Fine Art Connoisseur March/April 2023

Twenty years ago, this magazine was born of a passion for realism, at a moment when representational painting, drawing, and sculpture were not on the art world's radar. They were considered passé and unnecessary to emulate, or even to consult. At that time, though, we observed a taste for them emerging among younger artists — one last hope for the centuries-old tradition of aesthetic baton-passing from master to apprentice through the generations. We sought the continuation of this time-honored method of accurate rendering, precise drawing, and deft execution in paint or clay. Instead of seeing images of the past reproduced, we hoped all these newly welltrained artists would apply their skills to contemporary subjects, to create images reflecting their own interests and times. For more than two decades, I've quoted…

My favorite issue of the year is the one that highlights realworld collectors of contemporary realist art. This is that issue, and we hope you will enjoy “meeting” the individuals and couples who have so generously opened their doors (see pages 90–99). These folks now join 87 others we have profiled since 2015, and we are honored and grateful to welcome them to this community. Why do we do this? First, people need role models, in any walk of life. We play tennis better after watching Naomi Osaka, and we cook more effectively after Bobby Flay demonstrates the recipe. It's harder with art collecting because there is no single way to do it, and unfortunately the best-known collectors are financiers and movie stars paying millions at auction for a Hirst…

Go Tell Alice Judith Linhares (b. 1940) 2022, oil on canvas, 35 1/2 x 26 in. Courtesy of the artist and P.P.O.W., New York City Ever since Dennis Elliott met the artist Judith Linhares in 1978, he has followed her work, along with the white rabbit she has frequently included in her paintings. Like Alice who chased that animal down the hole into Wonderland, Elliott, a prolific artist himself as well as the founder of the International Curatorial Studio Program (ICSP), has followed the progression of scenes Linhares paints and produces in her Brooklyn studio. “Much of her work is a bit like what you'd find in Wonderland, as if Lewis Carroll might have constructed his stories in paint,” says Elliott, who in 1994 founded ICSP, an influential nonprofit which,…

The plein air paintings being created by BETHANN MORAN - HANDZLIK (b. 1965) are impressive not only for the amount of detail, vibrant color, and emotional content they capture but also for their sheer size, often averaging 50 inches in each direction. The Wisconsin artist does not paint small sketches outdoors to quickly gather information for larger studio landscapes. Rather, she completes almost the entire painting outdoors, sometimes spending weeks in the same spot to capture what she sees. Take This Joy Is Electric, for example, which found the artist standing along a busy highway in Whitewater, Wisconsin, for more than two weeks in order to compose this large scene of a sunflower field. “No doubt there are challenges to working on large canvases outside for a prolonged time,” Moran-Handzlik admits.…

TODAY'S MASTERS 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 re-emergence 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 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…

TODAY'S MASTERS In our digital era — when Instagram dictates how people should look — most portraiture has become an avatar, mainstreamed prettiness, slick and smooth, without imperfections. Such imagery is reinforced and pressurized by films and advertising; the face has become an idealized representation of humanity in its most splendid mode. In this digital society, there is less and less room for reality in all its variety, with its extraordinary kinds of beauty that make our world so colorful and diverse. Yet it is exactly that kaleidoscope of ravishing difference that can open us to mutual tolerance, to embracing the fact that every phase of life offers its own splendor and attractiveness. It is likely that the desire to portray others came about at the same moment people began…