Historical Focus
The American Art Fair features 17 dealer exhibitions and four lectures centered around 19th- and 20th-century American art
The American Art Fair features 17 dealer exhibitions and four lectures centered around 19th- and 20th-century American art
For the past 11 years, The American Art Fair has shown its dominance in the American art industry by dedicating its efforts solely to one of the most respected segments of the market—works of the 19th and 20th centuries.this Newyork event,which sees 17 elite art dealers displaying prime inventory, has only grown in prestige since it first opened by keeping the show intimate in scale and by engaging collectors through tightly curated exhibitions and educational lectures. It also happens during the city’s famed American Art Week in November when three of the top auction houses host sales and dealers along Madison Avenue open their doors for the Just Off Madison gallery stroll. This convergence of events focused on historic American art has made the metropolis a top destination for collectors in the fall. The American Art Fair, November 16 to 19, kicks off the week at the Bohemian National Hall.
“As The American Art Fair celebrates its 12th year, we continue to bring collectors, museum professionals and the most outstanding dealers in the field together for American Art Week in New York,” says art dealer Thomas Colville, who founded the fair.“with their vast experience, extensive expertise, reliable reputations and personalized services, our exhibitors offer their best works of 19th- and 20th-century American art. Our three floors of exhibitors and four lectures by prominent scholars and curators combine with other events to produce a celebration attracting visitors from all over the country.”
Along with Thomas Colville Fine Art, there will be booths from 16 other dealers. Fourteen are continuing exhibitors: Alexandre Gallery, Avery Galleries, Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, D.wigmore Fine Art, Debra Force
Fine Art, Driscoll Babcock Galleries,
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Jonathan Boos, Kraushaar Galleries, Menconi + Schoelkopf, Meredith Ward Fine Art, Questroyal Fine Art,taylor|graham and Vose Galleries. Returning this year is Forum Gallery, while American Illustrators Gallery is exhibiting for the first time.
Many of the exhibiting dealers echo Colville’s sentiments on the experience of the fair, and further note the community of like-minded individuals that it brings together.
“[T]he event attracts top museum curators, industry academics and serious collectors from around the globe,” says Catherine Holmes ofvose Galleries.“besides the show on the walls, there’s always a great lineup of stimulating lectures and events throughout the fair run.we think that fairs like this are the best opportunities for collectors to get a broader sense of the art market, and to have conversations surrounding the market.”
She continues,“vose Galleries is old school
in the sense that we believe the experience of purchasing a work of art should be personal and fulfilling.a collector should be able to see the work in person, having lengthy conversations with experts, develop relationships with people who are trustworthy and well-respected in the industry and who are as passionate about a work of art as they are. Fairs like The American Art Fair are the best place to make these connections and have these conversations.”
Jonathan Spies, director of Menconi + Schoelkopf, hones in on the quality of artwork that can be found in one place.“the American Art Fair is an event without peer: It is a destination for collectors and curators in American art that many put on their calendars on January 1.And for good reason:you’ll see rarely seen masterpieces and exciting objects that you won’t find anywhere else. Visitors self-select as very interested, educated and savvy—and that degree of specialization allows the dealers to cater to this sophisticated palette.
“Think about how magical it is to find a great painting by one of America’s top artists during the Civil War. Historically important, beautiful—and something that would just be swallowed up in the hoopla at, say, Art Basel,” he adds. “The American
Art Fair presents, however, an extraordinary setting for jewels like this—and that’s what you’ll see at our booth.”
This year the gallery will bring to the fair a Thomas Cole oil sketch that has letters and journal entries from the day it was painted and a piece by Eastman Johnson. Further discussing the Cole work, View of Schroon Mountain, Spies says,“there are pencil sketches that Cole made on the spot, and this painting contributed in part to a larger canvas at the Cleveland Museum of
Art. It’s just the sort of discovery that The American Art Fair does so well—the intersection of history, beauty and that sublime moment of revelation.”
Not only is Menconi + Schoelkopf putting its best foot forward for the fair, but the other exhibitors, too, curate booths of some of their most notable inventory.
Vose, for instance, plans to bring pieces by “the undervalued early American impressionist Theodore Wendel—including a scene or two from his time in Giverny,” and paintings by women artists such as Jane Peterson and Mary Macomber.works by N.C. and Andrew Wyeth will also be available in their booth including the former’s The Artist’s Studio, Chadds Ford, one of the artist’s earliest easel landscapes that was painted on a property he rented in the Pennsylvania town when he moved there in April 1908.
D.wigmore Fine Art represents several artist estates, and the gallery will focus on those for its American
Art Fair offerings.“doris Lee is having a four museum traveling exhibition in 2020, so we will be bringing her paintings.we continue to work with the Avery Foundation and will feature Sally Michel’s work again this year. We will also have abstract works by Charles Green Shaw and Irene Rice Pereira, both estates we represent,” says Emily Lenz, director of the gallery. “Our booth will have a significant 1940s work by Ilya Bolotowsky titled
Centennial, painted while the artist was a visiting professor at University of Wyoming in Laramie. Bolotowsky distills the geometry of the small town of Centennial into his painting with a sense of its simple buildings and the surrounding mountains. I’m always on the lookout for modern depictions of the American West and this is a superb example.”
In the Avery Galleries booth will be a selection of American paintings including several by Winslow Homer, a recently acquired rare still life by John White Alexander and a floral and gold leaf panel painting by Mary Elizabeth Price.the gallery also will bring Frederick John Mulhaupt’s Moonlight, Gloucester Harbor.“the Mulhaput is the only nocturne of Gloucester Harbor we are aware of,” says Nicole Amoroso, managing director of the gallery.“it went from the artist to one family, where it remained for a generation.”
From Debra Force Fine Art is a beautiful Robert Henri painting, Spanish Girl of Madrid (Modiste), from 1906. Gallery director Bethany Dobson explains,“henri visited Spain seven times between 1900 and 1926; he painted Modiste on his second visit to the country during the summer of 1906.The model is a young dressmaker from Madrid and the artist painted two versions of this work with the sitter in different poses; Modiste of Madrid, which is in the collection of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and the current example, which comes from the artist’s estate.” Complementing the exhibitor booths are four scholarly lectures that are free but have seating available on a first-come basis.avis Berman will lecture on William Glackens;“hyman Bloom: Matters of Life and Death” is a talk from Erica E. Hirshler of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;the Met’s Stephanie L. Herdrich presents “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents”; and Whitney Museum of American Art curator Barbara Haskell will discuss Mexican muralists and their influence on American art.the former two lectures happen September 16, while the second two take place the next day.
“We are an antidote to ‘fair fatigue.’ Our focus and ‘niche’ in the art market is our strength,” says Catherine Sweeney Singer, fair director.“for anyone interested in American art, whether a seasoned collector or just curious, the fair is a great place to learn—that’s why we do not charge admission to the fair or the special lectures.we encourage students, neighbors and everyone who can reach the fair—which is one block from the new Q subway line—to visit and make their own discoveries.”