The Ultimate Boutique
The inaugural Jackson Hole Fine Art Fair swept through Wyoming in September, leaving collectors and art lovers awestruck
The first-ever Jackson Hole Fine Art Fair, produced by Showhamptons, was a huge success, taking place September 12 through 15.The event—held concurrently with the Jackson Hole
Fall Arts Festival—gathered more than 50 national and international galleries dealing in Western, contemporary and historic American art to the
Snow King Arts and Events Center in Jackson Hole,wyoming, for four days of buying and admiring art. Nearly 2,000 collectors from the Rocky Mountains area and beyond attended the inaugural art fair, which brought in more than $2 million in immediate sales, with millions of dollars in future sales pending.
“We unveiled to the art world, tailored to the aesthetics of Jackson Hole and the Rocky Mountains, a curated and integrated cross section of art genres which is something you never see at art fairs,” says Rick Friedman, Showhamptons executive director. He adds that the show was enhanced by its dynamic offerings, juxtaposing artists like Maynard Dixon, Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell with that of Ed Ruscha, Alexander Calder and Thomas Hart Benton, among others. “This is the ultimate boutique fair, which works well in a wealthy enclave like Jackson Hole—intimate, refined, engaging, luxurious, just 50 dealers and almost 2,000 attendees, but not every guest was a millionaire.” Among significant sales from the event were works by Dixon and
Frank Tenney Johnson, sold by Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, as well as works by Howard Terpning, Eanger Irving Couse,william R.
Leigh and another Dixon from Redfern Gallery.
“It is like we discovered a new planet in the solar system,” says Friedman.“in our search for a little gold mine in ‘parts unknown,’ we uncovered an incredibly well-funded and knowledgeable oasis of art lovers.”