Innholdsfortegnelse for May/Jun 2017 i Fine Art Connoisseur

RUSSIA was the centerpiece of the first art cruise Fine Art Connoisseur ever organized (through the Baltic Sea in 2010). It was amazing, even though our stay in Russia entailed only three days in St. Petersburg. Since then, those who took that cruise, and many who did not, have asked us to return to Russia. Editor-in-Chief Peter Trippi and I are therefore thrilled that Fine Art Connoisseur’s next adventure abroad — this coming September 10–20 — will be in Russia. But this time it will not be a cruise at all. There is so much culture in Moscow and St. Petersburg that we have decided to do a land-based trip, with five days in each city and a high-speed train between. The elephant in the room is that Russia is very…

JOSHUA KOFFMAN (b. 1972) is a sculptor whose large, often lifesize bronzes are simultaneously dynamic and graceful. Raised in Southern California, Koffman became fascinated with Greek and Renaissance art as a youngster. Having earned his B.F.A. at the University of California, Santa Cruz, he came east to earn a certificate at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), where he now teaches courses in figure and portrait modeling. In 2007, Koffman co-founded the Philadelphia Traction Company in a former trolley manufactory in West Philadelphia. There he and 11 other artists, all related to PAFA, maintain a workshop and individual studio spaces to pursue their own projects and also collaborative ones. When he is not in his studio modeling the human form in clay from live models, Koffman is often found…

Editor’s Note: In New York City, Hollis Taggart Galleries has opened the exhibition Audrey Flack: Master Drawings from Crivelli to Pollock (April 20–May 26). This project features 34 recent works reflecting Flack’s lifelong passion for artworks of the past, which she re-envisions in fresh, highly personal ways. The accompanying catalogue contains an essay by Robert C. Morgan and a conversation with John Wilmerding. This March Flack enjoyed another lively dialogue about her latest works with the renowned artist and curator Robert Storr, most recently dean of the Yale University School of Art (2006–16). Below is a distillation of their dialogue as it related to the artworks illustrated here. A full transcription will appear in a separate booklet available in the future. Audrey Flack (b. 1931) is a painter, sculptor, printmaker, teacher,…

No matter how much she tried to ignore it, the unease seeped in like a cold damp. She closed her eyes and, for the third straight day, pushed aside the seemingly inconsequential task at hand — organizing her gallery’s autumn season. “What’s the use?” she murmured in seeming defeat — she being a highly regarded businesswoman, and one of New York City’s great doyennes. “How,” she wondered, “can I possibly get anyone excited about acquiring a pair of rare 18th-century Venetian wall sconces?” It was the summer of 1941, and the news from Europe, though heavily propagandized, was a worrisome distraction. She thought to turn on the radio, but knew its broadcast would just raise her anxiety, so instead she dialed up her best friend, Helen Read. Helen wasn’t having…

2017 is flying along, so I am already looking forward to November, when Fine Art Connoisseur will host the first convention devoted to the figure in contemporary realist art. The Figurative Art Convention & Expo (FACE) will be held at Miami’s lovely Biltmore Hotel November 8–11, offering a fully immersive experience for everyone who wants to learn (and talk) about figurative painting with world-class artists and colleagues in this thriving field. Paintings of the human figure take many forms, from the academic and classical to the expressively brushy and nearly abstract. Publisher Eric Rhoads and I believe it’s time for figure painting to have its own convention, a gathering place where museum-quality masters, and those striving to be, can exchange ideas, improve their skills, and form a community that advances…

Everyone has one, so everyone is interested, to a lesser or greater degree. I’m referring to the face. Artists have been depicting faces for millennia, sometimes flatteringly and sometimes frankly, but always with the understanding that every viewer has a direct connection with the subject — and also a way of assessing the rendition’s accuracy. Just as important is the way we “read” facial expressions: there are happy and sad, for example, but also every possible emotion and mood between. Capturing each is no easy task, so we instinctively admire those artists who get it right. Enjoy this diverse array of approaches, and please tell us about other artists who excel in this area. Max Gillies is a contributing writer to Fine Art Connoisseur.…

Daniel Boulud, America’s best-known chef and restaurateur, has a taste for truffles that matches his appetite for good art. One of his artist friends, Chuck Close, enjoys truffles as much as he does. “Although I invite Chuck to the restaurant all the time, I always make sure to do so when the black and white truffles are in season together for a short time, beginning in early January,” says Boulud from his office overlooking the kitchen of his flagship restaurant on Park Avenue — a windowed perch he refers to as the “kitchen cockpit.” “I’ve learned that artists usually have good palates,” a remark that might confuse some people into thinking that Boulud also means palette. “They have good taste in wine and in food, but they’re not always good…

Founded in 1999 by the New Jersey collectors Fred, Sherry, and Kara Lysandra Ross with several of their fellow scholars, the Art Renewal Center (ARC) is a nonprofit educational foundation that encourages the reemergence of traditional art and training techniques. The fruits of its labors are becoming ever more apparent as time goes by. ARC is probably best known to readers of Fine Art Connoisseur for its impressive website (artrenewal.org), which contains more than 80,000 high-resolution images by Old Master, 19th-century, and early-20th-century artists, along with artist biographies and related articles. The site has evolved into an invaluable reference for anyone interested in historical realism. ARC is equally committed to bringing this rich heritage up to date by highlighting the booming field of contemporary realism. In addition to its ever-growing…

2017 is the centennial of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, located in Cody, Wyoming, the town founded by and named after the legendary soldier, adventurer, and impresario Col. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846–1917). Renowned for the scenic beauty that comes with being only an hour’s drive from the entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Cody is rightfully proud of the Center and its ongoing research, collecting, exhibitions, and programs. To be precise, it actually encompasses several component units: in alphabetical order, the Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, McCracken Research Library, Plains Indian Museum, and Whitney Western Art Museum. It is the last of these that will surely most interest the readers of Fine Art Connoisseur, though the others are well worth a visit.…