Fine Art Connoisseur March/April 2025

As I watched Los Angeles burn on television, tears welling in my eyes, I was struck by a haunting parallel to my earliest memory: being held in my mother's arms as we watched our family home succumb to flames. Though we had recently moved most of our possessions out, that building held irreplaceable treasures — memories that my parents would recall with wistful regret well into their 90s. This personal connection to loss through fire has given me a unique perspective on the recent catastrophic events that have devastated countless collections of fine art across our nation. The scale of artistic devastation is staggering. Tens of thousands of paintings and sculptures have been lost to the flames in Los Angeles alone — from masterworks in mega-mansions to entire private collections…

My favorite issue of the year is the one that highlights real-world 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 94–105). These folks now join 97 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 Coco Gauff, 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…

JOHANNE MANGI Animals, Semi-Finalist Heart and Soul, 14 x 11 in., oil mangifineart@johannemangi.com | 203-215-5255 johannemangi.com Represented by West Wind Fine Art, Keene, NH KATHERINE GALBRAITH Animals, Finalist Snowy Egret Skimming the Lagoon, 20 x 20 in., oil on linen katherine@katherinegalbraithfineart.com 770-366-1448 katherinegalbraithfineart.com Represented by Beverly McNeil Gallery, Birmingham, AL Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA KAREN ANN HITT Landscape, Finalist Alleluia, 36 x 48 in., oil on linen panel kanorighitt@gmail.com | 941-586-0207 anoriginalhitt.com Visit website for gallery representation JOHN COGAN ARC Finalist Clarie de Lune (Moonlight), 16 x 20 in., acrylic (top) Evening Angel, 24 x 18 in., acrylic (bottom) johndcogan@yahoo.com 505-486-6388 johncogan.com Represented by Mainview Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ ANNI CROUTER Portraiture First Place Figurative Honorable Mention SDFW Award Ritual, 18 x 27 in., watercolor on paper annicrouter@comcast.net Instagram: @annicrouter annicrouter.com Represented by RJD…

There are many reasons people collect art, and they're all worthy of applause. Perhaps it's to enliven our living spaces, to enjoy beauty or technical virtuosity, to connect with artists and others in the community, to satisfy an urge for creativity, to invest in something that will grow in value, or to feel kinship with the past. Fine Art Connoisseur has always been devoted to celebrating the great collectors we see all around us, and also to inspiring newcomers to give collecting a go. In every issue we highlight the stories of those who acquire art with passion, and we are particularly excited to do this now. Why? Because when it comes to realism (or representation, or figuration — whatever you choose to call it), we are living in a…

As a stranger to a new city, Jen Tullock was immediately welcomed by a fellow stranger. The man who greeted her was French, tall, wearing a classic beret, and draped in layers of capes. The moment Tullock, then an aspiring actress and now an accomplished one, saw the man, he beckoned, staring straight at her with a hand outstretched. The figure is the subject of Edouard Manet's Beggar with a Duffle Coat, which hangs at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). “The painting is situated at the top of a grand staircase in a move that feels intentional, as the outstretched arm, to me, acts as a welcoming gesture,” says Tullock, who, when she first encountered the canvas in 2006, was beginning an internship at the AIC. She recalls that…

LISA LACKEY (b. 1959) lives and works in New Jersey, a few miles west of New York City. She creates artworks — some as tall as five feet — made of fabric or paper (or both) that “read” as paintings, prints, or photographs from across the room, but surprise viewers when they draw near. Many want to touch her varied weaves, grains, layering, and hand- and machine-stitching, which all bring depth and nuance to the surface. “Like fractals,” Lackey says, “the closer you look, the more detail there is to experience.” Lackey grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in a home where “art was happening around me,” thanks to her father's home-based advertising agency and her mother's forays into fine art and craft. She particularly remembers a family visit to the…