Innholdsfortegnelse for Nov/Dec 2018 i Fine Art Connoisseur

It’s November 1. In a few days, I will fly to Miami to host the second FigurativeArt Convention & Expo (FACE, November 7–10). I could not be more excited. Even if you are unable to join us this month, you — as a reader of Fine Art Connoisseur — are automatically part of the extraordinary blossoming of contemporary figurative art today, and, for that, I thank you. There are lots of people who don’t have the opportunity to study in an atelier. They have careers or families and can’t take a few years off, yet they would be thrilled to study under some of the masters we’re gathering in Miami. We’ve hand-picked terrific teachers, ones who are encouraging and inspiring. FACE is so much better than a workshop. It’s like…

America has its own version of the Roman ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. Visitors to San Francisco’s Lands End area can gaze onto a series of concrete ruins that include seawater-washed stairwells, truncated passageways, and a tunnel. All may appear ancient, yet they actually date from 1896, when the Sutro Baths became the largest indoor swimming facility in the world — a prestigious destination that San Franciscans of all classes and ages could visit via the cable cars that ran seven miles from downtown to the western headlands facing the Pacific Ocean. Once there they found three acres encompassing seven pools equipped with slides, swings, and diving boards, more than 500 dressing rooms, an amphitheater, restaurants, and even a museum of artifacts and taxidermied animals. More than 10,000 visitors…

Everyone has one, so everyone is interested, to a lesser or greater degree. I’m referring to the human body, surely the most important touchstone in the history of art. Artists have been depicting the figure for millennia, sometimes in exacting detail and sometimes vaguely, 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. The ongoing renaissance of classical realism means that figure drawing and painting have not been this good in North America for more than half a century. Though it would be easy to fill this section entirely with examples from the classical ateliers, we have decided to mix it up here stylistically. Enjoy this diverse array of approaches, and please let us…

This summer I stumbled upon a book that got me thinking about why some younger folks I admire do not collect original art. Its title is No Thanks Mom: The Top Ten  Objects Your Kids Do NOT Want (and What to Do with Them), and it was published last year by the certified appraiser Elizabeth Stewart, Ph.D. The premise, as you may have guessed, is that Stewart has learned the hard way that millennials (those born between 1981 and 1997) minimize their household decorations to an unprecedented degree. Oh, except that the next younger generation — whatever we call them now — wants even fewer household possessions! With humor and citations, Stewart explores the complex reasons behind this situation and explains what older folks should consider as they start downsizing…

KIM BERNADAS New Orleans, Louisiana Masquerade, 19 x 10 x 8 in., bisque clay Available through the artist kim@kimbernadas.com www.kimbernadas.com TINA GARRETT Kansas City, Missouri Moment to Moment, 58 x 28 in., oil on canvas Available through “Pieces of Me” artist Tina Garrett Solo Exhibition at the Bountiful Davis Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT Opening March 2019 artisttinagarrett@kc.rr.com 816.739.5508 | www.tinagarrett.com JUDITH DICKINSON Brighton, Colorado Demure, 14 x 11 in., oil Available judith@judithdickinson.com 303.902.0131 | www.judithdickinson.com OCEANA RAIN STUART Sausalito, California Eternal Seduction, 60 x 15 x 46 in., bronze Available through the artist contact@oceanarainstuart.com www.oceanarainstuart.com MARILYN Chadron, Nebraska Spyder Woman, 22 x 26 in., pastel Available through the artist marilynpastelartist@gmail.com 308.430.1539 www.marilynpastelartist.com MATAN BEN CNAAN Haifa, Israel Pandora 145 x 230 cm., oil on linen Available through the artist matanbcster@gmail.com +972.523.317.869 www.matanbencnaan.com JOHN DARLEY…

Dina Brodsky (b. 1981) creates miniatures that are monumental in impact. These oil paintings, usually smaller than a coaster, offer such an array of visual information that, even when magnified, they continue to inspire awe. Just as Northern Renaissance masters did centuries ago, Brodsky applies multiple layers of glazing that impart a beautiful sense of luminosity and a dreamy depth of field. The sylvan, pastoral, or deserted-city scenes Brodsky depicts are portals to actual places and moments. When she happens upon them, she is literally stopped in her tracks, compelled to record them on the spot. It takes Brodsky roughly nine hours, spread over approximately three days, to complete one drawing from life. Once back at home, she uses it to create an oil painting of the same scene. Taken…

Now underway is an intriguing exhibition that will tour the United States for the next two years. New Beginnings: An American Story of Romantics and Modernists in the West is already on view in Arizona at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, where it will remain until September 22, 2019. After that date, it will move on to museums in Georgia, Ohio, California, and Montana. The long duration of this tour reflects the generosity of the entity that has loaned all of its contents — the Tia Collection of Santa Fe. The holdings of this extremely private collection apparently span more than 150 years, ranging from French Impressionist paintings to cutting-edge works of photography, ephemera, and mixed media made by contemporary artists living around the world. The pieces in…

During seven decades of creativity, two small towns served as prominent backdrops in the art of Andrew Wyeth (1917–2009): Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Cushing, Maine. It was in the latter that the realist master found his summer sanctuary, a remote farming town where Christina Olson and her rustic homestead would become the basis of his groundbreaking tempera painting Christina’s World (1948, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Cushing and the surrounding Knox County area would embrace Wyeth in the decades to follow. This is one reason why the Farnsworth Art Museum in nearby Rockland, with its charge to celebrate Maine’s place in art history, is so steadfast in its Wyeth programming. The museum opened its doors the same year Christina’s World was finished; four years earlier, the committee tasked with…

ARTISTS & GALLERIES Santa Fe November 16–23 meyergalleries.com Meyer Gallery will host a solo show for the landscapist Douglas Fryer, whose scenes are formed from abstract marks, soft edges, and washed layers that reveal nature’s complex beauty. New York City November 11–19 americanartistsprofessionalleague.org Dedicated to promoting traditional, representational art, the American Artists Professional League will mount its 90th Grand National Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club this season. The show highlights established and emerging artists in all media; the awards juror is Metropolitan Museum curator Stephanie L. Herdrich. Gainesville, Georgia November 29–February 16 elpa.art The Eastern League of Professional Artists is set to open its second exhibition at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center. On view will be recent works by 18 artist members, who will also mount a companion show of…