Opening for its 18th year, with a mission to promote historic American art, The American Art Fair returns to New York City to showcase hundreds of artworks by 17 noteworthy specialists. The event boasts high quality 19th- and 20th-century American art by artists that were part of renowned movements like the Hudson River School, the Eight, tonalism, impressionism, the Ashcan School, modernism and surrealism.
William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), A Mother’s Joy, 1899. Oil on panel, 17 x 17 in., signed (at lower left): ‘Wm. M. Chase’. Courtesy of Hirschl and Adler Galleries.
Thomas Colville, the fair’s founder, notes, “the combined expertise of our exhibitors—who include America’s longest-established galleries—is unmatched. Their knowledge and experience draw curators and collectors to Manhattan in May to celebrate American art.”
Colville adds that new to the fair, are 18th century New World paintings (as some of the Western Hemisphere was then called) exhibited by Robert Simon Fine Art, among them an 18th century Peruvian Virgin of Loreto. One of the newest works will be shown by America’s oldest gallery: Wolf Kahn’s (1927-2020) 2004 Blue Runs Through It will be showcased at Vose Galleries, established in 1841.
Julie Hart Beers (1835-1913), Eagle Cliff, Franconia Notch, NH, ca. 1870. Oil on board 6 x 8 in. Estate of the artist. Courtesy of Hawthorne Fine Art.
Colville is also exhibiting work from his own gallery, Thomas Colville Fine Art, based in Guilford, Connecticut. Among his offerings are a group of watercolors by John Whorf (1903-1959). For the highlight piece, View Through the Window, Provincetown, Colville shares, “This view through the window of [the artist’s] Provincetown studio came to me from a private Massachusetts collection through Vose Galleries...Whorf was a prodigy, famous as a teenager for his dazzling watercolors. Sargent, who visited Boston in the 1920s, admired and mentored him, and a recently published biography has brought him new admirers.” In addition to the Whorf pieces, Colville plans to feature a group of works spanning the 19th to the mid-20th centuries with an emphasis on 1930-40 abstraction.
John Whorf (1903-1959), View Through the Window, Provincetown. Watercolor on paper, 15¼ x 22¼ in., signed on alternate composition verso. Courtesy of Thomas Colville Fine Art.
Eric W. Baumgartner, the senior vice president at Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York, says, “Because of its sharp, narrow focus, The American Art Fair attracts American museum professionals from far and wide. In some cases, this is the only face-to-face interaction we may have with curators from Texas, Kansas, Wisconsin and other faraway states. It is gratifying to be able to show them some of the best American [work] we have to offer, but it’s also instructive to speak with directors and curators about their collecting priorities.”
Charles Sprague Pearce (1851-1914), Woman in White Dress and Straw Hat, ca. 1880. Oil on cradled panel, 14¾ x 113/8 in., signed ‘Charles Sprague Pearce’ and inscribed ‘Paris’, lower left. Courtesy of Debra Force Fine Art.
Opposite page: Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), Holsteinsborg, Afternoon, Greenland, 1929-1933. Oil on canvas, 28 x 48 in., signed lower right. Courtesy of D. Wigmore Fine Art.
The Hirschl & Adler booth will feature a wall of museum-quality American impressionist paintings by William Merritt Chase, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Lilla Cabot Perry and Theodore Robinson. Modernist works from the Art Deco era by German- American artists Hunt Diederich and Winold Reiss will offer a sharp historical and aesthetic contrast to the impressionist collection. One of the stars of the booth will be a large Maine marine painting by the postwar artist Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), taken from the family’s beloved island in Penobscot Bay.
Another highlight at Hirschl & Adler is Chase’s A Mother’s Joy, 1899. “Chase loved to portray his wife and children in sunlit outdoor settings or quiet domestic spaces,” says Baumgartner. “Such is the case with A Mother’s Joy––a formerly unlocated work that has resurfaced only recently––which depicts Alice with their daughter, Koto Robertine (1889–1956).”
Joseph Stella (1877-1946), Palms, 1938. Oil on canvas, 43 x 24 in, signed lower right: ‘Jos. Stella’, inscribed on verso: ‘Painting by Joseph Stella’. Courtesy of Avery Galleries.
Event attendees will also find a significant collection from Hawthorne Fine Art, bringing works that reflect the strongest efforts in the Hudson River School, still-life and impressionist movements, many of which are by women artists. Debra Force Fine Art will exhibit 19th-and 20th-century works by Romare Bearden, William Merritt Chase, Charles Demuth, Sanford R. Gifford, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, William McGregor Paxton, Charles Sprague Pearce, Jane Peterson, Andrew Wyeth and others.
Included among the excitement of the exhibitors, will also be a lecture series by leading curators and scholars—discussing exhibitions and research. Admission to both the lectures and the event, held at the Bohemian National Hall from May 10 to 13, is complimentary. Visit the event website for more details. —
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