American Prestige

The American Art Fair gives experienced and aspiring collectors the opportunity to view and purchase museum-quality fine art during the four-day event at the Bohemian National Hall

The American Art Fair gives experienced and aspiring collectors the opportunity to view and purchase museum-quality fine art during the fourday event at the Bohemian National Hall

In the fall of 2008, something dazzling was in the works.a fair that brought together the top brick-and-mortar galleries in Newyork in a showcase of highly curated 19th- and 20th-century art, The American Art Fair came to fruition amid the adversity of the economic downturn—and only continues to grow in reverence as the years go on, now celebrating its 11th iteration.

Ushering in the fall season in New York is American Art Week, one of the pinnacles of the art collecting world, rounding out the end of the year in a culmination of art walks, shows and sales from Newyork’s premier galleries and auction houses.and at the start of it all is The American Art Fair, running from November 10 to 13.The only fair that focuses solely on 19th- and 20thcentury American fine art, The American Art Fair is a prestigious event bringing more than 400 masterful works from 17 exhibitors including Thomas

Colville Fine Art,avery Galleries, Debra Force Fine Art, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Menconi + Schoelkopf and Nedra Matteucci Galleries, as well as Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, LLC and D.wigmore Fine Art, both returning after a hiatus.the event will be held in the historic Bohemian National

Hall, built in 1896 in the Renaissance Revival style and a designated New York landmark.though running for just over a decade, The American Art Fair is a manifestation of the rich history of American art throughout the last several centuries.

“Even though it’s just 17 dealers, it has tremendous depth, and the dealers are the top in their field... newcomers to the fair are amazed that they can buy a museum-quality Hudson River School painting,” says Catherine Sweeney Singer, director of The American Art Fair. The fair features an extensive range of works, and past shows have included pieces by Elizabeth Catlett and

Mary Louise Fairchild Macmonnies; Hudson River School painters Sanford Robinson Gifford and Jasper Francis Cropsey;ashcan School painters John Sloan and William Glackens; and American impressionists John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase.

This year’s show will exhibit works from several of the aforementioned artists, as well as an oil by Frederic Church from Hirschl & Adler Galleries, and a John Marin watercolor and graphite from Meredith Ward Fine Art, among many others.

“With their vast experience, extensive expertise, reliable reputations and personalized services, our exhibitors offer through their well-established galleries the highest quality at The American Art Fair,” says founder Thomas Colville.“we choose to focus on the best examples of historically important artists of the past in a thoughtful environment of reflection, personal interaction and immediate contact.” Debra Force Fine Art brings works by Chase, Cropsey and George Benjamin Luks to the 2018 fair.“we look forward to seeing both private collectors and museum curators from across the country,” says director Bethany Dobson.

New to The American Art Fair this year are two of the oldest galleries in the country:vose Galleries and Kraushaar Galleries.

“As the sixth generation of the family firm, I am proud to steer the gallery into our 178th year of business. Having been in business since 1841, we are in a unique position to have had long histories with a number of important American artists, such as William Bradford, Frank Benson and

Childe Hassam, not only handling them during their lifetimes but still having the honor of offering their works for sale today.we have sold over 36,000 paintings during our long tenure, and we are proud to count over 170 museums across the country as having acquired important works for their permanent collections from our gallery,” says Carey L.vose, director of Vose Galleries.

Among works the gallery brings to this year’s fair is A Green Meadow Landscape, an oil by Hassam, depicting flowing brushstrokes of vivid greenery and trees with more muted tones, creating depth in the backdrop.“this early work was made in 1882, before Hassam moved to Paris in 1886 and became steeped in the new ideals of the French Impressionist movement.when he returned and settled in Newyork, he became the leading proselytizer for the new art form,” gallery president

Marcia L.vose says of the piece. Kraushaar Galleries reached the historical milestone of 125 years back in 2010.The range of works the gallery brings to the fair includes a 1903 John Sloan portrait and abstract works by Elmer Bischoff and Dorothy Dehner, according to Kraushaar Galleries director Katherine Degn.

The dealer also brings Sloan’s Niles Pond, Gloucester, a radiant piece with defined brushstrokes. “in our 133rd year in business we continue our tradition of bringing quality works from a selection of 20th-century American artists for consideration, representing a variety of media, subjects and prices,” Degn says. “The American Art Fair provides an opportunity for aspiring, new and seasoned collectors to see and compare a selection of American art in one place. For Kraushaar it means a chance to see familiar faces and meet new people in a collegial atmosphere.” Paintings by women artists working in both abstraction and realism is the primary focus for D.wigmore Fine Art; among those in the 2018 fair are works by Doris Lee and Sally Michel.“major social and aesthetic developments in the 20th century, such as radical politics and the arrival of modernism and feminism altered exhibition opportunities for women artists,” says Deedee Wigmore, president of D.wigmore Fine Art.

“I feel The American Art Fair gives me an opportunity to show support for the creative excellence of women.” Collectors can also attend scholarly lectures throughout the four-day event, a tradition that began when the fair moved to the Bohemian National

Hall, which houses a theater where the orations are held, Sweeney Singer explains. Lectures for the 2018 fair include “Radical Realists”:who Were the American Pre-raphaelites?, by Linda S. Ferber, senior art historian and museum director emerita at the New-york Historical Society, held on November 10 at 2 p.m. Dr. Ferber’s talk comes from her research for the American Pre-raphaelites exhibition to open at the National Gallery in 2019. The American Art Fair runs from noon to 6 p.m. November 10 through 12, and noon to 4 p.m. November 13.

The American Art Fair celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2017.

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), May (Welcome Sweet Springtime), ca. 1890-1900. Oil on canvas, 20¼ x 24¼ in., signed lower right: ‘TW Dewing’. Courtesy Menconi + Schoelkopf.

Top: Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Boys on a Hillside, 1879. Watercolor on paper, 8½ x 11½ in. Courtesy Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.; Bottom left: Peter Hurd (1904-1984), Tracks of Winter. Oil tempera on board, 27¼ x 35¼ in. Courtesy Nedra Matteucci Galleries.; Bottom right: John Marin (1870-1953), Waterfront, Manhattan, 1936. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 21¾ x 26¼ in., signed and dated at lower right: ‘Marin 36’. Courtesy Meredith Ward Fine Art.

Top left: William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), Autumn Still Life, ca. 1906. Oil on canvas, 40¼ x 403/8 in., signed middle right: ‘Wm. M. Chase’. Courtesy Avery Galleries.; Bottom left: Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900), Indian Summer on the Delaware River. Oil on canvas, 24¼ x 41¼ in., signed and dated lower left: ‘J.F. Cropsey 1862’. Courtesy Debra Force Fine Art, Inc.; Right: Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991), Object with Black, 1948. Oil on canvas, 40 x 32 in. Courtesy Kraushaar Galleries, Inc.