Fine Art Connoisseur May/June 2019

Amazing things happen when people get together. Seemingly impossible challenges become do-able. Difficult goals become less daunting. Unity, support, and accountability to one another keep us on the right path. Throughout history, gatherings of artists working toward a common goal have changed the world. These collectives, often starting as a couple of individuals collaborating on a project, have brought about massive change. A fine example is the French Impressionists, who in 1874 mounted their first exhibition under the rather unpromising name “Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc.” Its members dreamed that one day their work would be accepted despite the fact that it did not suit the old school strictures of academic tradition. Their efforts created a movement that ultimately transcended unnecessarily politicized organizations like the Ecole des Beaux-Arts…

Each year, Fine Art Connoisseur leads a small group of art lovers on a VIP tour that visits an area of the world renowned for its artistic heritage. The distinguishing factors are that we can access private collections, artists’ studios, and museum galleries that other travelers don’t see, that I contextualize the visits with illustrated lectures that lay out why this art matters, and that we enjoy on-site commentary from curators and seasoned experts who live in the community. They are not just tour guides, but professional colleagues who really know their art. It is truly hard to believe that a decade has passed since Fine Art Connoisseur launched this travel program, which has featured adventures in such countries as Russia, Italy, and Holland. Now we are turning our attention…

There are those connoisseurs who can recognize talent by a single line drawn on a canvas, by one brushstroke, even by the impression of a sculptor’s thumb left in bronze. Such is the case with Davison Packard Koenig, the Couse Foundation’s executive director and curator, when referring to a bronze created by Ed Smida (b. 1961), Divided Land, An Homage to Ernest Blumenschein. Completed last year, this expressive sculpture depicts four Native Americans and is featured in a June 15 benefit auction for the foundation, which manages the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in Taos, New Mexico. “You might look at an early Picasso work, for instance, and see confidence in a line and suddenly realize he’s telling a story with that one mark,” says Koenig. “That’s the way I feel about…

Linda Zagaria likes the past. When she puts on one of her vintage 1930s hats, perhaps lowering its veil or reshaping a broad brim, and walks into New York’s National Arts Club, where she has served as president since 2016, she is as much a woman of the present as she is of the (fashionable) past. So, upon first seeing Gustave Caillebotte’s 1877 Paris Street: Rainy Day at the Art Institute of Chicago, with its depiction of an elegant couple strolling arm-in-arm beneath an umbrella, Zagaria said to herself, “That’s where I want to go, that version of Paris.” She has been to Paris, likely strolling the very intersection depicted, and while she loves the city, she acknowledges that what we see in the painting no longer exists. Yet it…

Venture with us to the birthplace of the post-impressionist movement. Walk the streets, admire the countryside, and explore the sites frequented by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Bonnard, Matisse, Chagall, and many others whose artistry, to this day, inspires new generations. Fine Art Connoisseur magazine has built strong ties with colleagues in the art world of Provence and the South of France. Now we offer you the opportunity to meet these like-minded friends as you experience nine days of privileged access in the cradle of post-impressionist art.…

NIKITA BUDKOV (b. 1995), a Russian-American painter currently residing in California, works in a style he calls “contemporary traditional and magical realism,” motivated by his pursuit of the mystical and beautiful. He is also inspired by music, so his paintings are titled after songs that have significant meaning to him. Last year Budkov presented an exhibition called The Songbook, which showcased a range of paintings inspired by his favorite genres of music. “Music is an eternal companion on my career journey,” the artist says of this passion that rivals his love for fine art. Growing up in Zvenigorod, a suburb of Moscow, young Budkov found himself drawn to classic fairy tales, science fiction novels, and comics, all of which helped develop his creative imagination and illustrative abilities. Drawing in pencil…