Fine Art Connoisseur Sep/Oct 2017

Chairman/Publisher bericrhoads@gmail.com 561.923.8481 facebook.com/eric.rhoads @ericrhoads Being an artist has rarely been easy, and the stereotypes are often true: angst, financial difficulties, substance abuse, etc. Of course, many other artists are healthy, happy, and sometimes even wealthy. Whatever their situation, most feel they are genetically programmed to make art, even if this means a life of struggles. I devote much of my time to minimizing those struggles by showing artists how to market their work better, and I’m glad to say it has helped many artists transcend the daily grind. But I also recognize that struggle can be essential to developing one’s artistry; it’s often the thing that moves the work from good to great. My chief concern today is artists’ having to contend with time-consuming distractions in order to make…

This is going to be a busy autumn. I am eagerly looking forward to the first Figurative Art Convention & Expo (FACE), to be convened by Fine Art Connoisseur in Miami November 8–11. In addition to all of the gifted artists sharing their technical secrets, we will be thrilled to welcome the remarkable guest speakers recently announced by our collaborator, Prof. Michael Pearce. They include Prof. Donald Kuspit, best known for his groundbreaking book The End of Art, and Dr. Elliot Bostwick Davis, who has curated major exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, including the recent Jamie Wyeth retrospective. A few registration slots are still available, and details can be found at figurativeartconvention.com. Eric Rhoads and I really look forward to welcoming you to the lovely Biltmore Hotel…

Although Thomas Ralph Spence (1845– 1918) depicts a student immersed in her book, it is difficult for us to study his own life as an artist. “Spence was by no means prolific artistically,” explains Peter Rees, director of 19th-century paintings at the London headquarters of Bonhams, where on September 27 he will coordinate an auction that includes this work. “We know that, over a period from the 1870s until 1916, he exhibited only 13 pictures at the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition. He was a highly trained and prolific architect, but he was a minor artist who made paintings of fantastic quality.” Even when young artists demonstrate exceptional talent and drive, it seems that most parents have always been reluctant to encourage their children to pursue careers in art. Such was…

Jonathan Galassi’s favorite work of art hangs in his New York City living room, and, though he looks at this drawing every day, he never sees what’s really there. No one can. “That’s part of the beauty of it for me, that the work never got finished,” says Galassi, who has been the president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux for more than 30 years, as well as a major poet and translator of works by Montale, Leopardi, and Primo Levi. It’s the fact that his pencil drawing on paper (by an unknown 16th-century Italian artist) remains incomplete that makes it possible for him — and any other viewer — to imagine its central figure whole. “The male figure is in the process of becoming, rather than realized,” Galassi…

PEREGRINE O’GORMLEY (b. 1977) makes one-of-akind wooden sculptures — full of whimsy, satire, and deep sentiment — that are welcome additions to any collection focused on artisanal process and time-intensive craftsmanship. Each sculpture is hand-carved from a variety of species, including juniper, maple, yew, black walnut, red cedar, and Alaskan yellow cedar, using knives and gouges. Molds are then made from the wood originals for limited bronze editions. The artist, who was named after the peregrine falcon, credits his reverence for nature and love of natural materials — as well as his ability to observe his surroundings with sensitivity — to his father, who taught him at a young age to look at life with awe and wonder. “While walking through the woods near our house, my father would point out…

LOOK up toward the sky, or out of your window. Chances are good you will spy a bird soon enough. Though some humans share their homes with birds, all people are surrounded by these feathered creatures, and, though we may not regularly acknowledge it, our world would be a quieter, duller place without them. In this section, we highlight the broad array of birds depicted by a flock of artists in recent years. Many of these images transcend description or charm to underscore the more profound, even symbolist, meanings that we humans have assigned to birds over the centuries. An ideal place to appreciate the beauty and diversity of our winged friends is the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. From September 9 through November 26, this institution…