Innholdsfortegnelse for September-October 2024/No. 77 i American Fine Art Magazine

Preservation in Progress Now on view at the Museum of the City of New York, Preservation in Progress: Picturing Immigration gives visitors an exclusive inside look into the conservation of one of the museum’s most prized possessions: 19th-century painter Samuel BellWaugh’s monumental piece The Bay and Harbor of New York. Nearly 170 years old, Waugh’s masterful painting has gradually deteriorated over time, an important preservation project the Museum of the City of New York sought to take on. “Conservation is pivotal in preserving the essence and vitality of artworks,” says museum curator Sarah Henry. “A big part of our job is to steward these irreplaceable documents of our shared history as New Yorkers. With this special installation, the public is invited to witness this process first hand and gain insights…

Recently hosted at the Norman Rockwell Museum, closing in June, was the exhibition Mystery and Wonder: Highlights from the Illustration Collection. Within the collection was the museum’s highlight, and the most recently acquired piece, Whig and Tory, executed in 1938 by the famous American painter and illustrator, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978). This oil on canvas illustration is quite significant in that it remained unpublished in any magazines the artist was known for working with—most famously The Saturday Evening Post. “Rockwell’s enthusiasm for new projects always propelled him through the idea stage, but with Post commissions taking precedence, they were sometimes derailed,” explains museum representatives. “The meaning of this recently acquired Rockwell story illustration is a mystery, as it was unpublished and its intended narrative is unclear.” The title of the work…

In March of 1865, just as the devastations of the Civil War were about to come to a close and a scant month before President Abraham Lincoln would be assassinated, Frederic Church and his wife Isabel lost both of their children, two-year old Herbert and five-month old Emma, to diphtheria. They packed up their grief and traveled to Jamaica where Church sketched and painted, while his wife collected and pressed ferns of the island. Dusks and dawns from Church’s easel, as he took in and transformed the Jamaican scenery, form the core of Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory, an exhibition now on view at Church’s home, the Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, NewYork. In addition to important paintings by Church and others, the exhibition features never-before-seen…

Through December 27, 2024 Arnot Art Museum 235 Lake Street, Elmira, NY 14901 (607) 734-3697 www.arnotartmuseum.org Continuing the mission of its founder, education remains a major focus of the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, New York. The museum’s founding donor, Matthias H. Arnot (1833-1910) was a wealthy banker who believed everyone should have access to fine art and arts learning opportunities. Each weekend, he would open his home to share his collection with the local community. Arnot also emphasized the importance of building an art library, which became part of the museum when it opened in 1913, and now contains nearly 1,000 volumes. Today, the Education Department at the Arnot Art Museum offers a variety of customizable programming from child-to-adulthood, one of which is the Chemung River School, an award-winning…

Through October 27, 2024 Fairfield Museum and History Center 370 Beach Road Fairfield, CT 06824 (203) 259-1598 www.fairfieldhistory.org In the years leading up to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—occurring in 2026—the Fairfield Museum and History Center celebrates with specific themes for its featured exhibitions. In 2024, the museum has focused on civic engagement and citizen advocacy, while highlighting workers’ rights and unionization. Now on view to the public, in relation to these very topics, is Bridgeport at Work: Muralist Robert Lambdin and Bridgeport Brass. On display are seven significant pieces by the artist and muralist, Robert Lambdin—who initially worked for Bridgeport Brass Company’s advertising department. “We hope that the exhibition will show how the idea of Works Progress Administration (WPA) era public art was utilized…

October, 24, 2024 Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers 49 Research Drive Milford, CT, 06460 t: (203) 877-1711 www.shannons.com Shannon’s fall Fine Art Auction is shaping up to be an exciting sale, with consigned works by Eric Sloane, Blanche Lazzell, Priscilla Roberts, Samuel Colman, Rockstraw Downes, Charles Courtney Curran and others already confirmed, and new lots being added to the roster regularly. Roughly 200 paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture are expected to be featured in the October 24 sale, with historical American art figuring prominently. From 1870, a seascape by Francis A. Silva, Cape Ann, depicts the waves crashing against the rocky shoreline, with soft pastel hues characteristic of the artist’s Luminist style. Measuring 20 by 40 inches and with a provenance that stretches across the last century, the piece is expected…

September 19, 2024 Swann Auction Galleries 104 E. 25th Street, New York, NY 10010 t: (212) 254-4710 www.swanngalleries.com Swann Auction Galleries will host its next American Art sale on September 19, offering a wide array of historic fine art for collectors to feast their eyes on. “Swann’s American Art sale will cover the 19th and 20th centuries, and there will be pretty evocative works spread throughout the sale, whether collectors are interested in Luminism or Post-War art,” says Meagan Gandolfo, specialist at Swann. “American modernist works have had strong results at auction recently, so I think that we can look forward to seeing competitive bidding on art by John Marin, Glenn O. Coleman and Arthur Dove.” A watercolor by Dove, titled Trees, has a presale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000,…

AARON ANDERSON American Art Specialist, Head of Sale, Bonhams We have seen great strength and resilience in the American art market in recent years, and it continues to show signs of good health and future growth, especially in the middle-market. There is especially high demand for American scene painting of the 20th century, especially identifiable urban scenes of the depression era, and for works by highly coveted modern and contemporary American artists, such as Andrew Wyeth, Marsden Hartley and Wolf Kahn, who Bonhams now holds the world auction record for with the sale of Pink Light on the Sea this past May. We also continue to see a growing interest in historically underrepresented artists in the category, especially female artists and artists of color, such as Sally and March Avery…

Sept. 1-Nov. 1, 2024 CW American Modernism Los Angeles, CA By appointment t: (310) 383-0463 cwamericanmodernism@gmail.com www.cwamericanmodernism.com Bringing together nine artists and 30 bodies of work, CW American Modernism, based in Los Angeles, presents the special exhibition, The Neo Immaculates. The title, coined by the gallery, encapsulates a unique style that’s clean and minimalistic, “with clearly defined lines and smooth—almost machinelike—surfaces,” describes gallery owner, Chris Walther. These artists, producing from the 1960s through the 80s, were once referred to as “new realist” or “synthetic realist,” but the term “neo immaculate” seemed most appropriate to the gallery, since these artists are heirs to the Immaculate School, a label used in the 1920s as an alternative to precisionism. “We’ve been interested in how the practices of these artists morphed over time, as…

Museums play an essential role in cultural and social life across the United States by collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting objects, living specimens and historical records. In doing so, museums enrich our lives, providing forums for learning and support, as well as a variety of services to our communities. Museums preserve and protect more than a billion objects and help the public better understand and appreciate cultural diversity. But beyond this cultural impact, the museum sector is also essential to the national economy—generating Gross Domestic Product, creating jobs and contributing taxes. Demand for the kind of opportunities and engagement that the museum sector provides is widespread, and data about visits and exhibits is readily available. More than 850 million visits are made each year to American museums. In 2009, AAM…

The promised substantial gift of paintings, works on paper and sculpture by Bernard and Barbro Osher are on display at the de Young museum in San Francisco. The well-known philanthropists helped fund the construction of the de Young, and their generosity is commemorated through the named Bernard and Barbro Osher Wing and the Barbro Osher Sculpture Garden. American Beauty: The Osher Collection of American Art, featuring the works of 39 prominent artists, continues at the de Young through October 20. The de Young in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park make up the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the largest public arts institution in the city and one of the largest art museums in the United States. The museums’ director and CEO, Thomas P.…

Through October 20, 2024 Shelburne Museum 6000 Shelburne Rd, Shelburne, VT 05482 t: (802) 985-3346 www.shelburnemuseum.org Many would argue that no single technological advancement had such a profound impact on the cultural geography or social topography of the United States as the advent of the railroad. In an exploration of how the arrival of trains impacted the visual culture during the rapid industrialization and expansion of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Shelburne Museum presents All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840-1955. Represented in the exhibition are renowned artists Thomas Cole, Ernest Lawson, Jacob Lawrence, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Theodore Kauffman, Albert Bierstadt, John Sloan, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton, and many others. Comprised of 40 works sourced from private and public collections, the exhibition is organized into four…

“I think our sale was a reflection of today’s market: reasonably healthy without much fuss,” says Raphael Chatroux, vice president and head of the American art department at Freeman’s | Hindman. The auction house hosted its American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists sale on June 2, totaling $1.8 million in sales across 82 lots with a sell-through rate of 79 percent. “We noticed the same appeal for the Pennsylvania impressionists across the board (Redfield, Garber and Coppedge) and for fresh oils with longstanding provenance,” he continues. The top lot in the sale was Daniel Garber’s illustrative oil painting of an idyllic blue house surrounded by trees and the quintessential white-picket fence. The Blue House just crossed the threshold of its $150,000 low estimate when it sold for a respectable $152,400. “Garber’s…

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? The Farnsworth will be the third venue to host the momentous exhibition Native Prospects: Indigeneity and Landscape, curated by Scott Manning Stevens/Karoniaktatsie (Akwesasne Mohawk). Native Prospects presents 19th-century paintings by Thomas Cole in conversation with Indigenous works of historic and cultural value, and artworks by contemporary Indigenous artists. It’s also an exciting opportunity for the Farnsworth to collaborate with curatorial advisors Gretchen Faulkner, Hudson Museum executive director; James Francis, Penobscot Nation’s director of cultural and historic preservation, tribal historian and chair of Penobscot Tribal Rights; and Donald Soctomah, tribal historical preservation officer for the Passamaquoddy tribe, to examine the Farnsworth’s significant holdings of 18th to early 20th-century Maine landscape paintings through…

MICHIO TAKAYAMA (1903-1994) Petroglyphs New to Addison Rowe Gallery’s inventory is Petroglyphs by Michio Takayama. In the summer of 1966, the Japanese artist and his wife Yaye were introduced to Taos, New Mexico, by a former painting student. It was during this trip that Michio became enamored with the scenery and created his first drawings of the landscape. The Takayamas moved toTaos in April 1967 to take up their fellowship at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency program. They built their home and studio in Taos, where Michio, inspired daily by the uninterrupted views of Taos Mountain and the beautiful sunsets, painted and exclaimed, “Taos is best!” Michio’s daughter, Masami Takayama stated he “applied one layer of color then waited until it dried before applying the next… The layering effect created…

The American Renaissance, also known as the Golden Age, was an era when art for the public came to prominence in American life. The movement, which swelled between the country’s centennial celebration and the onset of World War I, was largely an architectural one—most of the grand civic spaces in the nation were designed and built during this period—but it depended heavily on a collaboration with the American artists of the day to realize a collective vision. With The Dance of Life: Figure and Imagination in American Art, 1876-1917, on view September 6, 2024, through January 5, 2025, Yale University Art Gallery examines the vitality and expressivity of the human figure in working studies for large commissions at civic institutions nationwide during a pivotal moment in American history. “Historically, the most…

October 3, 2024 Swann Auction Galleries 104 E. 25th Street New York, NY 10010 t: (212) 254-4710 www.swanngalleries.com Collector’s and institutions alike look to Swann’s sales for “exceptional quality,” says Nigel Freeman, Swann’s vice president and head of fine art. The African American Art sale, held biannually, is no exception. Swann prepares for another compelling fall edition, opening October 3 in Swann’s New York showroom with 225 lots to choose from. “We continue to see strong interest in the African American Art sale category,” Freeman says. “There are many sections of its auction market where market value is still being realized and underappreciated artists are rising. Found across the many areas of this broad sale category, is art from the 19th century to the Harlem Renaissance; from Post-War to contemporary.”…

The May 16 American Art sale at Freeman’s | Hindman brought in a total of $773,494 with an 88 percent sell-through rate. The spring auction offered a number of exceptional examples of historic American artwork, with Andrew Newell Wyeth’s 1986 watercolor Two Masters taking the honor of the top lot at $95,250. “The nostalgia-suffused work was quite emblematic of Wyeth’s still lifes and everyday subjects, and we delighted to have the opportunity to market it,” says Pauline Archambault, Freeman’s | Hindman fine art specialist and head of sale. Next in line was Alfred Thompson Bricher’s Autumn Idyll, which more than doubled its $40,000 high estimate when it sold for $82,550. The third highest selling lot was Bahamian View, a tropical oceanfront scene with swaying palm trees by Albert Bierstadt, selling…