Three years into AD 20/21, the mood is buoyant and the gate is up markedly. The show, which ran at the Cyclorama April 8‱1 †all bright lights and focused on arts and design of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries †summoned an entirely new slate of collectors and dealers. New collectors were out in greater numbers than observed at other shows around town, drawn by the color and energy of contemporary art and design.
AD 20/21 represents a celebration of the city of Boston and its many institutions. Lecture series each year draw attention to lesser-known monuments of Boston history. The subject of one talk was “Heroic Architecture in Boston, 1957‱976,” an explication of the use of concrete in buildings around the city during that period.
Tony Fusco and Bob Four, show managers, attract a wide audience to their shows, which themselves are well received in Boston. Established collectors, museum curators and dealers were thick on the ground, indicating future consummation of important sales. Designers and architects were another large presence, attributable to the show beneficiary, the Boston Architectural College, for which the preview party raised more than $115,000.
Since its inception, the show has incorporated the 11-year-old annual Boston Print Fair, giving everyone a wider arena for buying and selling. Dealers showing under the aegis of the Boston Print Fair enjoyed robust sales. Visitors were attracted to the robust color and form of silk screens, the 2009 “Aerie” and “Southern Exposure” by Helen Frankenthaler from New York’s Hal Katzen Gallery. A Roy Lichtenstein serigraph in yellow, red and blue on a white paper plate from 1969 was also on view, along with work by Alex Katz and two Andy Warhol images of the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
Show managers Fusco and Four are also art dealers. Their traditional booth, hard by the front entrance to the show where they welcome visitors, featured oak figures by Maxim Elias, one of which won first prize at the Corcoran Gallery in 1948. Work by his son, Max Elias, included some dandy textural metal figures.
Dearborn, Mich., artist and dealer Adnan Charara, whose own dynamic work dominates his booth, drew steady traffic. The Arab American incorporates much of the immigrant experience in his highly detailed paintings and works on paper.
The International Poster Gallery of Boston was consistently busy pretty much throughout the show and sales were rewarding. The gallery can also expect some steady residual sales from the show.
La Verrerie d’Art of Bowie, Md., showed art glass, including several pieces by French artist Charles Schneider. Jewelry was also a big draw to the dealer.
Exquisite ceramics †particularly a selection of elegantly sinuous amphorae †from New York’s Jason Jacques Gallery also proved irresistible to a number of collectors and dealers. Jacques devoted a section of his booth to prints by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. He observed that Bostonians were slow to make a decision, but were endowed with great taste.
Furniture designer Dakota Jackson was presented with the AD 20/21 Lifetime Achievement Award, saluting his more than four decades as a leading influence on American design. Jackson gave a talk on the new design landscape and the highlights of his career. A selection of his furniture designs was on view in a booth shared with the Boston Architectural College, arrayed with photographs by California artist Chip Hooper.
Boston’s Robert Klein Gallery showed compelling contemporary photographic works by Julie Blackmon, notable for the layers of introspection they offered. The walls also held images by Cig Harvey, Wendy Burton, Robert Polidori and a remarkable image of an elephant by Didier Massard.
Susanna J. Fichera is based in Arlington, just outside Boston, and Bowdoinham, Maine. She attracted significant interest with such works as Sante Graziani’s 1943 portrait of a World War II US Army doctor, pictured traditionally with clues to his life and work. Fichera also showed work by Boston artist George H. Hallowell, Jane Peterson, Michiel Theobald Gloeckner and Harriette Bowdoin, whose “Central Park West” evokes Prendergast. Early in the run of the show, Fichera reported three significant sales.
Back Bay Boston dealer Martha Richardson garnered strong interest, including curatorial, for her exhibit of remarkable prints, drawings and paintings work by Roxbury artist John Wilson. She also showed a dandy silvered low table made on the coast of Spain using Renaissance techniques that had come from Max Kuehne.
Tom Veilleux showed exceptional works by the likes of William Zorach, John Marin, Charles Burchfield, William Glackens and Maxfield Parrish. The Portland, Maine, dealer had the charcoal drawing “Reclining Figure” by John Singer Sargent and Andrew Wyeth’s 1943 “Rockweed on Monhegan” and the pencil drawing “Helga Asleep.” A Rockwell Kent watercolor design for the Russian War Relief Drive Christmas card in 1943 attracted much interest. Veilleux made a number of good sales.
Georg Jensen silver shimmered from the cases and shelves of Connecticut dealer Alastair Crawford’s booth. Of particular interest were the 12-inch monkey candlesticks and even taller bear candlesticks designed by Crawford and cast by a London silversmith.
Memorable pieces from Boston’s Miller Block Gallery were Nancy Blum’s “Dart” and Andrew Milner’s 2009 “Red Bud.”
Greg Nanamura specializes in Twentieth Century in his New York gallery and brought along some eye-catching pieces that made his booth a very busy place. He had a glamorous brass desk with black lacquer by Karl Springer, one of many pieces he designed for a Chicago apartment. It was paired with a poufy seat of sheep’s wool and Lucite made in Italy in the 1970s. He also offered a Mastercraft Tree of Life cabinet in black lacquer and brass from the 1960s and a Regency-style chocolate brown chest of drawers by John Widdicomb. Illumination was by the master Italian designers.
Newburgh, N.Y., gallery Bridges Over Time attracted attention with an oversized cocktail table of rosewood and brass with a milk glass by Paul McCobb, an abstract artisan-made table base with a glass top and a pair of Sabino wall sconces. Among the paintings for sale was “Lady in Thought,” an unsigned work, the back of which was covered with poetry.
Sold stickers were affixed to several fine photographs from Iris Gallery of Fine Art early in the preview party. The walls were hung with a lion and a monolith by Nick Brandt and work by Barbara Cole, Brigitte Carnochan and David Ricci. Ormond Gigli’s 1960 “Girls in the Windows” was an exercise in timing for the artist, with 43 models in the glassless window frames of a 58th Street brownstone, just before the demolition crew went to work.
Midcentury artist-designed watches, clocks and radios were for sale from Albuquerque gallery Palette Contemporary Art and Craft, and visitors bought freely.
Boston rug and carpet dealer Landry and Arcari, known mostly for traditional fine Oriental rugs, filled the booth with graphic Modern examples, suited to the most contemporary tastes.
Paris dealer L’Iris Bleu showed silver and chrome cocktail shakers of every size and shape, cocktail sets, glassware and an enviable Deco tea set made in Limoges. There was also a fine selection of Art Deco clocks.
Boston’s Childs Gallery had some strong sales, with much interest in Anne Lyman Powers’ “Punch and Judy,” a harbinger of the gallery’s upcoming circus exhibit. There was also interest in Leon Dolice’s “Snow on Wall Street” and Richard Pantell’s 1981 “Boston Twilight,” which depicted an old trolley car. Red sold stickers were sprinkled around the booth.
The Center Street Studio of Milton, Mass., is Boston’s only contemporary print publisher. The gallery specializes in works by emerging artists. Publisher and proprietor and artist James Stroud showed a suite of three vivid color aquatints by Bill Thompson, whose work the gallery has published. Richard Ryan’s woodcut “Nine Black Poppies” and another of a heron were striking, and Kelly Sherman’s reductive woodcuts “Brides 1-5” are thoughtful musings on weddings.
For information, 617-363-0405 or www.ad2021.com .
