Fine Art Connoisseur September/October 2021

At first glance you may not think so, but artists have made — and continue to make — an enormous impact on the health of our natural environment. In the mid-1800s, the artist Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) traveled to the American West with government surveyors and railroad builders to capture the rugged beauty of landscapes previously unknown to most of his countrymen. His scenes of Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley, the mountains surrounding Colorado’s Estes Park, and many other unspoiled areas were initially executed as plein air studies and drawings, which he then consulted in his New York studio in order to create massive versions in oil. Once they were finished, Bierstadt mounted theatrical presentations at which paying viewers marveled at his spectacular vistas, which were revealed from behind a curtain one…

July in New York City is generally hot and quiet, but this year it was perked up significantly — at least for those of us who love contemporary realist art — by an impressive display at Sotheby’s. On view were two large, interconnecting shows — highlights from the 15th International ARC Salon Exhibition, and lots offered in the Contemporary Realism: Important 21st Century Works auction, which was conducted entirely on sothebys.com. Kudos to the Art Renewal Center (ARC) team that organized these projects, especially Fred, Kara, and Sherry Ross, and also to Benjamin Doller, the Sotheby’s executive who coordinated the firm’s participation. Surely he was pleased that 21 out of 28 lots sold, an encouraging figure for the field of contemporary realism, which is relatively untested in the auction marketplace.…

When Mark Nadler was about 10 years old, he pulled up a stool in his mother’s art studio in their home in Waterloo, Iowa, to watch her paint this scene. She was always happy to have him there, along with the various birds and raccoons, cats and dogs, and additional injured animals she fostered in the other half of the room. “My mother was not only an artist and a teacher of painting, but also an animal rights activist,” says Nadler. “She thought she was Snow White.” As Nadler watched his mother develop the canvas over a period of weeks, he noticed something that he learned to apply to his own artistry as a noted cabaret and concert performer. The scene reveals a patch of dense woods with a stream…

Landscape and architecture are two longstanding interests of New Mexico artist NATASHA ISENHOUR (b. 1961). Decades of painting have taught her to interpret the ever-changing effects of light on form, and she incorporates those learnings into her oil and pastel studio paintings of Southwestern structures and terrain. An undergraduate degree in geology and painting outdoors regularly have certainly not hurt her ability to transfer keen visual observations to canvas and paper either. For a recent series of architectural portraits, Isenhour turned her focus entirely to unpopulated outdoor spaces, bringing her back full circle to the first subjects she painted as a budding professional 24 years ago. “This series examines the concept of abandoned dreams scattered throughout the American West,” the artist explains. “In these paintings I seek to combine the…

As fellow residents of Earth, wild animals have always fascinated humans, especially the artists among us. Thus many creatures appear in prehistoric cave paintings, and today the desire to depict them endures, actually stronger than ever. The artworks illustrated here confirm this ongoing enthusiasm, and it’s easy to learn more thanks to a host of activities happening across North America. For example, in Charleston next February, the annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (sewe.com) will again delight animal lovers with exhibitions, demos, and other activities highlighting the importance of conservation. Touring the country are the annual Art and the Animal exhibitions organized by the Society of Animal Artists (societyofanimalartists.com), and then there is the annual festival hosted by Artists for Conservation (artists forconservation.org), which features an exhibition by leading international artists, screenings,…

Although Tim Rees (b. 1985) has earned awards for his paintings of intimate family moments, it may surprise his collectors to learn that he is treading new ground here — both as an artist and as a person. “Before I got into art, I didn’t particularly like humanity, because of what it did to itself and how it destroys the earth and the environment,” says the 36-year-old, whose emotionally distant upbringing left him skeptical of society. “Any talkativeness or outgoingness that I have now is a behavior I developed after becoming an artist, in order to teach and interact with people.” A QUIET YOUTH Rees was born in Dodge City, Kansas, and spent much of his childhood bouncing between Utah, California, and Montana before settling in Mesa, Arizona, during junior…