Fine Art Today brings you high-level content while providing you with timely developments, late-breaking stories, and recently announced events from the art-collecting world. Use the following links to find currently featured art exhibitions at galleries and museums.

Art Events, Auctions, Exhibitions, and More:

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• April 2025
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Upcoming Art Auction > Only rarely does an extraordinary Orientalist watercolor appear on the market, and now that time has come. Painted in 1873 by the Englishman John Frederick Lewis, “A Reception in the Harem” has been in a private U.S. collection since 1961, when the current owner bought it from a London dealer. It has never been seen publicly since, and can now be visited by appointment at Bonhams London, which will offer it at auction on March 26, 2025.

JOHN FREDERICK LEWIS’S “A RECEPTION IN THE HAREM”
Bonhams, London
bonhams.com

In her catalogue essay, scholar Emily Weeks says this is a larger version of Lewis’s oil painting now at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. Lewis was a master in both oil and watercolor, renowned then and now for jewel-like color and intricate detail. Weeks adds that Lewis “perfected an idiosyncratic approach to watercolor that could rival oil painting in the intensity of its hues (achieved through mixing watercolor pigments with Chinese white)” and in its precise brushstrokes, making it appear as “finished” and laboriously executed as an oil. Blessed with such talents, Lewis “systematically produced two nearly identical versions” of every major scene, one in each medium.

Britons’ fascination with the daily lives of fashionable women in Middle Eastern harems grew from the 18th century onward. The reclining figure on the blue divan at the scene’s center is Lewis’s wife, Marian, and her ornate surroundings were inspired by the reception room of their Cairo home. The Lewises lived in the Egyptian capital for 10 years, and in 1846, no less a tourist than the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray envied Lewis’s “dreamy, hazy, lazy, tobaccofied life” there.

Before it came to America in 1961, this watercolor was owned by a series of well-known connoisseurs and ogled at well-attended exhibitions in 1878, 1887, 1891, and 1898. Because it may go right back into a private collection on March 26, art lovers visiting London this winter are strongly encouraged to go see it at Bonhams.

Attention Art Collectors!
May 20-22, 2025: Visit the Plein Air Convention & Expo’s robust pop-up art gallery at the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, where hundreds of artists, including our master faculty, will have studio and plein air works on display and ready to purchase. Register for the full event at PleinAirConvention.com now.

View artist and collector profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Brafa, Europe’s longest-running art fair, is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Its halls will feature approximately 130 galleries from across Europe offering works ranging from African art, Old Master paintings, and contemporary to antique and design furniture, metalwork, carpets, books, and jewelry. Free tours will be conducted in English regularly.

Belgium’s Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage will host a space inside the fair where, twice each day, its conservators will demonstrate their scientific techniques and findings during interactive workshops.

Details:
Brafa Art Fair
Brussels, Belgium
January 26–February 2, 2025
www.brafa.art/en

The current Swann Galleries auction is dedicated to the Artists of the WPA. Works in photography, cartography, printmaking, posters, and painting are all represented in this reflection on how the early twentieth century changed American culture.⁠

More from the organizers:

The economic hardships of the 1930s, as well as the drought across the North American prairie, were of great concern to lawmakers in Washington, DC. The agencies that formed as part of the New Deal, an “alphabet soup” that included the Works Progress Administration, the Farm Security Administration, and the Federal Art Project, put artists to work. These artists expressed empathy for the American farmer, as seen in Thomas Hart Benton’s romanticized vision of farm life in Missouri Farmyard, and Dorothea Lange’s tender documentation of the plight of families experiencing the Dust Bowl era.

The sale is a timed online auction that will begin closing on Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 12 PM EST. Bidding is available on the Swann Galleries App and on live.swanngalleries.com. Exhibition hours are 12 pm to 5 pm on Saturday, January 25, and Monday, January 27 through Wednesday, January 29.

Paintings and original works are represented by Philip Howard Evergood’s oil-on-panel Great Neck Landscape, circa 1935 ($1,200-1,800); August Mosca’s Portrait of Joseph Stella, oil on canvas, 1944 ($1,000-1,500); Cecil Crosley Bell’s Horse Auction, New York, gouache on paper, 1937 ($1,500-2,500); Doris Emrick Lee’s Early Spring Landscape, oil on canvas ($3,000-5,000); and Paul Raphael Meltsner’s R.F.D. 36, oil on canvas ($4,000-6,000).

Prints featured in the sale include Thomas Hart Benton’s Missouri Farmyard, lithograph, 1936 ($2,000-3,000); Louis Schanker’s Jai-Alai, color woodcut, 1939 ($1,000-1,500); Peggy Brook Bacon’s The Artist, (Alexander Brook), charcoal, circa 1925 ($1,000-1,500); and Katherine Milhous’s Visit Pennsylvania / Pre-Revolutionary Costumes, lithograph poster, circa 1936 ($1,000-1,500).

Attention Art Collectors!
May 20-22, 2025: Visit the Plein Air Convention & Expo’s robust pop-up art gallery at the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, where hundreds of artists, including our master faculty, will have studio and plein air works on display and ready to purchase. Register for the full event at PleinAirConvention.com now.

The Winter Show in NYC, a benefit for East Side House, announces its highlights, including over 70 exhibitors of rare and exceptional art and antiques, taking place January 24 through February 2, 2025.

More from the organizers:

With dealers from across the Americas and Europe, the 2025 edition of The Winter Show will once again showcase the finest museum-quality works to an international audience of collectors, connoisseurs, and enthusiasts, alongside an acclaimed program of talks, panels, and events with leading experts in art, antiques, and design.

All ticket proceeds from the fair and its benefit events, including the Opening Night Party on January 23, sponsored by Bank of America, and Young Collectors Night on January 30, directly fund East Side House Settlement. Chubb returns as The Winter Show’s presenting sponsor, celebrating 29 years of partnership and support.

Executive Director Helen Allen said, “With every edition of The Winter Show, we look forward to sharing the world-class works our dealers bring to the fair. This year, we are particularly pleased with the exciting range of works across periods, styles, cultures, and makers. We are proud to uphold our extremely high standards of excellence among our exhibitors, ensuring a selection of truly unique and remarkable works for collectors and fairgoers of every variety. As always, the experience will be enhanced by complementary programming featuring panels and lectures by experts across the fields of art and design.”

For more details about The Winter Show benefit for East Side House, please visit www.thewintershow.org.

This comprehensive exhibition features oil & acrylic paintings, watercolors, sculpture and drawings from more than 80 artists. Curated by the AAPL, most works of art will be for sale.

Opening October 28th and running through November 15th, the works will be displayed in the Skylight Gallery of the historic Salmagundi Club of New York. The 96th Grand National Exhibition will be open to the public, free of charge. Awards will be announced at the reception, November 1, along with a silent auction of exquisite nude oil paintings by Kenju Urakubo, and a live painting demonstration by master pastelist Karen Israel. The schedule of events is posted at AAPLinc.org/96-gne.

All admirers of figurative realism are invited to participate in the silent auction. Two exquisite paintings by Kenju Urakubo will be offered to the highest bidders in a silent auction and will be displayed at the exhibition prior to the drawing.

Kenju Urakubo studied oil painting at Tama Art University in Tokyo before making his permanent home in New York. His work has been shown in prestigious galleries and museums, winning him numerous awards. For more than two decades, Kenju’s serene oil paintings of female nudes graced AAPL’s Grand National Exhibitions, earning him Signature status. Kenju was a finalist in the 2nd ARC Salon and an award winner in the 3rd ARC Salon. Rumi, the late Kenju’s wife, has generously donated several paintings to AAPL. To honor Kenju and Rumi’s longtime patronage, a scholarship will be established with 100% of the proceeds from the paintings. The Rumi & Kenju Urakubo Scholarship will be awarded to a student of classical realism studying at an ARC-approved American atelier.

The River Arts District (RAD) in Asheville, North Carolina has been decimated by historic flooding. Most of the 26 buildings experienced catastrophic destruction including art and the supplies and equipment used by creators.

The Artists for RAD auction takes place online now through October 26, 2024. Browse all of the artworks and bid here on paintings by Anne Blair Brown, Kyle Buckland, Richard Oversmith, Dawn Whitelaw, Jason Sacran, Larry Moore, Joe Gyurcsak, Lori Putnam, Roger Dale Brown, and more.

Richard Oversmith coordinated this auction to raise money for the artists who have lost everything at their studios in the River Arts District. He says, “I hope you will take a look and bid on anything that catches your fancy. There are some great works in here and it goes to a great cause. Please bid often!”

From the auction organizers:

We will be working to restore the creativity and inspiration of our beloved River Arts District. Our goal is to assist our artists as best we can with rent and supplies. The only way this is possible is with your support.

The goal of the art auction is to raise money to benefit the artists and businesses of the River Arts District in Asheville, NC. As you may know, the RAD was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene and could use our help.

Visit the Artists for RAD auction now.

At the close of the 43rd Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale (BBAS), bidders raised their paddles for more than $1.45 million in artwork between the weekend’s Live Auction, Quick Draw, and Silent Auction events. According to auctioneer Troy Black, who has officiated the sale for decades, this was the highest total in BBAS history and the first time that the Live Auction alone has surpassed $1 million in sales.

More from the organizers:

Out of 104 total Live Auction lots, 98 sold for an exceptional sell-through rate of 94% by lot. The night’s highest selling price for a 2-dimensional piece was $48,875 after buyer’s premium. The piece, Sally Maxwell’s colored scratchboard of a mountain lion crouched atop a stark black-and-white background entitled “Nuance or Nothing is Just Black and White,” brought in more than double its estimated value of $17,500. Maxwell’s piece also claimed the distinction of People’s Choice, voted on by more than 1,500 visitors to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in recent weeks.

Those weren’t the only wall pieces subject to bidding wars, as Ty Barhaug’s oil painting of the Shoshone River valley’s nearby South Fork entitled “Lighting the Valley Floor” sold for $37,375 with buyer’s premium after being estimated to sell for only $6,000.

The highest-selling 3-dimensional piece was a figurative bronze by Vic Payne entitled “The Walk of Tombstone,” which brought in $40,250 with added buyer’s premium.

Saturday morning’s Quick Draw event featured 29 BBAS artists who, in only 90 minutes, created original pieces of artwork while more than 600 attendees observed the process. Artists showed their newly completed artwork on the runway and bidders snapped up all 29 pieces, as well as an artist’s apron signed by all participating artists.

Sculptor Chris Navarro created a sculpture of a bull moose with a woodpecker resting on its antler entitled “Woody and the Moose.” Bidders at the Quick Draw were eager to purchase multiples of the piece, which will be cast in bronze later this year. Navarro’s work commanded the sale of 25 copies of the piece at $1,725 each after buyer’s premium, a particularly strong showing for a Quick Draw sculpture.

“An event like this would not be possible without support from the whole Cody community. To every artist, patron, partner, sponsor, employee, vendor, and volunteer, thank you for your incredibly generous contributions that led to a wildly successful 43rd Art Show & Sale” said Jennifer Thoma, CEO of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce.

BBAS is an invitational Western fine art sale that offers works relating to the land, people, and wildlife of the American West. Artists offer a broad range of stylistic interpretations of the West in a variety of mediums.

Please visit RendezvousRoyale.org for more information.

More than $1 million in exceptional Western art was sold at the Eiteljorg Quest for the West® Art Show and Sale, held September 6-7, 2024, at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in downtown Indianapolis.

The opening weekend included two fixed-price, luck-of-the-draw sales and an awards banquet. So far, the amount of art sold to buyers totals $1,034,405 and counting. While Quest for the West is a museum fundraising event, 75 percent of sales proceeds go directly to artists, with remaining proceeds benefiting the Eiteljorg. Any artworks not sold during Quest weekend – including paintings as well as additional casts of bronze sculptures – can be purchased through October 6.

Quest Art Awards

Brett Allen Johnson of Lehi, Utah, received the Harrison Eiteljorg Purchase Award for his painting “Pueblo Shapes” (shown at top). The Western Art Society, a group of enthusiastic museum supporters, purchased the painting to add to the Eiteljorg’s collections and sponsored the award.

An oil painting by Dean Mitchell of Tampa, Florida, “Below the Mountain,” won the Henry Farny Award for Best Painting, sponsored by Steve and Jane Marmon.

A bronze sculpture of a raven by Dave LaMure, Jr. of Kimberly, Idaho, “The Seeker,” received the Cyrus Dallin Award for Best Sculpture, sponsored by Michael and Carla Leppert.

Artist David Griffin of Dallas, Texas, received the Victor Higgins Award of Distinction, sponsored by Catherine Turner, for the best overall body of work presented at the show.

Quest artists voted to select the recipient of the Artists’ Choice Award, sponsored by Phyllis Cockerill. The award went to artist Dave Santillanes of Fort Collins, Colorado, for his painting, “The Cache La Poudre River.”

In a vote by attendees, a painting by Bruce Lawes of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Her “Frozen Fortress” won the Patrons’ Choice Award, sponsored by Tom and Patty Gibbs.

Lawes also won a second award, in the brand-new category of the Miniature Art Show Patrons’ Choice Award, for his smaller painting, “On Golden Pond.” That award is sponsored by David and Giselle Found.

Find more details at eiteljorg.org/quest-for-the-west.

Browse more western art here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Western Art > Prior to the opening of 43rd Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale’s Live Auction Gallery, a carefully selected panel of judges studied the 104 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works in the exhibition. The judges ultimately selected eight artists whose pieces best reflect the mission of the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale (BBAS) and represent exceptional craft and quality. The judges announced these eight winners during the opening reception of the gallery held on Friday, August 16.

A committee invites judges who represent three distinct categories within the art world, namely: art history and scholarship, art business, and private collection. This year, the three judges selected were Kendra Heimbuck, Executive Director at The Brinton Museum, Big Horn, WY, Susan Potje, Director of the Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ, and Scott Leinen of Omaha, NE, an art collector and Patron of the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale.

The Spirit of the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Award Sponsored by The Collier Group

This award recognizes the artwork that is most representative of the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale in terms of location, history, and the grandeur embodied by the “spirit” of the American West. The judges awarded this honor to “High Noon”, a 30- by 26-inch oil painting (shown at top) by Ralph Oberg. The painting depicts the arid Wyoming landscape and several pronghorn antelope in the noonday sun.

Potje remarked that Oberg “truly captures the vast open space of the American West,” complimenting the artist’s composition which “draws your eye across the entire canvas,” as well as the palette in the sagebrush and the sky.

Heimbuck agreed, saying, “your eye is drawn from the hyper-focused realistic rendering of the foreground and primary subject and moves smoothly through each figure to the soft landscape and bluffs in the back of the image. The soft tones of the color palette are a perfect complement to the iconic pronghorn and the setting.”

Leinen called the painting “a true snapshot of the Spirit of the West and the Wyoming landscape. The muted colors of the sage, cactus and brush complement the beautiful sky and the well-arranged pronghorn.”

BBAS would like to thank The Collier Group for the generous sponsorship of this award’s prize money.

Two-Dimensional Award

The judges selected “Blue Chair” by Stephanie Hartshorn as the best in show for two-dimensional artwork. Hartshorn’s oil painting is 18 by 36 inches and depicts a weathered building with a sign that reads “Waltman Store.”

Heimbuck said, “Stephanie captures a despondent, yet true reality of the rural West. Through her impressionist style, she masterfully encapsulates a scene which we’ve all passed by and may not have paid close attention to.”

Leinen commented that “if you’ve spent any time driving through rural areas, you’ve passed this scene before. This painting is not just representative of the West, but rural America as a whole. There is a tinge of sadness or melancholy as I view the painting … and good artwork often leaves you affected in one way or another.”

Potje observed, “Stephanie captures an iconic rural setting that evokes strong emotions. Her signature style, crisp composition, and command of her palette work together for a fabulous piece. The title, ‘Blue Chair’, invites the viewer to take a closer look.”

Three-Dimensional Award

The judges selected “Home is Where You Find It” by Stefan Savides as the three-dimensional best in show. Savides’ piece is a bronze that measures 11 by 15 by 13 inches. The artist’s subject matter is a mother hen and four chicks, nestled tightly inside a crumpled metal bucket. Stefan Savides is participating in the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale for the first time in 2024.

Leinen said “sometimes artwork just makes you smile, and this sculpture did that for me. Growing up in rural Iowa, I can identify with this scene!” He praised Savides’ artistry, saying “the use of the trampled bucket as the new home for the hen and her chicks was very clever. The bucket was extremely well done from the handle and the rivets to the striping around the top – the design was perfect.”

Potje stated, “Stefan captures the warmth and whimsy of the mama hen making a home for her chicks in the unlikely, but functional vessel. He captures the texture of the pail and the feeling of family.” The sculpture is “technically excellent and artistically brilliant,” she added.

Heimbuck noted, “This piece tells the important story of a mother hen and the feminine instinct that is alive and important in the West. Savides carried this piece out so well, rendering the nesting mother hen and her chicks in a familiar crushed bucket that has come to the end of life on the ranch.”

Judges’ Awards of Excellence

As a mark of the overall quality of the 43rd Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale, the judges felt it necessary to present five additional Awards of Excellence. They felt the following pieces required recognition for their design, execution, and embodying of the Western spirit:

BBAS limits the number of contemporary Western artists invited each year; the 2024 lineup features 104 artists, all of whom represent a high caliber of artistic knowledge and execution. These artists’ major works are available to view in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West until the Live Auction of western art commences on Friday, September 20.

Organized by the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale strives to support established and emerging Western artists, engage patrons of the arts, and enliven the Cody community with events that provide education and entertainment. The proceeds from sales and events benefit the artists, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, and local arts organizations.

For more information, please visit buffalobillartshow.org.

Browse more western art here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.