Abby M Taylor Fine Art

“Screaming” Market

Abby M. Taylor — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:39:10 +0000

Even if you are not an art collector, you probably know that Edvard Munch’s Scream realized a record $119.9 million. A non-art collector commented to me “the art market must really be doing well”. It gave me pause as I realized that, as with all media these days, this one transaction so widely written about leads people to make a broad assumption about an entire market place. The art market is showing signs of some healthiness, in spots, but a much more complex analysis than that is needed. There is a fairly well written commentary by Abigail Esman from Forbes analyzing the Post Impressionist and Modern results at:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailesman/2012/05/15/sothebys-and-christies-arent-fooling-buyers-anymore/

The American painting sales just went off this week and to many they seemed fairly successful. Sotheby’s and Christies will boast success. For those of us who have been around in the market we know that Sotheby’s offered 60 lots to their 222 lots in a sale in 2006. They carefully chose a few higher end better name works and edited the rest. That’s because there is little middle tier to lower tier American buying. A rather clear indicator to the broader question of “Are you better off today than you were five years ago?” I think the purchaser of the Munch might be better off (and possibly not an American). And the question I would like addressed is where is the astute reporting and media interpretation of what is really going on in the art market?

Spring Highlights

Abby M. Taylor — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:25:36 +0000

The freedom of being a private gallery outside of the city means we can exhibit works that we intuitively feel are right for the moment. The spectacular weather in combination with the heralding of Spring has inspired us to hang works that reflect a lightness of attitude, a plethora of color, and a burgeoning feel of activity. That description does not mean we are “going light” on having exceptional works on display because we are showcasing top-notch examples by such respected artists as Andre Lanskoy, Jean-Michel Atlan, Theodoros Stamos and Milton Avery. Our selections reflect best what the marketplace today is looking for – name recognition, superior works, and a timelessness which means these carefully edited pieces work with varying home styles and complement existing choices that may originate from disparate time periods and different cultures. In a nutshell their quality and timelessness work anywhere and with anything!

Milton Avery: The Modernist’s Modernist

Susan VP Barrett — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:11:02 +0000

Focusing on names as being a driving factor in collecting, Milton Avery is an artist at the top of every American collector’s “must-have list”. His unmistakable style when it comes to the figure and alluring color palettes have made him one of the Modernists every collector aspires to own. Our Seated Woman has that signature feel to the figure. From the moment you see this work in a room, you know you are looking at an Avery. Style and name recognition are key components to collectors’ taste these days, and Avery hits both these notes. Here we see Avery’s signature style of combining abstraction with representational forms to create a unified composition. His special formula of flattening his figures many of whom are members of the artist’s family (could our Seated Woman be Avery’s wife and fellow artist Sally Michel Avery?) coupled with large unbroken areas of translucent applied color became the textbook example of the Modernist movement. Avery is regarded as one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. He is considered an American colorist, and each new generation of artists looks to his work for inspiration. Avery’s work has remained important to many artists of a younger generation such as Mark Rothko, who once referred to Avery as a “great poet-inventor who had invented sonorities never seen nor heard before”. Here is an opportunity to own a very good work representative of an instantaneously recognizable artist with a strong following and “staying power” that has proven value. Nothing is missing here in today’s fast paced collecting world.

Names, Names, Names

Abby M. Taylor — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:51:00 +0000

The art market is percolating, and there is an interesting new twist to the market. It’s percolating only if the artist has a “name”. Obscure artists whose works are exceptional and hard to come by are not of interest. Good artists with simply a solid history are not of interest. Collectors used to love to be presented with something they had not heard of and was believed to be “a find”. Now a client just wants a five minute information blast of collections, museums, articles, and most of all a “buzz factor” around the name.

An example is we had a fellow in who liked an exceptional abstract sculpture we have but when he found out it was neither Henry Moore or Jean Arp he said, I don’t buy artists I don’t know, and I don’t want to learn about artists I don’t know.

I have felt that you don’t tell your clients they are wrong about their collecting strategies. When overwhelmingly the sentiment amongst collectors these days is for the name factor to be the leading decision point in an acquisition, a dealer must learn to adjust and understand the trend. I am becoming an observer of our culture and I try not to be judgmental, as this can lead to negativity.

There is an interesting group of Symbolist works by Henri Martin coming on the market which are not his best known or most commercial works. They are an esoteric but important part of his oeuvre. As I tested the market to see if someone might like to invest with me and host an exhibition of these works, I found little enthusiasm amongst dealers to champion them. One dealer who did share my enthusiasm said the best dealers do invest in what is out of favor. I agreed but have with heavy heart decided to live with our times not against them. I will keep in step with our trends, and I think even that word has become trendy as “trending” is prevalent on everyone’s lips these days.

Pinchas Maryan: A Visual Recorder of the Darkness of Humanity

Susan VP Barrett — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:58:23 +0000

World War II left its mark on Pinchas Maryan physically and artistically. L’Oiseau is a masterful comment on the nature of authority and power. Great artists such as Emile Nolde, Max Beckmann, and others knew how to create a more interesting canvas by not literally painting what they were trying to convey. Pinchas Maryan (formerly “Burstein born of Jewish heritage) was Polish but lived in America as well; miraculously survived the unspeakable inhumanity of the Auschwitz prison camps to tell his story with paint and brush. Maryan has created the single image of a brutish monster he impersonally referred to as a “personage” in the unlikely guise of a bird. This exaggerated and distorted figure is eerily reminiscent of Picasso’s portraits that have morphed into a haunting and threatening reminder of terror truly lived. Only time would soften such autobiographical paintings by Maryan, who once remarked, “It is myself, in whatever color, that I put on the canvas…” Discernable in the execution of the painting is the strong expressionist influence of such fellow contemporary artists as Bernard Dubuffet and the Cobra painter Karel Appel with its wild, gestural, almost cartoonish mouths and limbs ironically removed from the gracefulness usually associated with birds. The analogy of the bird figure thinly disguised the underlying message of fear captured in this portrait of true evil encountered face-to-face, a timely reminder of the disturbing images that make up today’s news stories. It is quite interesting to note that Maryan has a dedicated niche following and has achieved several strong auction records.

Andre Cottavoz: Deep In Paint 1950-72

Susan VP Barrett — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:00:58 +0000

The exhibition of paintings by Andre Cottavoz at Abby M Taylor Fine Art entitled Deep in Paint 1950-1972 is a dynamic body of works from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. They are exuberant in character, and their heavy impasto invite comparison to some of the most provocative artists of the 20^th century. Many of the portraits in this exhibition have the intellectual and psychological approach to be found in a Chaim Soutine portrait. They also predate Frank Auerbach’s approach to portraits which exhibit an existential approach. These paintings will fascinate as one attempts to discern their true content. A prolific painter who found a style that translated well in the commercial sense, Cottavoz was also a member of the Lyon School of New Figuration. In the tradition of the great French colorists such as Pierre Bonnard, Andre Cottavoz expresses in his paintings a trend amongst some post World War II French artists who belonged to the Lyon School of New Figuration to search for a strong light in their works. The painter Paul Philibert-Charrin addressed the press after the group’s first successful salon:

“What we are after is a salon for people under thirty. We belong to no school. Our only principle is to paint in the light, with allegiance to no technique.”

Such illumination was not only a product of the natural light but also an emanation of light that seemed to originate and to spring forth from the very canvas itself.

The gallery is pleased to present this artist’s work as it was done during a timeframe in France that is just beginning to be re-examined. He is an artist that has developed a strong Asian following and can appeal to contemporary or traditional collectors. A close friendship with the Japanese art dealer Kiyoshi Tamenaga whom Cottavoz met in 1957 opened doors to Japan for the artist. The works in this exhibition showcase the freedom that Cottavoz felt compelled to paint without restrictions or preconceived requirements.

On View Through Feb. 28th

Cleve Gray: Stream

Mia Forte — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:45:55 +0000

Time to Change for 2012

Abby M. Taylor — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:49:41 +0000

I just clicked on a link which led me to read a statement from the fine American sculptor Albert Wein, “The great Egyptian sculptors didn’t even sign their name to a work of art. Monumental art, such as Chartres Cathedral is great because the art was more important than the artist”. It reminded me of what I enjoy most about the periods of art I deal in, which is that the ideas and history behind the works are often compelling, uplifting and thoughtful.

However, the statement above reflects nothing of our time, culture, politics, art or desires. This sounds cynical, but I believe we must adapt to new ways of living and directions in business. I maintain more than ever that the period of works I deal in are important to have by our side, but they must be presented and sorted out in new ways to be relevant to us. We have a new objective for 2012, and our next post in the New Year will begin to role out what that is and what it means for our clients. In 2011 we heard the media report on a lot of record setting prices for Clyfford Still, some Warhols and Richters but other than that, it was a “sea of confusion” for collectors as to where values are, who they should work with and trust, and where the markets are shifting. In 2012 we are going to sort this out for our clients with clarity. Our clients are going to see a marked change at Abby M. Taylor Fine Art, as we have taken close stock in the past two years of the market which has given us a clear grasp on the future of collecting. The past few years were necessary to “muck through”, and now we look forward in 2012 to a fresh new art world. We will miss many of the traditions of how it use to work but we know our clients are going to have fun with new venues as we “bring back the sexy” as Justin Timberlake has said, to collecting!

Johann Berthelsen: Snowy Sonatas

Susan VP Barrett — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:40:17 +0000

Johann Henrik Carl Berthelsen (1883-1972) is one of the most popular American Impressionist painters of New York City, best known for his exquisitely rendered cityscapes in the winters which were often compared to the works of Guy Wiggins and Childe Hassam. This time of year collectors are particularly apt to acquire one of these iconic oils to enhance their art collections. Such intense demand for these paintings has made it increasingly difficult to find such gems as Fifth Avenue, Looking South from 60^th Street or Brooklyn Bridge Tower, New York, N.Y. Ironically Berthelsen’s first artistic passion was music and not art. In 1901 Berthelsen emigrated from Copenhagen to America with his family to study voice at the Chicago Musical College owned by the Ziegfeld family during this golden age of opera. Eventually he combined his love of music with his love for art devoting himself fulltime his time to the rendering of his snowscapes which he referred to as “painted orchestrations” of Manhattan. Berthelsen portrayed life as it unfolded around him in the city daily with all its energy. These paintings are “time capsules” of a bygone era with their specific dress, locations, and habits of people long ago. His paintings enjoy wide audience appeal especially today as they are easy to understand and comfortable to live with.

End of Year Highlights

Abby M. Taylor — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:57:28 +0000

We end 2011 with a striking exhibition of abstract Post-War works offset by French Post Impressionist paintings. The best part of having a gallery is freedom to experiment and juxtapose works from different periods in ways that are energizing. This is hopefully inspiring to those visiting the gallery to do the same with their collection or home. For instance we have paired a rare Medardo Rosso bronze head of a young boy named “Gavroche” along with Nicolai Fechin’s painterly and austere head of an American Indian in front of abstract works by Georges Noel and Cleve Gray. All the abstract works we brought out are what we feel to be “classics”. The line-up for French Impressionist works includes a top-notch Armand Guillaumin, two sensational Louis Valtat still lifes along with great examples by Manguin, Vlaminck and Maufra.

Whenever we find that there is instability in the stock market, we bring out our best!