Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2024 i Fine Art Connoisseur

From time to time, we read of a person who discovered something important by accident. I seem to recall a woman finding a painting by the dumpster that turned out to be priceless. Stories like hers are rare, yet possible, and our contributing writer Daniel Grant offers more examples in his intriguing article (“Dumb Luck, or…?”) on page 67. I’ve had a few experiences of my own in this arena. My wife and I love to kill time at antique shows, and, though most exhibitors research their inventory in advance, sometimes we’ll find a darkened corner of a stand and look at each other in disbelief. “Is this really what we think it is? It must be a fake. It’s cheap. Let’s get it.” Treasures are relative, of course. Sometimes…

TODAY'S MASTERS 2024 promises to be a good year for Gabriela Gonzalez Dellosso (b. 1968), who makes art that — once seen — is not easily forgotten. Flor ida’s Museum of Art–DeLand, located 45 min utes northeast of Orlando, is set to unveil The Paintings of Gabriela Gonzalez Dellosso: A Retrospective, on view there January 12–March 30. It features 52 works, some of which the artist has not seen in 20 years; a slightly larger version will open at Indiana’s Fort Wayne Museum of Art on April 20, running through July 14. Both presentations will — as the title sug gests — offer an opportunity to look back over Dellosso’s career at its midpoint, and it will also reveal some of her latest creations, including a large, complex painting that…

INSIDE TRACK "If you are a collector, let other people share your pride and joy,” asserted the interior design doyenne Dorothy Draper (1889–1969). “Collect what you will, but see to it that you arrange your hobby to its best advantage.” A serious collector with a talent for interior design, the late Ann Gilbert Getty (1941–2020) was no slouch when it came to presenting the treasures that filled the homes she shared with her husband, the composer Gordon Getty (b. 1933). Brought up on California farms, Ann got some of her earliest lessons in antiques from her father-in-law, the redoubtable acquisitor J. Paul Getty, and no doubt picked up a thing or two about arranging rooms from Albert Hadley and Sister Parish when she engaged the renowned duo to do up…

BEHIND THE SCENES DIGITAL CONTENT In speaking to Michael Diaz-Griffith, the young chronicler of his fellow young collectors, he describes symptoms he and others experience while pursuing their mission to acquire fine things. He cites, for instance, a “vibrating in place” when standing in front of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, among the world’s greatest repositories of a lifelong collecting pursuit — and also an institution for which the now-37-year-old Diaz-Griffith once served as executive director of its American foundation. While he lives in what he calls a “shabby Upper East Side brownstone right out of the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” he continues to dream daily about dining and sleeping in Gothic Revival rooms like those of Soane. “But I am so catholic in my tastes,” he admits, “I could…

ARTISTS & GALLERIES Bradenton, Florida artcentermanatee.org January 3–26 The ArtCenter Manatee is presenting a show of oil paintings by Heather Arenas, which she has titled Standing out in the Crowd. It includes works from her Museum Series, such as the one illustrated here. The figure in the yellow polka-dot dress is “Dot,” a recurring motif that honors Arenas’s beloved grandmothers, who kindled her passion for art. Her frequent use of yellow reflects the artist’s belief in the inherent goodness of people. Scottsdale, Arizona legacygallery.com March 1–2 Legacy Gallery has created Western Horizons, an exhibition and sale featuring new works by 35 top Western artists. Their pieces will be sold by draw and at the live auction, available only to collectors who have purchased a ticket. The beneficiary is Western Spirit,…

ONGOING FROM 2023 Through April 13: Wild West: Wildlife Masters, Past and Present, Steamboat Art Museum October 11, 2023–January 5: Norman Rockwell and Stories of Childhood in American Illustration, Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center October 13, 2023–August 24: Ace Powell + Loaned Beadworks from the Three Chiefs Cultural Center, Hockaday Museum We Set Our Faces Westward: One Woman’s Journey 1839–1848 by Heide Presse, Steamboat Art Museum JANUARY January 12–March 23: In That Still Moment: DG House, Contemporary Native Artist; Reception: January 11, 5–7 p.m., Hockaday Museum January 16–April 14: Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau, Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, Florida January 18–April 28: Visions: 16 Detroit Artists, Muskegon Museum of Art January 27–April 21: Art Deco: Defining an Era, The Rosen Galleries FEBRUARY February 9–May 12: Frank Stewart’s Nexus: An American Photographer’s Journey, 1960s to the Present, Telfair Museums’…

TODAY'S MASTERS 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; without them, our world would be a quieter, duller place. In this portfolio, we highlight the broad array of birds depicted by a flock of artists in recent years. Some of these images transcend mere description or charm to underscore the more profound, even symbolist, meanings we humans have assigned to birds over the centuries. An ideal place to appreciate the beauty and diversity of our feathered friends is the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. Every autumn, this institution presents its Birds in Art exhibition, which features the creations…

INSIDE TRACK "There is an army of people looking through dumpsters, searching for something of value. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, there is nothing,” says Lark Mason, owner of an auction house in New Braunfels, Texas, and a regular expert on the PBS television series Antiques Roadshow. Except, sometimes, they do find something. Jared Whipple, for instance, found hundreds of paintings, drawings, and a few bronze sculptures by Francis Hines (1920–2016) in a dumpster outside a barn the artist had rented in Waterbury, Connecticut. After his death, the barn’s owner no longer received rent payments and wanted the space cleared so he could sell the property on which the barn was sited. Hines was survived by two sons, both in their 70s, who lived in small New York…

DESTINATION ART Fine Art Connoisseur’s 11th adventure abroad was never going to be ordinary. This past October, 25 art-loving Americans spent nine days exploring the cultural treasures of Stockholm and Madrid. It was the magazine’s first such outing since 2019: not surprisingly, the pandemic had gotten in the way of our plans for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Though one rarely hears them mentioned in the same sentence, the linking of these two capitals — a four-hour flight apart — actually made perfect sense. They had been selected after scoring highest in a poll of our program’s alumni travelers, and soon we realized how much they have in common: world-class art museums and galleries, impressive architecture, and imperial histories that aren’t so familiar to Americans as — say — those of…

TODAY’S MASTERS DIGITAL CONTENT This autumn, talented plein air painters around the world participated in the September 2023 edition of the Plein Air Salon competition, which was judged by the Wisconsin-based artist William A. Suys, Jr. The program encompassed a bonanza of honors and awards: First Place ($600 cash prize); Second Place ($300 cash prize); Third Place ($200 cash prize); People’s Choice Award ($100 cash prize); and the winner of each category ($50 cash prize). All winners were automatically entered into the annual competition that will be awarded in May 2024 during the 11th Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in Cherokee, North Carolina. The Grand Prize winner of that competition will receive a check for $15,000 and will have their winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine. Congratulations…

BLOWING ROCK ART & HISTORY MUSEUM The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum is located in Blowing Rock, NC. BRAHM provides cultural enrichment by promoting the arts, and Southern Appalachian heritage and history, through educational programs, exhibitions, activities, and permanent collections. Admission is always free. We’re open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and 11 a.m.–4 p.m. on Sundays (Sundays only May through October). BRISCOE WESTERN ART MUSEUM March 22–23: Night of Artists Opening Weekend Celebration and Live Auction, Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX March 24–May 5: Night of Artists Exhibition and Sale, Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX June 14–September 8: Survival of the Fittest: Envisioning Wildlife and Wilderness With the Big Four, Briscoe Museum, TX October 18–January 12: Storytellers: Narrative Art and the West, Briscoe Western Art Museum, San…

HISTORIC MASTERS DIGITAL CONTENT In northwestern Manhattan — an area many tourists never reach — an ever-growing number of informed art lovers are beating a path to Audubon Terrace, the impressive quadrangle of cultural institutions erected early in the 20th century through the generosity of the scholar-philanthropist Archer Milton Huntington (1870–1955). Erected on what was once land farmed by the ornithologist-artist John James Audubon, its tenants over the years have included the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Geographical Society, American Numismatic Society, George Gustave Heye Museum of the American Indian, and Spanish Church of Our Lady of Hope. At the very center of the quadrangle is the institution that was always closest to Huntington’s heart. In 1904 he founded what is now the Hispanic Society Museum & Library (HSM&L)…

Peter Boyer has struck actual notes that resonate not only with American immigrants, but also with his own ancestors. He has composed 35 concert works that have earned him a Grammy nomination and many other accolades. Among his compositions is Ellis Island: The Dream of America (2002), which brings together a full orchestra with actors and projected images to acknowledge the millions of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island between 1910 and 1940. The piece includes verbatim remembrances that Boyer obtained through the Ellis Island Oral History Project — words written long ago by seven immigrants hailing from Russia, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Poland, and Belgium. After visiting the island numerous times and reading immigrants’ letters recounting their impressions of sailing into New York Harbor, Boyer delved into his own…

EVENTS PREVIEW ART IN THE DESERT ARIZONA FINE ART EXPO North Scottsdale arizonafineartexpo.com January 12–March 24 The Scottsdale-Phoenix region always booms at this time of year, and one of the season’s highlights will be the 20th annual Arizona Fine Art EXPO. In a magnificent desert setting, visitors come upon a series of big white tents covering 44,000 square feet. Inside are 124 studios occupied by more than 75 artists creating original works of fine art. Coming from around the world, these talented people are glad to demonstrate their techniques and converse with visitors about what inspires them. The pop-up campus also encompasses a sculpture garden with a koi pond and waterfall, and visitors can enjoy the cafe, wine tastings, garden parties, book signings, and live music every weekend. A season pass…

It’s probably safe to say that you, like me, enjoy admiring artworks illustrated in magazines such as Fine Art Connoisseur. I always find it fascinating to see what artists have created, and I especially marvel at how they can often depict the same subject — such as Pike’s Peak or a bowl of roses — in completely fresh and individual ways. No matter how satisfying it is to read about art, I also want to get out there and see it “live,” up close, under various kinds of light. I want to notice and appreciate aspects of the artwork that just may not be conveyable through even the highest-quality photography and printing. That’s why all of our editorial and marketing team members love visiting museums and galleries for ourselves, and…