Sunday, February 2, 2014

Master Drawings New York 2014


En route Santa Fe to New York.  My gallery is not participating in Master Drawings New York this year but as I write I am airborne, headed back.  Happily they produce a very good brochure, listing the galleries with a sample photo of what each gallery is showing with addresses of the galleries and a map.  The brochure always has a brief introduction by someone significant in the art world relating to works on paper.  This year it is by the well-known artist, Eric Fischl, writing on the subject of two drawings by Jacques-Louis David.

I was thinking about some illustrations for this missive and since of necessity this will appear after Master Drawings New York has closed I will illustrate works on paper from Stiebel, Ltd. which will still be on view for the next couple of weeks.

Rowlandson, British (1756-1827)

In an arrangement with the auction houses many Master Drawings brochures are distributed in auction sale catalogs and fall out when you open the catalog.  This is a two way street because at this same time of year the auction houses have major drawing sales.

Most of the dealers exhibiting are in the Old Master field but there is a smattering of dealers in modern and living artists as well.  One will also find a number of dealers from abroad such as the British dealer, Jean-Luc Baroni, who exhibit at New York galleries that are not participating in Master Drawings.  Master Drawings closed on February 2 but some galleries will retain their exhibitions a bit longer.

Pierre Parrocel, French (1670 – 1739)

Few get to all the 29 galleries plus the auction houses though others set that as a goal.  I try to make a list and hit the ones I can from that list.  Of course, the problem in New York is that there are so many other distractions and my missive on our "Super Sale" (link) has generated a number of visitors.

Camile Pissarro, French (1830-1903)

I guess I will have to make some decisions as to which way to go.  Most of the. Galleries are between 66th and 86th streets and between Fifth and Park Avenue with a few further afield.  Baroni is up on 93rd Street but considering that he has illustrated a Lucian Freud I do hope to make it there.  I think that I will start nearer to Stiebel, Ltd.

Stanislas Lepri, Italo-French (1905-1980)

First day back in New York I did make it to a number of galleries.  One was a dealer from Milford, Connecticut, Christopher Bishop.  He said that he had studied Art History at Yale and decided to stay in the neighborhood.  He told me that when he thought of establishing a bricks and mortar gallery all advised him that today the market was on the road and doing the art fairs, which is so true.  He deals in traditional French and Italian 17th and 18th century drawings and some Flemish but what caught my eye was  a drawing of the Supper and Emmaeus attributed to Anna Hoffmann who was born in Switzerland in 1622 or 23.  The drawing has been date around 1642 and is inscribed in German on the back as “by hoffmann’s daughter from Zurich”, her father was  Samuel Hoffmann (1591-1648) the Swiss painter  who trained in Rubens’ studio.

The most intriguing work I saw today was at a Parisian dealer, Laura Pecheur.  She had an unfinished drawing of a katsina by a Hopi or Zuni  Indian.  The sheet is  signed Vernon, probably an adolescent being taught by Methodist Missionaries. It was acquired on a trip through Arizona and New Mexico in 1945 by AndrĂ© Breton (1896-1966), the writer and poet best known as the founder of Surrealism.

Another area that interests me is Latin American Art and a pre-eminent gallery in this field is Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art.  She was showing a lovely small Diego Rivera drawing of a young girl. The great muralist, whose fabulous room at the Detroit Institute of Art has been in the news lately as a piece for potential auction under the city’s bankruptcy proceedings has had his reputation somewhat diminished as he seems to be known better as the husband of Frida Kalo.  Once in a while you might be lucky enough to also see a Kalo in Mary-Anne’s gallery.

Still so much more to see and I look forward to viewing a few more galleries before the week is out.

Max Seliger, German (1865-1920)

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