. “Both teams bring very complementary skillsets to the table, and we look forward to curating even stronger sales featuring exceptional examples by the most sought-after American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.” Collectors can expect to find works by some of those artists among the…

June 13, 2024; 2 p.m. Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers 49 Research Drive Milford, CT 06460 t: (203) 877-1711 www.shannons.comW While Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers has a lot of excitement surrounding its live Fine Art Auctionon May 2, auction specialist Ali Danker mentions that Shannon’s Online Fine Art Auction is also just as enticing. The sale will feature roughly 200 lots of quality paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture, with Danker adding that the online sales at Shannon’s “are an excellent opportunity to acquire original artworks at all price levels.” Danker notes there is particular excitement building for women artists and women modernists, starting in the spring live auction. “We plan to carry that momentum into the online sale with works by Fidelia Bridges and Marion Ranyak,” says Danker. “We have seen…

May 7, 2024; 12 p.m. John Moran Auctioneers 145 East Walnut Avenue Monrovia, CA 91016 t: (626) 793-1833 www.johnmoran.com John Moran Auctioneers gears up for another meticulously curated Jsale of California and American Fine Art, boasting around 150 lots from private collections across the country, but predominately in California and the Southwest. Bidders will find many robust offerings with buzz surrounding works by the leading California landscape painter Edgar A. Payne (1882-1941). The two Payne highlights; Desert Riders (est. $150/200,000) and Riding Near Canyon de Chelly, (est. $70/90,000), “underline the enduring appeal of Payne’s work which has stood the test of time and are a testament to his artistic prowess and the timeless allure of his artistry,” notes Jeff Moran, president and head of California and American fine art. “Having…

Freeman’s | Hindman’s What Do You See? The Collection of Sidney Rothberg sale on February 27 and 28 saw excellent results, with hundreds of impressionist and modern artwork of the 19th and 20th century soaring far past their estimates. In total, 93 percent of the lots were sold during the two-day sale, which was held in esteemed collector Sidney Rothberg’s hometown of Philadelphia. “Sid Rothberg had a unique perspective both on life and art that led to the creation of an incredibly eclectic and exciting collection,” says Alasdair Nichol, deputy chairman and director of fine art at Freeman’s | Hindman. “He took a deep dive into an artist’s oeuvre and was drawn to works that marked an inflection point in [their] creative development. His approach to collecting was characterized by…

This year was quite a celebratory time for The Winter Show, as 2024 marks 70 years of the event featuring high caliber works in fine art, design and antiques. This year saw 76 exhibitors from seven countries. Despite freezing temperatures for the opening on January 19, executive director Helen Allen notes that there was a record for attendance, sales and diversity of objects presented. “I think the success of our programming comes from the variety of topics we cover,” Allen says. “Between Italian glass, the histories of prominent collections in the United States and practical conversations around designing the home, we at The Winter Show are always excited to offer a variety of opportunities to learn from experts in their respective field—the majority of which are our exhibitors on the…

ONGOING Artists as Cultivators THE PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS • PHILADELPHIA, PA Artists As Cultivators examines how artists have fostered and sustained critical social dialogues over three centuries through their use of nature as a subject, theme and material. www.pafa.org ONGOING Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM • WASHINGTON, D.C. For the first time since 1946, this exhibition brings together 34 paintings, including 32 drawn from the museum’s collection. www.americanart.si.edu ONGOING Andy Warhol: small is beautiful BRUCE MUSEUM • GREENWICH, CT This comprehensive exhibition includes nearly 100 unique paintings, illuminating the artist’s working process, and his exploration of seriality, repetition, color and scale. www.brucemuseum.org ONGOING Surrealism and Modernism, Highlights from the Collection WADSWORTH MUSEUM OF ART • HARTFORD, CT The museum highlights…

WILLIAM MCGREGOR PAXTON (1869-1941) The Letters WILLIAM WORCESTER CHURCHILL (1858-1926) The Precious Object At the turn of the 20th Century, the Boston School artists set a standard exploring the subtleties of light reflected on objects and figures. William M. Paxton andWilliamW. Churchill were leaders both in their technical skill and the manner in which they convey women who are both thoughtful and intellectual with an awareness of the aesthetics surrounding them. In each of these paintings, the artist depicts a woman in profile in an interior setting. The attention of the model is focused on the objects in front of her, while her back holds the eye of the viewer in the composition. The gaze of the woman depicted by Paxton is intent on the letters on the table, behind…

Between the world wars of the early 20th century, a new culture began to take shape in the northern cities of the United States, formed from the migration of a vast Black population who departed the segregated South in search of well-paid work, hoping for freedom from the racial oppression and contempt that had restrained them. As urban neighborhoods coalesced between the 1920s and 1940s, Black arts inevitably emerged from them, especially in NewYork City’s Harlem and on Chicago’s South Side, where unconventional artists, determined to resist racist stereotyping, committed themselves to depicting members of their new communities as a modern people fully engaged in a modern culture. The exciting art that emerged became known as the Harlem Renaissance, because it was particularly in that city that artists blended the influences…

Through June 16, 2024 The Baker Museum/Artis—Naples 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd, Naples, FL 34108 t: (239) 597-1111 www.artisnaples.org The Ahmet Ertegün Collection is one of the most important of the Baker Museum’s acquisitions. Turkish American businessman Ahmet Ertegün, the founder and president of Atlantic Records, assembled this outstanding group of American modernist artworks with what might be termed a musical eye—if I might be allowed to coin a phrase. Of course, the relationship between modernism and music is a longstanding one. The rhythms of the machine age at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th, the rise of skyscrapers, and the movements of populations from rural settings to burgeoning cities somehow combined with blues, ragtime, ethnic and folk traditions, and became what we call jazz. Even classical music…

ONLY $45 FOR 6 ISSUES! 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…

May 11-14, 2024 The American Art Fair Bohemian National Hall 321 E. 73rd Street New York, NY 10021 www.theamericanartfair.com New York’s highly anticipated spring tradition, American Art Week, is just around the corner. It’s a wondrous time of year when auctions, art fairs, gallery and museum exhibitions of historic American art are held across the city during a single week in May. The American Art Fair, taking place May 11 to 14, is undoubtedly one of the highlight events of this power house week. “With hundreds of works, the fair is a ‘catalog’ of American art,” says fair director Catherine Sweeney Singer. Some of the most prominent names in historic American art will be represented at the four-day event, including William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, Joseph Stella, Edward Steichen and…