In the final room of the exhibit Hudson River School Masterpieces from the New-York Historical Society, now on view at The Society of the Four Arts through Sunday, there are two striking portraits of the men considered to be the fathers of the movement: Thomas Cole and Asher Durand. One could also pronounce them the fathers of American art because, during their lifetimes, they … [Read more...]
Fine art fair draws a different crowd to Convention Center
It’s remarkable. In a few short weeks, International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) has transformed the Palm Beach County Convention Center from an über-cool, contemporary art warehouse that housed their Art Palm Beach fair into a refined country-manor home for the current American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF). At the entrance, a four-spout fountain sits, surrounded by … [Read more...]
California Impressionists captured optimistic moment in time
Glancing at the viewer, a woman shields her face from the sun. She stands in a garden resplendent with color. Red geraniums dance at her feet alongside the stone pathway where she stands. Alongside her, a woman kneels and tends to the garden. Throughout the painting, titled Red and Green by Joseph Kleitsch, patches of shade and bright sunlight compete for dominance. A moment … [Read more...]
Art Palm Beach offers trip down rabbit hole into art Wonderland
“I chose the hammerhead because they’re on the red list and in danger of extinction,” said the artist Marc Hubert D’Ge— who looked like remarkably like a young Gregg Allman — in a charming Aix-en-Provence accent of his installation piece, Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves. He stood beneath a 10-foot, taxidermied shark mounted on an exhibition wall with a video running … [Read more...]
Art fairs bring aesthetics, learning to Palm Beach
Art fair season is upon us. And, for art lovers in Palm Beach, it’s the most wonderful time of the year because, beginning this week, the Palm Beach County Convention Center will be the home of two fairs that showcase galleries and works of fine art from around the world. They’ll also provide an unparalleled opportunity to attend lectures by leading artists, experts and … [Read more...]
Art world converges on Miami Beach for Art Basel ‘party’
Beginning Thursday, the contemporary art world will be in Miami Beach and its environs for the second largest art fair in the world: Art Basel Miami Beach. This includes artists, art critics, private dealers, advisers, galleries, curators, collectors, celebrities – and yes, mere lovers of art. The known, the not-so-known, the conservative and the bizarre — all will preen, … [Read more...]
For Adami, everything is allegory
They may look like comic book art, but there is a perturbing sadness to the world that Valerio Adami creates in his large-scale paintings, 23 of which are currently on view until Jan. 9 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in a retrospective exhibit that spans four decades of the Italian artist’s work. The exhibit is merely a glimpse into Adami’s vast oeuvre, which has been shaped … [Read more...]
Boxer exhibit shows painter’s love affair with abstraction
Retrospective exhibits excite because they allow enthusiasts to witness an artist’s evolution. Rememberingstanleyboxer: A Retrospective 1946-2000, currently on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, is no exception. The 50 works, mostly paintings, but with a few sculptures speckling the landscape, tell the story of Stanley Boxer’s progressive love affair with abstraction. It’s … [Read more...]
Norton’s contemporary art deserves its own space
The Norton Museum has an expanding collection of contemporary art, and, like many museums that evolve and grow from their initial purpose, it does not have a permanent exhibit space for it. Although significant, it would be difficult to justify replacing any of Ralph and Elizabeth Norton’s original collection, or changing the focus of current gallery space, and the museum … [Read more...]
Exhibit of works on paper shows another side of Cassatt
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) is known for pretty pictures of women and children, the kind of pictures that make people smile and sigh a lot. But what many don’t know is that, as a working female artist living in late 19th-century Paris, she was a maverick. A driven woman who personally balked at convention, she remained single and childless, apparently by choice, so that she … [Read more...]