Archives

Gregory Mortenson, The Path, oil on canvas, Arcadia Contemporary. Click to inquire.

A recent trip to London’s Foundling Museum, an eighteenth-century institution set up to care for London’s abandoned children, provoked a mediation on attitudes towards childhood throughout history. This subject has also fascinated art historians. A 2016 exhibit entitled L’art et l’enfant (The Child in Art) at Paris’ Musée Marmottan Monet visually explored childhood through artworks ranging in dates from the 14th to 20th century.

Edward S. Curtis, Jicarilla Maiden, photogravure, David Cook Galleries. Click to inquire.

The exhibition explored artistic sympathies towards the depiction of children, and its chronological organization hints at historical conceptions of childhood. Seen in Renaissance and Baroque works, children appear as mini adults; replete with ornate costumes and stoic gazes. However, the exhibition traces artwork created during the Enlightenment to showcase a growing empathy and individualization of children.

Edward Dufner, Margaret by the Window, 1915, oil on board, Questroyal Fine Art. Click to inquire.

Likewise, when viewing depictions of children in FADA’s inventory, with artworks created in the 19th-21st centuries, children are often seen at play, not the astute students of the 17th century’s scientific revolution.

Luis Carlos Tovar, Undo Series, Memory No. 9 (Time), ed. 1/6, 2015, Digital print on hahnemuhle paper 350 gr., Beatriz Esguerra Art. Click to inquire.

Ornate Renaissance accessories once adorning child sitters have now been replaced by plastic toys: rather than rendering children as figureheads, today’s artworks acknowledge children and their intricacies with excitement and a curiosity for what they will become.

Bin Feng, The American Dream-Christ’s Mass, 2015, archival pigment print, Eckert Fine Art. Click to inquire.

Jan Wkosky, A Walk in Winter, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, Denenberg Fine Arts. Click to inquire.

Wolf Kahn, White Sky, 2011, Oil on canvas, Jerald Melberg Gallery. Click to inquire.

The countdown has begun for the official start of summer and this mid-month evaluation has seen teases of the forthcoming blissful sun. This blog is an ode to FADA landscapes capturing that quintessential summer feeling (a la Jonathan Richman). This is visually regulated by the depictions of hazes.

Tomás Sánchez, Atardecer Dorado (Golden Sunset), Acrylic on canvas, Cernuda Arte. Click to inquire.

Birger Sandzen, Smokey River (Kansas), Oil, David Cook Galleries. Click to inquire.

Though hazes are often associated with a smothering fog, the landscapes in FADA’s inventory mix vibrant color and opaque palette application to conjure the pleasantness of the enveloping sun. From Wolf Kahn’s more contemporary landscapes in the inventory of FADA Member of Jerald Melberg Gallery to traditional manifestations in Trotter Galleries’ inventory.

Thomas McGlynn, Sycamores, Oil on canvas, Trotter Galleries. Click to inquire.

Terry Delay, By Merced, Oil on canvas, Redfern Gallery. Click to inquire.

Recently, landscapes have been an overlooked genre. Once praised for their manifestations of nature’s moral meanings, a quick photo of our surrounding areas have replaced the need for majestically painted scenes. This blog post reinvokes the performative experience of looking at a landscape. How does paint enhance the feeling of a landscape-how do we sense ourselves amidst the hazy sunset?

Robert Julian Onderdonk, Evening, Southwest Texas, 1911, Oil on canvas, David Dike Fine Art. Click to inquire.

Juan Bastos: California Portraits – Denenberg Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA Novmeber 4 – 18, 2017

Last fall, the Getty explored the intersection of Latin American art within the Los Angeles cultural community in their initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. This multifaceted production involved the participation of FADA Member Denenberg Fine Arts who hosted a retrospective of artist Juan Bastos in their West Hollywood gallery space. The exhibition concentrated on the artist’s California portraits and culminated in a celebratory opening with cultural figureheads including Princess Michael of Kent, Valerie Sobel and artist Don Bachardy.

The artist with artist Don Bachardy

The artist with the Princess Michael of Kent and Valerie Sobel

“When I was offered the opportunity to gather a collection of painted and drawn portraits by Juan Bastos,” said gallery owner Stuart Denenberg, “I realized that his portraits from life, fuse memory and culture in an honored tradition to give us a rendering of the emotional truth of specific personalities.”

The artist with art collector Eugenio Lopez and Beverly Denenberg, co-founder of Denenberg Fine Arts

Four hundred visitors gathered at the gallery through the exhibitions two-week run and it was profiled in publications including the Arts Meme, the New York Social Diary (scroll halfway down), the Beverly Hills Courier (page 12), Century City News, Eden Magazine (page 20), and The Gay & Lesbian Review.

Denenberg Fine Art exemplifies Fine Art Dealers Association’s mission to support innovative art programs and exhibitions worldwide.

Portrait of Nehama and Ali (oil)

Portrait of Sebastian (oil)

Portrait of Valerie Sobel (pastel)

Portrait of Lilly and Hazel (pastel)

Armin Carl Hansen, Looking Ahead, Oil on board, Redfern Gallery. Click to inquire.

The pleasures of viewing art are often induced by the scenes of leisure they represent. Impressionism’s glorious fields and boating excursions celebrate the fleeting moments of down time implemented with state regulations of the work week. Within the orbit of impressionism, parallel schools of realism-with Courbet as the poster boy-offer canvases of gritty work.

Charles Sprague Pearce, Peeling Potatoes, c. 1885, Oil on canvas, Schiller & Bodo European Paintings. Click to inquire.

Thomas Hart Benton, Threshing, 1941, Lithograph, Eckert fine Art. Click to inquire.

Similarly, Victorian artist Ford Madox Brown-a contemporary to Rossetti and Aestheticism’s lounging ladies-is marked by an oeuvre celebrating work. At first shunned by critics for each artist’s equally worked canvases and ruddy colors, these works are now praised for their poignant nineteenth-century social observations. May 1st’s particular celebration of workers paves this post’s exploration of working bodies in FADA’s inventory.

Fernand Leger, Anciens Constructeurs, Tapestry, Jane Kahan Gallery. Click to inquire.

James Hollins Patrick, Factory Worker, Oil on canvas. George Stern Fine Arts. Click to inquire.

This post looks at a more outdated definition of work-and offers viewers insight into an artist’s approach to depicting labor. Most importantly, questions about work often force an artist to consider how to reveal their own manual efforts to their audience-how do conceptions of the labor of an artist relate to attitudes on manual labor?

Armin Hanse, Sardine Barge, 1922, Etching, Trotter Galleries. Click to inquire.

Sinuhe Vega Negrin, Floating Head from the Species Series, 2017, Oil painted fiberglass and wire sculpture, encased in colored plexiglass pedestal with LED light and mechanical movement, LnS Gallery. Click to inquire.

April serves as an intermediary month, particularly weather wise. Teasing summer with a select few days of sunshine and incurring fear with random outbursts of rain and snow, this month’s post embodies April’s transitory qualities through visual depictions of floating. Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde-filled tanks of preserved bodies of farm animals are the most iconic floating image.

Damien Hirst, Love Poems (A Series of 6), 2014, Photogravure, Rosenbaum Contemporary Gallery. Click to inquire.

Georges Braque, Nuage en échec, 1963, Color lithograph, Denenberg Fine Arts. Click to inquire.

Likewise, modern photographs of Palm Spring’s poolsides capture the fleeting moments of being-somewhat in action, but no where to go. These tense moments of leisure (if there can be such a thing) perhaps denotes modern unease with downtime. FADA’s inventory of floating objects-or depictions of floating people-anticipate the summer months, but also the slight shifts as seasons transition.

Johannes Westmark, Floating in Blue II, Oil and acrylic on paper. Arcadia Contemporary.

Adolph Gottlieb, Vertical, Oil on canvas, 1971, Casterline | Goodman Gallery. Click to inquire.

Just as we float-artists have also been able to free their works from general perspective guidelines-allowing shapes and colors to float amongst the undefined background. FADA’s inventory-showing one suspended from the canvas, or in a body of liquid-exude the trappings of floating-implying one’s next move.

David Drebin, Floating Dreams, C-print, Contessa Gallery. Click to inquire.

It can be inferred (without statistics) that Easter is probably the most popular day to go to Church-and thus this blog post’s meditation on the depiction of churches within art history. Today it seems we are even more removed from a time when artists’ efforts were concentrated on the construction and decoration of churches. Churches, once the epicenter of daily life, today seem more symbolic rather than the previous functional role they held as maintainers of the spiritual and physical wellbeing of neighborhoods.

Edwin Roscoe Shrader, An After Church Visit, Oil on canvas, George Stern Fine Arts. Click to inquire.

In the same vain as the Grand Tour, where the ruins of pagan temples were once the source of artistic fascination, abandoned churches of today are being converted into museums, homes and roller rinks.

Artist Ugo Rondinone’s Harlem house, converted from an old church, was profiled by W Magazine in 2014.

Photo: Jason Schmidt

The recently-renovated Garden Museum in London showcases a history of British gardening within the old St. Mary’s parish church. Photo: John Chase

While artists have mainly painted what’s inside a church rather than the outside, churches often are referential to a visitor: a small detail within an artistic vista. Grand Tour paintings often include famous churches as testimony of one’s visit to important historical sites. Artistic documentation of churches additionally reflect the evolution of church architecture as religion has spread and been adopted by local cultures.

Emil Bisttram, Ranchos de Taos Church, 1970, Oil on canvas. Addison Rowe Gallery. Click to inquire.

Paul Cornoyer, Cheyne Walk and All Saints Church, London, Oil on canvas, Avery Galleries. Click to inquire.

FADA’s inventory of churches demonstrates the nuances of church architecture reflecting the communities surrounding it-and displays the diversity of FADA Member collecting specialities. Churches, whether used as a place of exhibition, habitation or worship, are embedded with the unique histories and archives of a community.

Frederick Childe Hassam, Church Point, Portsmouth, Watercolor on Paper, Vallejo Gallery. Click to inquire.

Jenne Magafan, Church in Leadville, Mixed Media, David Cook Galleries. Click to inquire.

Barbara Kruger, Do I Have to Give Up Me to Be Loved by You?, 2011, Casterline|Goodman Gallery. Click to inquire.

During the Renaissance-when illiteracy was a bit more common-the incorporation of writing in artworks was a bit sparse. Nevertheless, artist signatures pop up, most notably in works by Italian Master Raphael. His Deposition displays a prominent signature on a rock in the foreground, claiming his artistic creation. Today, text within artworks go beyond artists’ signatures and can be the main attraction in contemporary art rather than a small detail.

Mr. Brainwash, Liberty, 2015, Mixed media on panel, Contessa Gallery. Click to inquire.

Michael Chapman, Evening Contentment, Oil on canvas, Arcadia Contemporary. Click to inquire.

The popularity of graffiti as an art form-much like the popularity of street style-demonstrates the democratic quality of text. It’s now monumentalized as an art form. Many artists in FADA’s inventory are known for their text-as-art works. Our newest FADA Member Gallery Casterline|Goodman has in their inventory a Barbara Kruger work. Kruger utilizes text in commanding and thought-provoking questions-particularly in the one featured above.

Raymond Pettibon, Untitled (How Comes It So Great A Silence…), from Plots on Loan I, 2000, Lithograph, Leslie Sacks Gallery. Click to inquire.

Edward S. Goldman, Rooms for Rent, 1971, Acrylic on canvas, David Cook Galleries. Click to inquire.

These universal messages attest to the growing inclusivity of art. Capable of being read by many, artworks with text often re-think typical art mediums and the potential of their visibility. Text as art implicitly acknowledges its more accessible platform-begging questions rather than answering them.

William Powhida, What is An Artist?, 2017, 4 color Letterpress, laser cut and die cut parts mounted on Reich Savoy Brilliant White paper, Bert Green Fine Art. Click to inquire.

(ABOVE) Robert Indiana, HOPE (Red/Blue/Green), 2009, Aluminum, Rosenbaum Contemporary Art. Click to inquire.

Rosenbaum Contemporary has multiple aluminum sculptures by American artist Robert Indiana of his HOPE motif.

Robert Indiana, HOPE (Dark Blue/Light Blue), 2009, Aluminum, Rosenbaum Contemporary Art. Click to inquire.

With advances in psychology and physiology during the 19th century, Victorians became more and more interested in understanding repetition and the relationship between the mind and body.They were insatiably curious on how the conscious training of the body’s mechanisms soon morphed into unconscious reflex actions. Victorians struggled to reconcile habit-making to individuality. How could they escape the unconscious monotony of their everyday habits and establish their individuality?

Ed Ruscha, Rusty Signs-CASH FOR TOOLS 2, Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art. Click to inquire.

Jonathan Novak Contemporary has a sign by California artist Ed Ruscha indicative of his artworks with iconic textual phrases.

Just as today some people have the same morning routine, its often apparent that artists have certain motifs they continually go back to in their work. In FADA’s collection, Member Galleries inventories often have in their collection scenes and mediums for which artists are the most well-known for.

Kathe Kollwitz, Self Portrait, 1938-1947, Lithograph, Denenberg Fine Arts. Click to inquire.

FADA Member Denenberg Fine Arts holds a self-portrait by Kathe Kollwitz in their collection. The German artist is most famous for her self-portraits, the product of her grief after losing her son in the first World War. There are many variations of the self-portrait, but Kollwitz is always identifiable.

Artists who revisit the same subject over and over establish a reputation and are often associated with the motif. However, does this negate the individuality of the artist-can something be too over-done? The reverence for repetition can also be quite compelling. Audiences are drawn to the reasons an artist drawn to a particular motif. Art-making also brings a level of consciousness to a motif. With an artist knowingly creating the same motif over and over, what new inferences can be drawn?

Jim Dine, Red, White and Blue Venus, 1984, Silkscreen, Leslie Sacks Gallery. Click to inquire.

Leslie Sacks Gallery has many prints by American artist Jim Dine. Dine is known for reconstructing motifs in his artworks-most notably his hearts. Leslie Sacks Gallery has in their inventory multiple versions of Dine’s Venus motif.

Jim Dine, The French Watercolor, 1985, Soft-ground etching, Leslie Sacks Gallery. Click to inquire.

FADA Member Jane Kahan Gallery has multiple tapestries in their inventory reiterating Sonia Delaunay’s circle motif.

(ABOVE) Sonia Delaunay, Grande icone, c. 1970s, Tapestry, Jane Kahan Gallery. Click to inquire.

(BELOW) Sonia Delaunay, Petite automne, Tapestry, Jane Kahan Gallery. Click to inquire.

Tony Vazquez-Figueroa, Black Mirror, Portrait III, Bitumen in plexiglass, 2017, LnS Gallery. Click to inquire.

In our last post we highlighted the red accents of FADA’s inventory in celebration of this month of love. Reeling from Valentine’s Day inundation of red hearts, candies and flowers, this post provides an antidote by calling attention to the color black (what some view to be the color of their hearts).

Joel Grossman, Approximate Square Series Nos. 17, 11, 21, Gold leaf and sumi ink on paper, Beatriz Esguerra Art. Click to inquire.

While many associate the color isolated in paint form in modern abstract expressionist compositions, the color has been punctuating canvases throughout time. More than a color of superstation or mourning-black brings about a nobility. This can be seen in the Mannerist portraits of Bronzino, who’s sitters wear black with admirable severity.

Malcolm Liepke, Black Sweater, Oil on canvas, Arcadia Contemporary. Click to inquire.

Irving Ramsey Wiles, Lady In Black: The Red Room, c. 1890, Godel & Co. Fine Art. Click to inquire.

In FADA’s inventory of portraits, those wearing black, especially when paired with other colors, visually excite. Likewise, the use of black backgrounds, whether or not in the depiction of the natural world, appropriate a physical form. The color is itself an object-a feature in the composition.

Donald Sultan, Blacks And Blues Jan 16 2009, Enamel, tar and spackle on tile over masonite, Leslie Sacks Gallery. Click to inquire.

Julian Opie, Nature 1 – Boats, Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art. Click to inquire.

Opening Night Preview
Thursday, February 15 from 5-9pm
VIP Ticket Holders Only
A benefit for the Palm Springs Art Museum
6 PM | Artists of the Year Award Presentation to Ed and Andy Moses followed by Patrons of the Year Award Presentation to David Kaplan and Glenn Ostergaard in the VIP Lounge.