Cooperative Galleries and the Future of Local Art

The market for fine art is ever-evolving and while most news about the gallery field focuses on blue chip outposts in major cosmopolitan centers the vast majority of working artists operate within their own regional communities dotted around the United States. The average artist will never see their work acquired by a museum, will not receive an institutional retrospective, and likely will struggle to find robust gallery representation. At the same time, the demands on retail gallery owners in smaller cities are constantly increasing. Rents, and the other myriad expenses associated with small business, are ever on the rise, while the pool of individuals interested in buying art remains relatively static. Looking towards the future for artists with regional scopes, one bright spot might be artist-run cooperatives that bring together makers around the idea of shared benefits.

Many communities around the country are home to long standing cooperative galleries. In the northeast, a number of these organizations count their longevity by the decade. The ways in which artists’ cooperative galleries operate can vary wildly, but the core tenants usually fall somewhere along the lines of a group of artists joining together to pay rent on a storefront where they all can show their work. Often, each participating artist is granted a section of the space where they can continually share a rotating body of artworks. Sometimes, the exhibition opportunities cycle between active members. Typically, each member of a cooperative is expected or obligated to donate several hours a month to monitor the gallery and greet guests, while in return the gallery takes a smaller than usual commission when works sell. There are some trade offs involved.

Whereas a traditional commercial gallery is (at least ideally) managed by a fine art professional who has both curatorial acumen as well as sales and networking ability, a cooperative might be run collectively by dozens of artists, each with their own goals and objectives. While gallerists will take a 50% commission on average though, the typical commission in a cooperative is something like 25%. Artists in a cooperative gallery can expect to also pay membership dues that can range from a few hundred dollars a year to hundreds of dollars a month, with some cooperatives instituting sliding scales or varying membership tiers to make dues more equitable and accessible.

The demands on small galleries, whether cooperative or owner-run, are huge. Each month a gallery needs to sell enough art to pay rent, utilities, insurance, marketing fees, and other incidentals like paint, labels, collateral materials, and reception expenses. For a retail gallery, the added expense of staff salaries and health insurance can prove insurmountable. In a cooperative, the necessity for profit is spread broadly across the artists involved and there is often no gallery manager to pay. While the panache and expertise of a career gallerist can provide a high level of value to artists represented by them, the freedom and flexibility of a cooperative has a value of its own, particularly for artists who feel overlooked by the gallery system.

Artists are constantly seeking new venues to show and sell their work. The pressures on small owner-run galleries are fierce and the need for gallerists to show works that are highly salable is very real. So for many artists, the alternative of being in community with fellow makers while having a more equitable stake in a gallery operation might be an appealing alternative to the grind of seeking gallery representation and answering to the whims of the marketplace. As the field for regional galleries continues to change, cooperative galleries have enormous potential to create dynamic spaces for artists of all backgrounds to exhibit their work within and beyond their communities.

The Enduring Allure of Small Artworks

As that time of year nears when many arts organizations host shows and sales of small artworks, it is interesting and timely to consider the historical tastes for little pieces of art. While the impending holiday season might bring exhibitions of smaller sized works to venues across the country, collectors have prized small art for centuries and the trends in modestly sized artworks have shaped art history more generally as well. Highlights from the history of art can serve as inspiration for contemporary patrons to add intimately scaled artworks to their collections.

Unknown maker, Right Half of a Diptych: Crucifixion of Christ, French, c. mid1300’s, carved ivory, 10.5 x 7.3 cm (4 1/8 x 2 7/8 in.), Collection of the Worcester Art Museum

In the medieval period, art patrons were high status nobles whose lives were consequently nomadic. Travel between varying estates or to the court meant that precious works had to be mobile. Some of the most treasured artworks of the middle ages were tapestries that could be rolled and taken away. Because small objects are particularly easy to move, an entire industry sprung up around the creation of things like minute ivories that acted as tiny altars for personal Christian devotions.

France become a central location for the production of these sacred objects. Diptychs and triptychs were produced and filled with exquisitely detailed scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ. Originally richly colored with polychrome, most medieval ivories were denuded over the centuries and now exist primarily as sculptural objects and testimonies of religious faith and artistry. For those looking to learn more about this tradition of these small ivory reliefs, the Courtauld Institute’s Gothic Ivories Project is a remarkable storehouse for research and photography.

While little ivories were exceptionally popular, the medieval world was full of small but precious things like remarkable jewelry, works of decorative arts, and tiny books of hours packed with intricate illustrations. All of these objects enable historians to get a picture of social and economic realities for those who commissioned and treasured them.

John Singleton Copley, Self-Portrait Miniature, watercolor on ivory, 1769, 1 3/8 x 1 1/8 in. (3.3 x 2.7 cm), Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Later, in the eighteenth century, another form of small art rose in stature. Items like miniature portraits and highly detailed snuff boxes came into vogue. Pieces like these were also manufactured for the upper echelon of society and were often given as love tokens or other gifts. Although small in scale, they are wonderfully illustrative and help to form a vivid picture of the social world of their time.

In a small self portrait in the collection of the Met, American artist John Singleton Copley captures his own likeness in the tiniest way. Undeterred by the small size of his ivory canvas, Copley created an image of himself that captures his fine clothes and well-coifed hair. Rosy subtleties play across his otherwise alabaster skin and the effects of light and shadow are explored in ways that are as in depth here as they might be in a larger scale work.

While miniatures like Copley’s were particularly popular in his day, there is a long tradition of their production. A detailed catalogue focused on earlier works of miniature portraiture in Europe is available via the Metropolitan Museum online.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC has an engaging display of small panels by Georges Seurat.
Photographed by Michael Rose, summer of 2023.

In the nineteenth century, forms of art-making shifted and became more democratized. New technologies allowed for the manufacture of novel artistic materials and artists broke out of their studios to paint en plein air. Confined by what they could carry and by what would remain stable on an easel outdoors, canvas sizes were often reduced and small panels were fodder for sketches that were as masterful and boundary-breaking as the finished works that succeeded them.

At the National Gallery in Washington DC, a case filled with panels featuring studies by the French Post-Impressionist painter Georges Seurat reads like the wall of a contemporary small works show. The wood panels in the series measure at an average of ten inches or less on their long side but are filled with the same enticing Pointillist sensibility as Seurat’s completed paintings like his famed A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jatte. Together, the collection illustrates the artist’s working process and the ways in which large and complex compositions could be developed in smaller bites across multiple panels.

Image of Dororhy and Herbert Vogel alongside work from their growing collection of small art in the 1960’s.
Image by Bernard Gotfryd via Wikipedia images.

Modernity has not ebbed the love for small art. The extraordinary story of collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel is evidence of this. Throughout the mid and late twentieth century the Vogels became important collectors of some of the most significant artists of their time. Although both had blue collar jobs, they were able to amass an important collection by focusing on small works by big names including the likes of Lynda Benglis, Lois Dodd, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold, and Elizabeth Murray. Their sizable holdings eventually took over their modest apartment in New York and they became the subject of a PBS documentary. Much of their remarkable collection was then distributed to museums in all fifty states, making for an enormous impact in small doses.

Whether it be a devotional ivory, a tiny portrait, a nineteenth century painting, or a work of breathtaking modernism, smaller works of art have always appealed to collectors. Today, in an age of the big, the bold, and the expensive, small works exhibitions provide an outlet for artists to create work they are passionate about in a format that is often more accessible to collectors in terms of both the wall space and money required to add such a work to their holdings.

As the season of small works sales gets underway, individuals hoping to support artists in their communities might consider the proud history of collecting modest works as inspiration to buy wonderful little artworks for their own collections.

How to Incorporate Art Into Your Home via Redfin

Thank you to national real estate brokerage firm Redfin for featuring a quote from me in a new piece on their blog detailing professional advice about how homeowners can incorporate fine art into their spaces. Artists and art gallery professionals from across the country contributed to this listing of helpful pointers.

My feedback:

The key to getting the most out of art in your home is to acquire work that you’re passionate about. Whether you buy work to support a friend who is an artist or find items by artists you admire in an auction or consignment setting, collecting works you love is the best investment you can make. And don’t be intimidated because industry professionals like gallerists, auctioneers, and independent advisors can help you out along the way, too!

Read the full article and gain plenty of new ideas for adding art to your home by clicking here. Thanks once more to Redfin!

Sign Up to Receive My Newsletter

As 2019 comes to a close, I am planning to send a note to my email subscribers with details of some of my upcoming events. I hope you’ll consider joining my mailing list so I can share talks, courses, and other activities with you. I typically send between four and six emails annually and I will never share my mailing list with third parties. Fill out the form below to join my list and receive my newsletters.

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Thank you for taking an interest in my work. I look forward to sharing exciting projects with you via my newsletter and my social media channels!

Sincerely,
Michael

It’s Time for Retail Galleries to Rethink Receptions

It seems that since time in memoriam retail art galleries of all sizes have been putting on parties to celebrate new shows. They go by many names, from the classic “opening reception” to the self-consciously chic “cocktails with the artist”. While the contents can vary - many feature live music, most have wine, cheese, et cetera - the idea is basically the same: if you feed them, they will come. But if you feed them, will they buy, too? On this question the jury is still out. The real inquiry is how can these events be made more engaging in small and mid-sized commercial galleries, and how can they be made to pay?

Receptions, like any aspect of the gallery business, are not cheap. Between promotion, food, drink, music, staffing, and other details, it’s not unusual even for a smaller commercial gallery to spend in the range of $1,000 or more on such events. Considering the often precarious financial situation for these same galleries, does it really make sense for them to spend funds that could otherwise go towards rent, advertising, or specialized staff on throwing a party?

Many gallerists and most artists in regional and local marketplaces cling to the idea that these free gatherings drive sales. At the same time though, any gallerist will also tell you that every gallery has their opening “regulars”. These individuals attend exhibition receptions religiously, delight in the complimentary fare, and have also by and large never bought a thing. That being said, though, many gallery owners will also share that the excitement surrounding opening receptions does result in sales. In many cases most sales occur at or around the opening of a show. But is the party itself the driving force behind this? While the data on this topic is sparse, there are reasons to doubt.

The reason that so many sales occur at openings is because these aptly named events typically open the show and are buyers’ first exposure to the work available. Anyone who has loved a painting or a print or a sculpture enough to buy it knows that no amount of free Gruyère made them pull out their checkbook. Collectors of luxury goods like art require three things: means, motive, and opportunity. While some coaxing doesn’t hurt, broad costly programming seems to be a blunt answer to the question of cultivating patronage of the visual arts. And if a gallerist feels a party is an important way to entice or honor potential or prior collectors, perhaps a private VIP preview is the best way to include such individuals and encourage them to become repeat buyers.

So, if these events just happen to be an opportunity for otherwise motivated buyers to make purchases, then how can commercial gallery owners convert them into profit centers in their own right? One idea, maybe the idea, is to charge for them. A lesson you learn in Business 101 is that if you give any product away for free, the public will see it as worthless. So, if money is invested into exhibition programs like receptions, why shouldn’t there be a fee to attend? They do, after all, have value. They provide a unique first look at exhibitions as well as networking and often educational opportunities as well.

One reason I think galleries tend to be leery of charging for events is because the art community at large has an idea that even retail galleries are not merely businesses built on art sales but also cultural centers. And as cultural centers, this thinking goes, it is the responsibility of for-profit galleries to provide open, easy, and free access to their spaces at all times. This free access includes receptions and other events. I recently had this exact conversation with a gallerist who was detailing some of the difficulties they’re seeing in their business and they really leaned into this concept, namely the idea that they had a “community responsibility” to run specific programs and events even at a loss. My response was that as a business owner a gallerist’s key responsibilities are to pay their bills, to pay their artists, and to pay staff.

No other for-profit business that I know of is enlisted to provide free catering and entertainment to strangers who don’t pay for their product or service. So, why should commercial galleries? Certainly, as a gallery professional who works in a uniquely historic and public setting, I think it’s very much in the interest of non-profit, mission-driven art centers and institutions to open their doors wide to the communities they serve and to run plentiful free programs, including openings. Small and medium-sized commercial galleries, however, need to open their doors wide to collectors, patrons, and individuals interested in supporting their artists and their exhibition programming with more than just lip service or dreaded “exposure”. And in those settings, this might just mean charging for special events specifically or even charging a general admission fee.

I don’t think the suggestion that a business should charge for a service is a radical one. And if retail galleries charged a small amount to attend special parties and programs, audiences would see that these events do have a value, and more importantly that there is a cost to the small business putting them on. With the income from admission, even from a thinned herd of attendees, commercial galleries could also improve the programming to build out events that are more enticing to the young, sophisticated, upwardly mobile, moneyed class of potential collectors that need to be engaged if the commercial galleries serving local artists are to survive into the future. Millennials, for instance, are interested in such experiences - and high quality ones, too.

A $30 cover for an event that features craft spirits, canapés from a locally owned restaurant, and a demo with the featured artist(s), is not in any way unreasonable and if a buyer is honestly in the market for art, even a piece in the $1,000 price range, it is not inaccessible. Of course it’s tricky to make the numbers work, but this is an industry filled with creative people and something along those lines sounds much more interesting to me than the average reception. And based on my experiences, I bet it would be much more appealing to real potential art buyers too.

Not everyone is in the market for art, and if a $20 or $30 cover charge is too steep for a visitor, then it stands to reason that a $500 or $1,000 art purchase probably isn’t in the cards for them either. Ultimately, art sales have to be the cornerstone of a successful retail gallery situation, but making openings and other gallery programming more profitable is an important step to creating a commercial gallery business model that is more tenable in a rapidly changing environment.

If important retail venues for local artists are going to last, they must be money-making operations and behave as such. Gallery professionals must show that their spaces, their exhibitions, and their work has value. Rethinking receptions and other events as income-generating activity is one step towards shoring up the economic feasibility of the small commercial gallery for the next generation of local artists.

Wallpapered in Velvet: Fall TEFAF and The (Old) Art World

This weekend, I made a trip to the New York installment of The European Fine Art Fair (popularly known as TEFAF). I wanted to share my takeaways from an event I genuinely very much enjoyed and one I see as an important indicator of issues at play in the art market at large.

Held in the Seventh Regiment Park Avenue Armory, itself a relic of a bygone type of elegance, the The European Fine Art Fair’s (TEFAF) Fall Installment includes galleries specializing in fine and decorative arts dated prior to 1920 and primarily from Europe and the United States. First mounted in 1988 and now hosted three times a year (once in Maastricht in the Netherlands and twice in New York City), the show follows the art fair model it helped to popularize. Galleries and art dealers rent individual booths and exhibit a selection of works drawn from their regular inventory, or new discoveries shown for the first time. The participating exhibitors are vetted in advance as a form of quality control and the Fair’s website boasts a preponderance of museum quality objects. The resulting event features work ranging widely, from drawings by Egon Schiele and Le Corbusier, to Old Master paintings, as well as Ancient and Classical sculpture. The fall iteration of TEFAF is known for featuring older, and potentially more traditional, work whereas the spring show is focused on more modern objects. This show is truly a place to see some of the finest artworks available in retail environments up close and also to examine the workings of an art market in transition.

To say that TEFAF is a refined experience would be an understatement. A visit to the show requires an admission fee more expensive than any museum and most of the visitors are dressed well enough to make it difficult to distinguish collector from dealer. There is something decidedly old world about it and decidedly old school, too. Fitted out in bespoke suits and designer garments, an army of dealers and assistants charm serious connoisseurs and collectors or merely those morbidly curious enough to spend $55 and the better part of a Saturday looking at beautiful things that, barring a bank heist, they will never be able to afford. In addition to crossing paths with a stunning Picasso or two, one is also bound to come in contact with what F. Scott Fitzgerald called “the consoling proximity of millionaires”.

It all feels slightly of another time. Most of the artworks on offer at TEFAF would not have been out of place in the homes of popes or princes, Romanovs or Bourbons. Reviewing the provenance on some object labels, it is not at all uncommon to find a former famous owner or a previous place in a great collection. The contemporary titans of finance or tech who are able drop a cool million on a painting here are not far off from Gilded Age patrons like Henry Clay Frick or J.P. Morgan, who would have delighted in such an event and undoubtedly would have greedily used it to add to their own hoards as well.

This show largely remains the domain of this same archetypal self-assured collector, but one occasionally can spot the unmistakeable look of an art advisor dragging nouveau riche clients through booths of artworks which they do not necessarily appreciate. The phrase “no, Jackson Pollock is much later than this…” might be overheard, or so too an admonishment about manners that, in another generation, were seen as de rigueur. A business degree from Syracuse is as likely an attribute now as one in art history from the Sorbonne. But, it is still a deeply worldly event, where guests in line for the Fair’s restaurant chat languidly in German, French, or Italian. As I walk by, two Japanese women in traditional Kimono are seen in by a maître d’.

Behind all of this old and new international glamour, though, it is worth noting the audible whispers of Brexit and the unsightly murmurs of “return on investment”. It is now unavoidable as ever for art, regardless of age or genre, to be seen and used as a financial tool, and one which is tied inextricably to the fickle fortunes of complex and global systems. As much as taste and quality can determine value, so too can a myriad of other factors, which are speedily defined and redefined in terms far removed from the theoretical values of the art world. There is an incestuous tangle between financial and political power brokers and the art dealers who remain dependent on their patronage, while also being impacted by the workings of economies over which these king-makers often hold some sway.

Although the Fall Installment of TEFAF primarily focuses on objects prior to 1920, errant contemporary items find their way in, mostly through specialty collaborations. It must be said that there is something a little inelegant about a Fontana next to a fine Classical sculpture, or a Warhol adjacent to a Bonnard - something of the whiff of defeat. Dealers and gallerists formerly full of confidence in the market for artworks now seen in some quarters as a little too conventional are finding themselves engaging with the red hot objects of the Modern and Contemporary market in order to buoy their fortunes. The veneer of a fictional well-rounded and broadly interested collector is applied to a decision that is one of purely economic necessity. The market is changing and so too are buyers’ interests. If the pairings that result from these real world realties seem a little odd, they are also easily understandable. A commercial gallery is a business after all, not a religion.

Such is the world today. Gallerists are attempting to make an argument that eighteenth century continental portraiture or medieval polychrome sculpture can be as exciting a proposition as a Basquiat. It remains to be seen if their tactics will be fruitful, or if the one-to-one comparison between newer and more avant-garde objects with their elders will serve only to illustrate the retrograde aspects of the latter to a new generation of collectors more interested in the art and design of the mid-twentieth century than that of the Middle Ages.

All of these details add to the intrigue of TEFAF. It is, indeed, a place to see exceptional things from some of the best dealers in the world. It is also a place to rub shoulders with the art world literati on duty: a curator from the Metropolitan photographing a piece with their phone, a museum official negotiating a deal with a seller, a prominent collector using emphatic, and course, language to describe a dealer’s prices. These details, this vague camaraderie, point to the ways in which the Fall iteration of TEFAF also harkens back to a time when the art world was far less complicated than it is now.

A booth near the entrance of the Fair features a Venitian scene by Bellotto mounted on a partition wallpapered in rich blue velvet. One cannot help but imagine a time when pedigreed art aficionados invited similarly pedigreed collectors into private rooms nearly identically accoutered. Over old cigars and older scotch, sales were ironed out and relationships were built. Of course, such appointments, slightly altered, still take place in the converted townhouses of the Upper East Side, or in the fine interiors of St. James’s in London, or in still more fashionable corners of Berlin or Zurich, Paris or Rome. But now these rarified dealers are working publicly too, on a world stage, and in an art market that is being radically remade by the modern, the new, and the digital.

While TEFAF definitely represents long-standing values of vetting and connoisseurship along with a seriousness of research, purpose, and quality, it is unclear if the Fall show can also represent a future that is largely defined by the excitement around Modern and Contemporary, or by art as financial asset, as investment, as collateral, as splashy, if hollow, political activism.

TEFAF is a preeminent art event and a place to see beautiful things, important things, things that are of rare and spectacular quality. It also will be a place of importance as a testing ground for market realities and one of many barometers measuring the tastes and trends within a labyrinthine, globalized art economy.

The next installment of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) will focus on Modern and Contemporary Art and Design and will take place May 8-12, 2020 at the Park Avenue Armory.

To learn more, visit tefaf.com.

Overheard at TEFAF 2019: Quotes from The Art World

This weekend I visited The European Fine Art Fair, popularly known as TEFAF at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. I’ll be writing more about it in detail through future posts. The fair draws a unique crowd of collectors and connoisseurs, and as I walked around the fair I overheard a number of humorous remarks that seemed to typify some of the more caricature-like individuals who tend to be in attendance.

Here are a few of my favorites. And mind you, all of these are real:

A dealer welcoming a collector to their booth: “Welcome to the nineteenth century!” (followed by a kiss on each cheek)

A collector attempting to learn a price:“You don’t have to tell me what you sold it for… but what was the asking price? Please?”

A French-tinted voice reflecting on a price: “of course $283,000 is a little high, no?” (The dealer agreed and then laughed.)

A collector complaining about a European gallery owner to his assistant: “He skipped out on me last time I was in Switzerland.” This was greeted with a quizzical stare from the assistant and elicited the reply “That’s an American expression, darling… it means he avoided me…”

A dealer explaining technique: “You see, he worked with a very fine brush and it took a great skill not to… fuck it up.”

An annoyed assistant in a heated conversation with her gallery owner: “Do you even know what time it is in Zurich!?”

A visitor asking about an assistant’s background:“How did you get into the gallery business? Did you study art history?” The assistant chuckled and replied “No, no, my father owns the gallery...”

A dealer highlighting a trend in the market: “The 50’s are sooo done...it’s all about Gerhard Richter now!”

An impassioned dealer on the phone: “Listen, I feel like you’re misinterpreting the word ‘carpet’...”

A gallery owner offering an alternative: “Oh, I’ve got a little Napoleon over here I think you’ll love!”

A mildly pushy sales assistant to an individual who revealed themself to be a curator: “Well, we’re definitely looking to place this in an American museum so I guess I’m talking to the right person…”

One guest to another at the exit: “Everything kind of felt like a let down after those mosaics.”

A guest to a sales assistant while examining a potential purchase: “Well the one the Met has is much smaller than this, that is true.”

A dealer summing it up to a guest: “We’re just like the rest of you. Sometimes after a day at the gallery I go home and have a beer in the shower...”

A Few Favorite Things From The Boston International Fine Art Show

I was thrilled to be invited to give a talk at the first day of this year’s Boston International Fine Art Show (BIFAS) at the historic Cyclorama Building in the Back Bay. I gave a talk titled What Has Your Gallery Done For You Lately? about the complexities of the modern artist-gallery relationship.

BIFAS is presented in the historic Cyclorama Building at the Boston Center for The Arts, a stunning backdrop for booths containing work from a range of time periods.

After my lecture, I had a chance to visit the Show and explore some of the great booths representing a wide range of galleries. BIFAS is a diverse and approachably scaled art fair that gives visitors of all backgrounds access to galleries presenting exciting work, including some truly museum-quality pieces. I enjoyed much of the Show, but wanted to highlight a few of my favorite presentations and objects throughout the Show, which continues through Sunday, October 27.

A selection of work by John Wilson in Martha Richardson’s booth.

Martha Richardson Fine Art

Martha Richardson Fine Art is located at 38 Newbury Street and handles American and European work in a variety of media, primarily from the Modern period. I particularly enjoyed a section of Martha’s booth dedicated to works by John Wilson (1922 - 2015), a great Roxbury-born artist. In particular, Wilson’s powerful depictions of African-American figures which were given pride of place in Richardson’s booth caught my eye and drew me in.

Learn more about Martha Richardson at martharichardsonfineart.com.

A mini salon style hanging of drawings in Jasmine Doussiere’s booth.

Jasmine Doussiere’s Silver Art by D and R

Jasmine and her husband are dealers based in Marseilles and New York who show an array of drawings as well as fine French silver at shows throughout the East Coast, from Philadelphia and Baltimore, to Newport, Boston, and New York. I love drawings and couldn’t help but look closely at her selection of works on paper. They were elegantly exhibited and the price points were quite affordable considering their quality.

Learn more about Jasmine at silverartbydandr.com.

A lovely and dramatic Ralph Blakelock offered by Questroyal Fine Art.

Questroyal Fine Art

Questroyal Gallery is an established dealer of important American paintings primarily from the Hudson River School. They also work with paintings dating into the twentieth century. Their booth was well stocked with pieces of the quality you would expect from such an institution. I was especially enamoured with paintings by Ralph Blakelock,  Guy Wiggins, Fairfield Porter, Henry Martin Gasser, and James Beckwith. These pieces from various periods show off the skills and interests of talented American artists.

Learn more about Questroyal at questroyalfineart.com.

A display of work by Winslow Homer presented by Avery Galleries.

Avery Galleries

Avery Galleries was founded by collector Richard Rossello in 2001 and, like Questroyal, deals in work by important American artists. Based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Avery had a selection of enticing pieces by names any art lover would recognize. My favorite spot in their booth was a corner dedicated to prints, drawings, and one very fine painting by Winslow Homer, one of the most important American artists of the nineteenth century.

Learn more about Avery Galleries at averygalleries.com.

Pre-nineteenth century items on offer from Christine Magne Antiquaire.

Christine Magne Antiquaire

Like Avery Galleries, Christine Magne Antiquaire is based in Pennsylvania, with a showroom in a converted industrial space in Philadelphia. Her booth was full of a variety of European work from Old Master to Tonalist painting. She deals primarily in works of European fine and decorative arts from prior to the nineteenth century, and her space offered a well curated selection of her unique inventory.

Learn more about Christine at franceantique.com.

A beautifully simple Jean Dufy offered by Trinity House Paintings.

Trinity House Paintings

Trinity House Paintings was founded in 2006 by Steven Beale and now has multiple locations in the United Kingdom and the United States. Their booth was full of the types of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works which they deal regularly. But I was particularly drawn in by a simple line drawing by the French artist Jean Dufy from 1924. It’s minimalism speaks to a tendency to more refined tastes among Millenial collectors.

Learn more about Trinity House Paintings at trinityhousepaintings.com.

A selection of 1920’s and 30’s prints from Fusco Four Modern.

Fusco Four Modern

In addition to being the organizers behind the Boston International Fine Art Show, Tony Fusco and Robert Four have been collecting works of art for decades. One specific passion has been fine prints from the 1920’s and 30’s, an interest I also share. Their booth had a wonderful group of prints by Rockwell Kent, as well as a selection of works on paper by Vera Andrus, whose estate they handle and whose catalogue raissone they are in the final stages of completing. One standout work was Carl Hoeckner’s Jazz Age of 1935, a print also held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago which depicts the feverish striptease of a burlesque performer.

Learn more about Fusco Four Modern at fuscofourmodern.com.

Visit BIFAS

The Show continues through Sunday, October 27. BIFAS is open to the public Saturday 11-8 and Sunday 11-5. For more information and to purchase advance tickets, visit fineartboston.com.

Collecting Vintage Prints: A Personal Perspective

I have to begin this post with a thank you to my colleague Donna Parsons, Gallery Director at Dryden Gallery / Providence Picture Frame for giving me a preview of their incredible Archives Sale, which opens this Friday, June 12 and will run each Friday and Saturday through the end of July from 11am - 4pm each day. Providence Picture Frame is a 100+ year old art business and an institution in itself. It will soon be moving out of the converted textile mill it’s called home for many years and this exciting sale of work from the company’s archive is, what a seasoned collector I know referred to aptly as a “once-in-a-generation sale”.

I was supposed to be visiting Providence Picture Frame earlier this week on official business on behalf of the Providence Art Club. This sneak peak at the objects that would be for sale was supposed to grant us a chance to find some appropriate frames for naked paintings we own, as well as an opportunity to pick up a piece or two to add to our permanent collection. But, of course, I naturally lost all semblance of self control and bought a couple of items for myself.

I am extremely interested in the prints made of New York in the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s and was genuinely thrilled to have the opportunity to add two etchings from this period to my personal collection at this intriguing sale. After getting the work home, I did a bit of research and found out some incredibly fun facts about the makers of the pieces I selected. Collecting historic works of art can be interesting, and even dare I say, fun, and I hope sharing what I found and why I love these two pieces might inspire some other would-be collectors.

Nat Lowell, Lower East Side, etching, 1930’s

The first etching is by the Latvian-born Nat Lowell (1880-1956), who trained at the Art Students League of New York and was a prolific printmaker, capturing the unique vibrancy of the City. This scene of the Lower East Side, probably from the 30’s, shows off the bustling harbor, which itself already dated back 300 years to the Dutch settlement of the island. It may be forgotten today to some extent, but for most of its history New York served as one of the most important ports in the world.

In Lowell’s dynamic image, he contrasts the masts of the sailing ships in the foreground with the spires of the city’s financial hub on the tip of Manhattan Island behind. It’s worth noting that the term “skyscraper” was originally used to describe the height of ships, not of buildings. The riotous sea faring vessels before use accentuate the solidity of the City, as do the billowing baroque clouds over head.

Nat Lowell, Lower East Side, etching, 1930’s (detail)

I am unable to find this specific image online thus far, but works by Lowell can be found in the Metropolitan Museum, New York Public Library, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Library of Congress, and other important collections. One of the reasons I find original prints so exciting is that for an incredibly reasonable sum, you can live with museum quality work.

Karl Dehmann, Metropolitan Museum, etching, 1928

The second etching is by Karl Dehmann (1886-1974), who was born in Germany and trained both in his native country and in Paris. He made his living for a short time as a copyist at the Louvre and wrote home at one point to complain that he wished he could make more money at his trade. Don’t we all, Karl?

This beautiful nocturne depicts the glowing Beaux Arts facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928, which one source reports as the year Dehmann emigrated to the United States. This exact print can be found in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York as well as the Metropolitan Museum itself, which acquired it the year it was printed.

Karl Dehmann, Metropolitan Museum, etching, 1928

You might notice that the seemingly cramped steps and horseshoe driveway in this image are not the hallmarks of The Met recognized today for its gracious cascade of stairs. This entry was dramatically altered in the early 1970’s under Thomas Hoving’s directorship. But this print captures a moment in time while also expressing the innate grandeur of the Richard Morris Hunt building abutting Fifth Avenue, as well as the drama of the well-lit facade against the inky night sky.

Both of these images are richly detailed and executed in a style that was extremely popular in this period. They are intricately and lovingly detailed. They exude two polar qualities of New York: the gritty excitement of downtown in the middle of the workday and the meditative night of a staid and cerebral uptown. They also express some of the wonderful technical qualities found in the medium of etching: the specificity of the line work, the graduated tones of dark and light, the possibility for an image to be descriptive, narrative, and abstract all at once.

It is also worth noting that both of these images, as well as many others crystallizing the singular personality of the place that Brooklyn-born poet Walt Whitman called “America’s great democratic island city”, were executed not by native-born artists but by individuals who came to the United States from abroad. This fact has a message for all of us living in the US in 2019.

Historical works of art can add so much to a collection because in looking at them we can know and understand their makers and their context in ways that do not always translate to artists and artworks of our own time. We know the way the places depicted have changed and that makes these works romantic, doesn’t it? We understand the impact that this school of printmakers had on the shaping of art history and that makes these works educative, doesn’t it? And, if we let the lessons inherent in works like these wash over us they can change our mind or make us see the world differently, can’t they?

Although one of today’s more popular art memes goes something like “buy work by living artists, the dead ones don’t need the money”, there is an alternative saying in the museum world about art-makers who are no longer with us. “The only good artist is a dead artist.”

In the case of collecting there are many great things about buying the work of living artists you might know and like, of course. But there is also something to be said for broadening, deepening, and enriching your collection with works by artists whose careers ended decades ago and whose productions were influenced by an entirely different set of social, political, and artistic realities than we know now.

When I look at the prints I recently purchased, I see not only the New York of Lowell and Dehmann, but I feel inklings of my own experience in the City. I also see indications of familiarity on the part of these printmakers with artists whose work I will never be able to afford like Edward Hopper or Martin Lewis. And for a much more affordable price I can bring prints that capture the zeitgeist of their time with technical precision and artistic flourish into my home.

I removed these prints from their frames and pulled them out from under glass and I honestly cannot stop looking at them. They are a delight and I know I will enjoy them for years to come.

And that is truly the best art investment money can buy.

Providence Picture Frame’s Archives Sale is on July 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27 from 11am - 4pm. They are located at 27 Dryden Lane in Providence, Rhode Island.

That Must Be Fun: Navigating Misconceptions About Gallery Work

The field of gallery work, especially as it relates to commercial gallery spaces, tends to be somewhat misunderstood. It is certainly not thought of in all quarters as a serious career. As a gallery professional, when I meet someone at a social function and the question of work comes up, the statement “I manage an art gallery” almost always elicits the same reply, particularly from those who don’t work in the arts: “That must be fun.” While work in the art market is stimulating and those of us who get to do it are incredibly lucky, those four words, and the mindset they represent, are indicative of some fundamental misconceptions about gallery work and who gallerists are.

The average American rarely, if ever, steps foot in a commercial gallery space. And the majority of Americans have never purchased (and will never purchase) an original work of art. So, it makes sense that most perceptions of gallery work are shaped by popular culture. Scripted television shows like Sex and The City or GIRLS have given us fictional gallery workers like Charlotte York and Marnie Michaels. In the 2003 rom-com classic Love Actually a group of school children snicker at a gallerist’s show of large scale nude photos festooned with Santa hats. And the 2012 Bravo reality series Gallery Girls primarily showed the lives of privileged young women working in the industry. Moreover, recent documentaries and news stories about the art market skewer dealers (alongside others) as shadowy insiders grifting from the nouveau riche. In short, when commercial galleries appear in media they are conversely the object of ridicule about elitism or the subject of suspicion regarding the murky nature of money in the visual arts. And gallery workers themselves are often envisaged as delicately coiffed trust fund babies in need of a hobby.

In addition to this problem of perception in the media, it makes sense that a central conceit of gallery life, the wine and cheese fueled reception, is viewed as a sort of party which gallery staff attend rather than an event which gallery staff work. Anecdotally, at least, it seems that many people see gallery professionals as individuals who have fun for a living. These lucky few spend their days toying with art and rubbing elbows with a bevy of glamorous collectors and talented artists. And in the imaginative mind, this hobnobbing is occasionally punctuated by a glass of Rosé over a sumptuous crudités spread.

Misconceptions about gallery work are not limited to those outside the field. Not long ago, I met an aspiring gallery professional who commented that the best part of gallery work was that curators and directors don’t have to lift a finger, saying, “You just point and people hang it for you.” The disconnect between this comment and the reality of daily life for the majority of individuals who make their living in art galleries astounded me.

So what is the reality for many commercial gallery professionals?

Outside of major hubs like New York or Los Angeles and beyond the walls of mega galleries like Gagosian, Zwirner, or Pace, smaller regionally-based and local galleries tend to be financially precarious and gallery owners are often one-man-bands. This means a gallerist has to possess an incredible array of skills. They must be equal parts curator, writer, preparator, installer, art handler, maintenance supervisor, publicist, public speaker, photographer, graphic designer, accountant, events manager, educator, caterer, bartender, server, and custodian. This isn’t to mention the softer skills of social diplomacy required when dealing with sensitive artists, frugal buyers, and a curious public. This job description would be a tall order for anyone, but when you consider the limited financial incentives involved in the local and regional market it becomes taller still.

The gallerist, in spite of this broad skill set, remains an enigmatic figure. And the pressures of gallery work are often veiled behind the well-crafted façade of the art world. The reality is that employees at the majority of commercial galleries are not, in fact, filing their nails at the reception desk of a white cube on the Lower West Side of Manhattan. But instead, they are engaging in numerous skilled tasks, often across many exhibitions at once. They are, additionally, providing needed services to artists and bringing artwork to the market - often acting as the only professional representation certain locally known artists will ever have.

So, why does it matter if the general public or even art people themselves understand what or who a gallerist is and what their work is like?

Misconceptions about gallery work devalue the labor of gallery professionals. Not only in the eyes of those with an already limited affinity for the visual arts. But also in the minds of those who are genuinely interested in galleries, art, and collecting. An artist once told me that commercial galleries are a racket because gallerists provide virtually nothing in exchange for their 50% commission. This line of thinking is extremely troubling. A good gallery owner, indeed a good gallery professional at any level, does much more. And for this reason gallery workers are worthy of recognition. But the reputation of privilege and frivolity persists. So, too, does the idea of the unfriendly gallery person.

In the popular imagination gallerists are chilly and inaccessible. In reality, though, commercial gallery work is essentially the effort to bring art to new audiences and thereby to new potential clientele. For this reason, gallery staffers must be public people, yet they are often perceived as closed off. This is in part the fault of gallerists everywhere who fantasize that they are the second coming of Larry Gagosian. Gallerists on the lower end of the market who seek to cultivate a reputation for elitism and aloofness do so at their own peril and degrade the reputation of the profession in the process.

Those of us in the gallery field are more often than not amiable people who care about art and artists and work to help them navigate this complicated marketplace insofar as we can. Commercial galleries also provide an incredible, if unspoken, community service in that unlike most art museums they never charge admission. For free, anyone can visit an art gallery and see artwork that is being made by artists right now. And they can often engage directly with the artist, too.

Gallery work is, as many people suspect, deeply enjoyable. But it is also emotionally and physically taxing in its own way. I know many in the business who work around the clock even when the gallery is closed, conducting studio visits, installing purchases in the homes of clients, answering frantic emails from artists on weekends at midnight, to name just a few common tasks. Though the work is often fun, it’s not always easy.

Ultimately, the best way to understand gallery work is to be in the trade. But one can learn a lot by speaking to real world professionals. A little bit of research also goes a long way. Instagram accounts like @arthandlermag, @jerrygogosian, and @contemporarycostanza humorously illuminate some of the things that go on behind-the-scenes. But truly, visiting galleries, reading art news, and following your local gallerist are essential to developing an understanding of gallery culture and the people who make it all happen.

And, if you ever have any questions for your own friendly local gallerist, you should feel more than welcome to email me.

In Black and White: Examining the Recent Market for Drawings by Martin Lewis

The Australian-American artist Martin Lewis (1881 - 1962), a contemporary of Edward Hopper, was a talented and prolific printmaker, though not as widely recognized by the general public as the creator of Nighthawks. Martin’s work is, however, popular in the market for themes that frequently parallel those admired by Hopper’s collectors. Specifically, the market tends to respond well to work depicting evocative urban environments and scenes of New York life in the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s. An examination of some recent sales of work by Lewis illuminates a few of the qualities found in his oeuvre that are rewarded in the market.

In Study for Yorkville Night, a preparatory drawing for one of the artist’s numerous prints, figures gather around the pool of light emanating from a storefront below an elevated rail line. The work is executed in ink with apparent ink washes. It has a great range of tonality and developed figurative compositions within the scene. That being said, it does not have the level of detail that would be expected of a finished print by the same artist. This work sold for $13,750 at Heritage Auctions in May of 2018. This sale price was squarely in the house’s estimate range of $10,000 - $15,000, indicating a level of predictability about the market for Lewis’ drawings.

For comparison, the print produced after this drawing sold for $42,000 (over a high estimate of $35,000) a year prior in May of 2017. Previous sales of the same print image for $26,400 in 2008 and $35,000 in 2016 are indicative of increasing interest on the part of collectors in Lewis in general, his prints more specifically, and this image in particular. This intense interest appears to be mostly correlated to the artist’s prints and it is important to note that such enthusiasm does not always translate across media. When examining recent sales of Lewis’ drawings this is an important detail to be cognizant of.

One question arising from the comparison between the drawing and print sales of Yorkville Night is why would a drawing, which might be considered the more “original” of the two works, sell for so much less, especially at the same auction house? One potential answer to this is that Lewis is primarily known as a printmaker, so the market response will tend to be stronger for his “primary medium”. Another issue is that the drawing in question is almost certainly preparatory and therefore might be considered by some collectors to be an “unfinished” work. In the print, the artist’s intention for the final and complete work is evident. Therefore, it becomes the more desirable work even though it is a multiple. While this is not an uncommon phenomenon, it can be illustrated well in this case.

Variations between the auction and retail markets for Martin’s work are also important when considering varying levels of market response to his drawings. A Study for Yorkville Night is currently on offer in a retail setting at The Old Print Shop for $35,000. This retail price is roughly double and a half the auction price, which is common for a retail setting.

Importantly, a simpler Yorkville Night study executed in graphite and conté crayon is held in the venerable collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. So, the Study can rightly be called “museum-quality”, an often misused descriptor in the commercial art gallery setting.

Martin Lewis, Study for Yorkville Night, ink and pencil on paper, 8.63" x 11.88", unsigned and undated
Sold for $13,750 at Heritage Auctions (Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000)
Sale date: May 4, 2018, Lot #68185

Martin Lewis, Yorkville Night, drypoint, 8.5” x11.5”, edition of 18, signed
Sold for $42,000 at Heritage Auctions (Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000)
Sale date: May 7, 2017, Lot #355
Same image sold in 2016 for $35,000, in 2008 for $26,400
It was also offered in 2001 and 2002 for estimates of $1,500 - $2,000 and was unsold both times via Swann

In another work, the undated watercolor On The Bridge, Lewis handles a daytime scene of commuters traversing a bridge. Like Yorkville Night, the work shows one of Lewis’ central themes: the interaction of figures within nakedly urban environments. This work is larger than the preparatory drawing for Yorkville Night and also considerably more “finished”, yet it sold for the same price ($13,750) just three days prior to the sale of Yorkville Night. Again, the reason for this seemingly surprising result might have to do with the expectations of collectors. Lewis is known for depicting rich dramas of New York night scenes. Daytime imagery is inherently less dramatic, and therefore potentially of less interest to the types of individuals who will vie for his work in the auction setting.

In this watercolor, the focal point of the scene is the atmosphere of the city highlighted between the girdered superstructure of the bridge. While the figures and architectural elements are finely described, the city beyond and the sky above are loose and gauzy. Because collectors tend to respond to Lewis’ prints and to works on paper that exude a strong use of line, a looser treatment would likely be less attractive to the core pool of buyers who help to drive sales results. It also is highly possible that the sale price of this work informed collector response to Yorkville Night, which again sold at Heritage Auctions three days later.

Martin Lewis, On The Bridge, watercolor on paper, 17.75" x 20.75", signed and undated
Sold for $13,750 at Doyle New York (Estimate: $10,000 - $20,000)
Sale date: May 1, 2018, Lot #133

In yet another work on paper, a loose drawing titled Night Windows, an apartment building topped with a water tower is silhouetted in the misty twilight. This work furthers an understanding of Lewis’ process; from loose studies, to more refined drawings, to finished prints. This work is slightly smaller in scale than Study for Yorkville Night. It sold for $5,000 at Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers in 2018, down from a $5,760 sale price at Swann Galleries in 2009. This result shows a clear decline in value for this individual object. This decline appears to be rather unique to this object and its situation, as sales of other work by Lewis have tended to remain strong over time.

Another question that might come to mind is why would a drawing such as this lose value as other works by Lewis such as Yorkville Night rise in value? Again, the answer is almost certainly linked to collector expectations and desires. This work is quite loose and lacks the detailed description which tends to be rewarded. It is rather abstract and illustrates the artist’s process but not the finer details of his more complete works. There is also a great deal of competition in the marketplace, and high quality prints by Lewis become available in a variety of auction settings regularly. Competition rewards works of high quality and is less kind to works that are of less interest to passionate collectors.

It is important to note that this piece has even less “finish” than Study for Yorkville Night. It also has no clearly developed figures, which are often central to the artist’s most popular works. Although there is some evidence of a figure in one of the windows at lower left. Again, Lewis’ oeuvre is known for the presence of characters interacting in urban spaces. It is still a wonderful drawing in many ways, and again, a great indicator of the artist’s process. But as the sale price indicates, it is of less interest to the market than other works by the same artist.

Martin Lewis, Night Windows, graphite on paper, 10.5” x 8”, unsigned and undated
Sold for $5,000 at Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers (Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000)
Sale date: April 26, 2018, Lot #149

Same drawing sold for $5,760 in 2009 at Swann Galleries.

Finally, in another drawing, New York Nocturne, the qualities that truly excite the market for Lewis’ drawings are very evident. The work, executed in charcoal around 1930, shows two figures on a street in New York. One person stands on the sidewalk while the other is prone. Both individuals are framed below the black underside of an awning. There is an element of mystery to the subject and it is not immediately evident whether these two men are friends stumbling home drunkenly from a bar, or whether one is a passerby stopping to glance at a homeless person asleep on the street.

The image bears a great deal of linear description that is architectural in quality. It also has a range of tonalities that describe the way in which street light and ambient moonlight affect facades within an urban setting. This treatment would likely be of great interest to the type of collectors that seek out, and pay high sums, for Lewis’ intricately detailed prints.

This work sold for $47,500 over an estimate of $10,000 - $15,000 at Swann Galleries in 2018. This illustrates that there can be interest in Lewis’ drawings equal to that of prints, when the drawing in question is of exceptional quality. Some of the positive attributes of the drawing in question are that of line, contrast, and narrative drama. All of these, and more, add up to a work that is naturally of great interest to serious collectors.

Martin Lewis, New York Nocturne, charcoal on paper, 12.75" x 16.88", c. 1930, signed
Sold for $47,500 at Swann Galleries (Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000)
Sale date: March 13, 2018, Lot #166

This brief examination of just five recent sales of works by Martin Lewis does not provide a complete picture of the market for his work more broadly, but illustrates some of the key issues that inform value in his drawings. Each of the works presented has their own unique qualities, but the market response to each was informed by the values of those in the market for such work at this time. Because most of the sales cited here took place in 2018, these few sales provide a snapshot of the diverse market attitudes that can exist at one time.

Lewis was a prolific artist in multiple media and his work comes up at auction regularly and is also readily available in the retail setting. The market for his work is strong, and the response of collectors to the variety of his production is fascinating. Many artists of Lewis’ generation are not as well represented in the marketplace. Still others, such as Hopper, are much more widely known and more well publicized than Lewis. Generational peers are not always equal in the market. Collectors do truly tend to look at artists and artworks with deeply individualized values and opinions.

This post should serve to aid in broadening a better understanding of some basic market opinions about one specific artist during a singular time period. With a better understanding of how the market reacts to work like these by Lewis, collectors, dealers, and even living artists become more informed and more ready to deal with the realities of the current market for fine art.