Sparkling color and fine line drew strong and steady traffic to Boston’s 1884 Cyclorama building for the 13th annual Boston International Fine Arts Show (BIFAS) November 12‱5, now a major event on the autumn calendar.
Since the Ellis Antiques Show was postponed to 2010, and buyers have shifted their focus to fine art, dealers and collectors vie for space at Tony Fusco and Bob Four’s well-run show. The energy is contagious; the buoyancy infectious. Forty-one Northeastern US and overseas galleries offered works spanning the Seventeenth through the Twenty-First Centuries. The aisles were crowded and visitors waited in line to get in, even in the face of a howling nor’easter on Saturday. This year’s preview gala event benefited the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, which is coming up on its bicentennial.
Show managers Fusco and Four wear several hats. They operate a successful marketing and public relations agency, they manage highly regarded shows and they deal in fine art. They maintain a booth near the entrance to the show that allows them to greet visitors, keep things running smoothly and showcase the art they offer. Selections included work by Karl Hagedorn, Sam Stetson, Boris Lovet-Lerski and Martin Barooshian. A sale was in progress as we approached.
New this year to BIFAS but not to Boston, Arader Galleries of New York City brought a selection of pristine maps, drawings and lithographs, most with Boston subjects that met with enthusiasm and what Erik Brockett described as “some good conversations.” Graham Arader said several days after the show that the gallery sold some fine antique maps to collectors. He added, “We will definitely be back next year.”
Ransom Gallery of London showcased contemporary British artist Tim Woolcock, whose work was well received and accounted for sales.
West Hartford, Conn., gallery Brickwork and Harvey showed the work of Eric Aho, whose sweeping open landscapes are compelling.
William Greenbaum Fine Prints of Gloucester, Mass., had a watercolor and ink scene, “Ruins of the Old Howard,” a scene of the aftermath of a fire that destroyed the storied Boston burlesque house. The artist is painter and illustrator Milton Johnson Derr, who taught for years at the School of the Museum of Fine Art and Tufts University.
New York City dealer Debra Force showed “He Won’t Bite,” an oil on canvas portrait of a shoeshine boy and his dog by John George Brown, and the circa 1907 Maurice Brazil Prendergast watercolor scene “Old Town, St Malo.” By Sunday, she had already sold another Prendergast, a Boston view by Arthur Clifton Goodwin and a Herman Dudley Murphy painting.
From Bryn Mawr, Penn., Avery Galleries brought a fine Guy Carleton Wiggins view of Madison Square in the snow, Childe Hassam’s 1903 watercolor view of the Isles of Shoals off Portsmouth, N.H., and Peter Moran’s dramatic “Icebergs 1909.” They reported “good conversations” with visitors, with a potential translation into good future sales.
Martha Richardson Fine Art of Boston mixed the contemporary and traditional. She sold a still life with poppies by Herman Dudley Murphy in the original carved Carrig Rohane frame early in the show and had serious interest in other works. She had “Paysage,” an abstract by French artist Jean Metzinger that was accompanied by certificates of authenticity. “Bay of Brittany at Dusk” by Josephine Hoxie Bartlett and “Chrysanthemums” by John Leslie Breck attracted attention also.
Also new to BIFAS this year was Newport dealer William Vareika, who for several years running brought the most expensive object to the Ellis Antiques Show. This year Vareika showed Martin Johnson Heade’s early morning “Coast of Newport,” a 51-by-72-inch oil on canvas that greeted visitors as they entered the show. Inside the booth, the offerings were no less inspiring: Three William Trost Richards pictures were “Sunset at Second Beach near Newport, R.I., 1891”; “Whaleback Lighthouse off Portsmouth, New Hampshire” and “After a Stormy Day.” Vareika had sold a Provincetown view by Mabel Woodward and several other pictures and said he had “millions of dollars of interest in other pictures.” Fortunately for him and for interested buyers, Newport is a mere 60-mile ride away.
Boston’s Vose Galleries had its strongest BIFAS show ever, with the sale of two important works †an Edward Henry Potthast view of Gloucester Harbor and a Maxfield Parish. The gallery had a double booth, one for contemporary art and the other for traditional art. The bifurcation of the venerable gallery occurred eight years ago when the contemporary division was introduced. It offered work by such contemporary artists as Joel Babb, Donald Demers and Warren Prosperi, whose 2009 “A Quarter of Friends” was a nod to the Handel and Haydn Society. They were juxtaposed with the work of artists such as J.J. Enneking, Theodore Robinson and Charles Hopkinson.
Clarke Gallery of Newburyport, Mass., showed Boston paintings, such as “From Boylston Street” by Massachusetts artist Arthur Merton Hazard and a “Rooftops, Boston” by Yvonne Twining. “Monhegan,” a beautiful abstract in shades of blue by Henry Kallem sold to a knowledgeable Boston collector. Peter and Karen Clarke also sold five other paintings, including a Jane Peterson.
“Laura Coombs Hills: Portraits from my Garden,” an exhibit of the artist’s pastels from a private collection made its debut at BIFAS. The exhibit is a collaborative effort of the Cooley Gallery of Old Lyme, Conn., Lepore Fine Arts of Newburyport and Vincent Vallerino Fine Art of New York City. The three galleries acquired an old and major collection of Hills pastels from descendents of Pauline Shaw Fenno, who purchased them from the artist between 1932 and 1939. A group of them was for sale in the booth of the Cooley Gallery and two sold early in the show and several others had strong interest. The pastels remain on view at the Cooley Gallery through January 2.
Fichera Fine Art of Arlington, Mass., and Bowdoinham, Maine, featured “Processional, Chioggia” by Augustus Koopman, the 1906 “Vista di Napoli e Vesuve delle Posillipo” by Massachusetts artist C. Myron Clark and the 1925 “Stone Houses in a Landscape” by Carl Wuermer. Susanna Fichera has a longtime interest in Works Progress Administration artists and she had several interesting examples that included “The Spirit of Oshkosh,” a 1938 study for the murals at the Oshkosh Public Museum by Eugene Savage. The oil on panel “The Switchman” by Nicholas Luisi sold on Sunday, and Fichera, who was most enthusiastic about the efforts of Fusco and Four, had significant followup interest. She, too, will be back next year.
Marine Arts Gallery of Salem, Mass., and Naples, Fla., had an exciting show. Peter Kiernan said they sold six paintings, including two by Emile Gruppe, a Nantucket beach scene by Richard K. Loud that inspired much interest in other of the artist’s work and the 1881 “The Mountain Stage,” a New Hampshire scene by Edward Lamson Henry. Kiernan said he was pleasantly surprised at the numbers of visitors who had traveled from as far away as California for the show, and Marine Arts Gallery plans to be back next year.
For information, www.fineartboston.com or 617-363-0405.
