It's Almost Here !

Some weeks I have to wrack my brain to come up with what to write about but this week, as they say, is a “no brainer”. Master Drawings New York is upon us!

I encourage you to visit all the galleries participating in Master Drawings New York, but obviously we would love to see you at 252 East 68th Street.

But why should you bother? If for no other reason than to see an unusually large depiction of an equally unusual subject by Charles Parrocel (1688-1752).














The artist used a double sheet, measuring 21 3/8 x 34 7/8 (54,4 x 88,6 cm) to depict a marriage ceremony taking place at a military encampment.

I am often asked by colleagues, “what are you looking for?” Well, I would never have answered an image of a wedding, and if I had, I would certainly not have thought of one at a military encampment. What an unlikely subject!

Now, I must admit that Parrocel’s fame has always rested on his battle scenes. Personally I like the out of the ordinary. That is why I was drawn to his depiction of a different and unexpected aspect of military life.

Perhaps French 18th century is not your thing. Being of German background I have an affinity for German art… So you will see the German investigation of landscape in the early 19th century study of the reflection of the rocky bank of a river by Franz Kobell, and the majestic, solitary tree of Max Seliger (1886). The graphic mastery of Henri Kiehl Lehman is demonstrated in a two-sided sheet of figure studies (1853) while Hermann Eichler evokes the romanticized persona of an artist, in his free watercolor depiction of a sculptor (1863).

There is lots more as well. More next week. Meanwhile remember to visit us and others, to educate your eye. Collecting is a never ending joy and educational experience. In a work of art you should see something new every time you look at it.

Master Drawings New York January 23-30

Preview party Friday January 22nd 4-9 pm
Saturdays 11am – 5pm
Sunday 3-7pm
Mon -Fri 11am - 6pm

What's it worth?

A short while ago I discussed how to recognize quality and pointed out that if one has only seen one painting by Monet it is both the best and the worst one that you have ever seen. In this missive I would like to discuss value and price.

My father used to say, little differences in quality make big differences in price. Compare car models or cameras or whatever you shop for and I believe you will see that similar rules apply.

I want to look at two console-dessertes (sideboards) from our inventory. One is in the mid five figures and the other is in the low seven figures. Both are French 18th century from the same period 1780 -1790. Why such a difference in price?

One is about 44 inches wide and the other is 45 inches. So, in this case size, does not matter! While you have been reading this you will have been glancing at the photos below and you have probably noticed without any prompting that one is rather simple and the other has more going on. Both have well-calibrated proportions.

But now look on the first photo in this missive. It is a detail of the mount at the center of the top drawer on the more elaborate console-desserte. It is a unique miniature composition of crossed laurel branches and a basket of flowers. If you could touch it (and you can if you come to the gallery…we are not a museum), you would find that it is beautifully chased and not sharp like gilt bronze mounts of the 19th century. The other console-desserte has keyhole mounts of a Louis XVI model you will find on other pieces because the bronze-maker supplied it to various cabinetmaker clients.

Both console dessertes are made of mahogany. This was a wood associated with English furniture and only adopted by Parisian ébénistes (cabinetmakers) towards the end of the 18th century as part of the fashion known as “anglomanie”. The more refined piece shows off the wood in a back panel of figured mahogany while the other has no back at all… little bits of quality giving value to the work of art

If you look behind the more elaborate piece you will find a partial stamp showing a crenellated circle above G.M. This identifies the console-desserte’s original provenance (for whom the piece of furniture was made). It is the inventory mark of the Pavillon de Saint-Cloud, 1786-1789), the modest retreat purchased by the Comtesse d’Artois, wife of the younger brother of Louis XVI who was to reign as Charles X. That this piece was made for a celebrity of the time adds interest and value. Just as one might pay a premium for something that belonged to Jackie Kennedy Onassis or any other celebrity.

In this case, we have a rare documented piece. The papers of the Comte d’Artois indicate a corresponding payment to Jean-Henri Riesener, the foremost Parisian ébéniste. An ébéniste, executing a prestigious commission for a member of the royal family, would take extra care, make an extra effort and add customized embellishments that might not be important for the functioning of the piece but would make it more impressive. How many pixels do you need in your digital camera…

The story of why it was commissioned is also amusing and we can tell you that when you come to see the piece in the original (or you can look at our website and read the story). But remember no matter how much you read or look at photographs there is no substitute for viewing the actual work of art. Then it will either sing to you or leave you cold!

Less than 3 weeks to go!

-->On Friday, January 22 there will be 24 parties to go to in New York all between East 66th Street and 93rd Street.
They are all for the preview evening of Master Drawings New York. This wonderful alternative art fair was started several years ago in London and more recently brought to this side of the pond.

It will continue daily (including Sunday) from Saturday January 23 through Saturday January 30*.

This is a great opportunity to see draughtsmanship through 500 years. Just looking through the brochure I found drawings from England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Mexico. There will be works to fit all budgets. If you made the tour of Master Drawings New York last year and saw a work that you were interested in but 2009 was not the year to make acquisitions, who knows, it might be still available and you can swing it for 2010.

As I am wont to do, a digression! A question that is so often asked of an art dealer is “how long have you had it?”. The question alone shows insecurity. Are you only interested in a work of art because someone else is? In that case the work of art you want is already sold!

One of the greatest collectors I have ever known said regarding works of art that he likes at dealers, “I go back and go back and it’s a great let down when you go back and it has been sold… It is totally unfair”!

As you read here a short while ago, the Metropolitan Museum bought a painting that they had rejected over 40 years ago. Recently I sold a large Austrian Gothic Revival Prayer Stool to the Met that they had said they wanted to buy from me 20 years ago but they could not find a place for it at the time. If the curators of the Met can rediscover works of art so can you.

One final example some years ago I had a painting which a curator at the Louvre said I should offer to another French museum. I asked why I should bother since the picture had been reviewed by the curators when it had been exported from France a few years before. His reply, “things change” and, sure enough, the museum he had in mind bought it.

Do put these dates, January 23-30 in your calendar and take in as many of the 24 participating galleries as you wish. Even if you do not plan to buy, come to learn and enjoy… No Pressure!

Should you wish a brochure with more details of who is exhibiting and where, just send us an email with your address and we will send it right out.

*Hours:
Preview party
4-9 pm

Mon -Fri
11am - 6pm

Saturdays
11am – 5pm

Sunday
3-7pm

Happy Holidays

The Metropolitan Acquisitions Dinner

If you live in New York or have visited any large city in the U.S., and more and more abroad, you know that you can spend your life and your fortune going to benefit dinners for many of the noblest of causes and institutions from medical, to educational to art. They tend to be pretty interchangeable.

I recently attended such a dinner that was distinctly different.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art held its annual Acquisition Fund Dinner in the impressive surroundings of the Temple of Dendur. It is just what it sounds like. Its “raison d’ être” is to raise general acquisition funds for the institution which remains steadfast in its commitment to building its collections. Even in this difficult year the dinner yielded $1.3 million.

When Tom Campbell, the new director of the Metropolitan, was introduced he explained that when he took over at the helm on January 1, 2009 in the middle of the worst financial crises this country has known in 75 years, he was concerned as to how he would meet the expectations of the company assembled for this annual event. Major acquisitions had been regularly announced by the former director of the Met, Philippe de Montebello, who was responsible for the acquisition of some 84,000 plus works of art over his tenure of 31 years at the museum. But Tom Campbell realized that things would not be so bad, when, at his maiden acquisition committee meeting, Ian Wardropper, Chairman of the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department, presented a major work of art. He proposed one of the prized oil lamps by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Andrea Riccio, and the funds were made available for its purchase.

The evening focused on two other acquisitions: a painting by the sixteenth century painter Jacopo Basano, and a collection of American art pottery. They were presented in short films produced by the Metropolitan showing the director and his curators discussing the acquisition process.

The Bassano, his last work, had been turned down when it was offered to the Met 40 years earlier. When the painting again became available, however, Keith Christiansen, the newly-appointed head of the European Paintings Department and a specialist in Italian Renaissance painting. became convinced that it was vital to the Museum’s collection because it completed the story of Renaissance Venetian art. Together, Campbell and Christiansen approached the collector Mark Fish, and when he viewed the work at the Toledo museum where it was on loan he agreed to buy the painting and make it a promised gift to the Museum.

In his closing remarks, the director announced that Mark Fish had told him earlier that day that when the gift was finalized it would be given in honor of Philippe de Montebello.

The collection of American Art Pottery was assembled by Bob Ellison over a 45 year period. It includes examples of all the important American potters from the last quarter of the 19^th century through the first half of the 20^th. The curator for American Decorative Arts, Nonnie Frelinghuysen, explained that when the American wing was being renovated she designed cases on the mezzanine gallery which would be perfect for housing the Ellison collection. She inserted images of pots from his collection in the designs. Bob Ellison said, that at that point Nonnie began to invite him regularly to follow the progress of the wing! In the end, what started out as a loan of 50 to 60 pots for the wing’s opening became a promised gift of the entire 250 piece collection. This was a wonderful illustration of the dynamic between curator and patron.

For the second time in the evening Tom Campbell thanked those assembled for being, in no small part, contributors to the acquisition funds that made it possible for new treasures to come to the Met.

Those participating not only received insight into what goes on behind the scenes, but they also felt part of the process, … a truly educational and uplifting evening.

What is quality?

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Last week I looked at “What Should I Collect”. So the next obvious question is how do I know that what I am buying is good or, looking at it another way, how do I learn to develop my eye to recognize quality when I see it.

If you have only seen one Monet it will be both the best one you have ever seen and the worst. It is only when you see the second that you begin to discern. You may be reacting to the subject matter or the colors, but comparison between two examples is the beginning of the educational process. Expertise does not come overnight: it is developed through a long process much like mastering a foreign language. Every related work of art that you see adds to your education. This is the essence of developing connoisseurship.

Books (or the internet) are not substitutes for looking at original works of art. They add to your information and give an understanding of what others before you have appreciated in your area of interest. It is important not to take what you read as gospel, but rather add it to your library of knowledge,--all so that you can make up your own mind about what you are looking at.

This allows me to digress for a moment. When you see an exhibition please please do not take the audio guide the first time through. Thirty years ago the chief art critic for the New York Times told me in an incredulous tone that the Metropolitan Museum had encouraged the art writers to use the audio guides for the exhibition that they were previewing. He felt this was insulting. He believed that as a professional he should be able to make up his own mind of what good was and not be led to what the museum thought were the best works of art in the show.

Audio guides are now more sophisticated offering random programming for more of the works of art (but not all) so you can decide where to stop. Still it is counterproductive for you to be told what is important before you have the chance to form your own opinions.

If you are interested in the exhibition, do go through it again (maybe on another day) with the audio guide to amplify or modify your initial reactions. This way you will build your own powers of discernment and you will be the judge as to how well you are being guided by your chosen mentors, be they dealers, curators….or headphones.

It is by honing your personal reactions through viewing, reading, listening and looking some more that you can become a true connoisseur. The process won’t be quick but I can promise you that it will be infinitely rewarding.

What should I collect ?

A question I am asked all the time is “what should I collect?” How can anyone answer that for someone else when the issue is so intensely personal? Nonetheless, I will make some suggestions.

First, go to your local museum. Does anything there turn you on? If so, you may be on your way. Nonetheless, move on to a general art museum in a big city. Give yourself a couple of days to take it all in. Start with an overview, walking through all the galleries. Then decide which galleries you want to return to. What intrigued you, --the familiar or the foreign, ancient or contemporary, American, African, Islamic art, Japanese, Chinese, Old Master, or Impressionist?. If there is a Kunsthalle (an exhibition space) check out the exhibition schedule. Get a listing of all the galleries in town and do a tour.

There are local art associations which may have gallery members who are involved in your specialty. Such an affiliation may add some comfort to your security. A place to start is at http//www.cinoa.org. You can type in a special interest and see a listing from many associations in many countries as well as a listing of their members.

When you find an area that you relate to, seek out an expert, a curator or a dealer, who is willing to guide you. Even though this may seem like an intimidating idea, art professionals who are serious about their field love to talk about it. Someone once said to me that an art gallery is the only place you can walk in, start to ask questions, and the dealer will tell you everything about his business without your paying for the privilege. This was said a very long time ago but for the most part is still true today.

A renowned collector I know told me that, when he was surveying areas to collect, an art dealer put together a reading list for him. He followed it to libraries and specialized book dealers, devouring the latest publications, and out-of-print standards. He was hooked and that reading list gave him a solid foundation on which to build his collection.

Museum curators, like art dealers, look on their work as, in large part, educational. Curators may be less accessible, but museums often have collector groups which offer access and contact with fellow collectors. Remember curators need supporters, and collectors are potential donors. They want you to buy well so that the museum may eventually benefit through your loans or donations.

It comes down to the old Sy Syms advertisement, “An educated consumer is our best customer” be that as collector or museum patron If you show your sincerity in being interested in the art and not just its value, you will be well rewarded by with the most extraordinary personal tutorials.

Over time, collectors often become real experts in their field, having an advantage that goes beyond study,---they have the unique and intimate experience of living with the art.