Unprecedented Sales

The 12th annual American Art Fair saw record attendance and sales in New York City

With record-breaking attendance as well as an unprecedented number of sales, the 12th annual American Art Fair triumphed during New York’s American Art Week in November. The fair’s focus on American 19th- and 20th-century works brought collectors and curators from all over the country. Hirschl & Adler Galleries and Jonathan Boos booths.

“We had our best attendance in the fair’s 12 years, and audiences for our lectures presented by Avis Berman, Barbara Haskell, Stephanie Herdrich and Erica Hirshler were mostly standing room-only. The fair has hit its stride as an anchor and destination for American Art Week, “ says Thomas Colville, the fair’s co-founder.

An unprecedented number of works sold during the preview, with a major sale within minutes of the fair’s close. Dozens of works sold at the galleries as follow up to the fair. Notable sales during the fair include William Glackens’ Musicians, circa 1899 (Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts); Marguerite Zorach’s The Snake and the Bird, 1937 (Debra Force Fine Art); Thomas Hart Benton’s Silver Tree, Martha’s Vineyard, circa 1945 (Hirschl & Adler Galleries); Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s Honorably Discharged, 1919 (Jonathan Boos); Richard Pousette-Dart’s To Greet the Muse Green, circa 1980s (Meredith Ward Fine Art); Edmund C. Tarbell’s Peonies and Iris, 1926 (Questroyal Fine Art); Thomas Waldo Story’s Portrait of a Young Woman, 1905 (Taylor|Graham); and Frank H. Tompkins’s Boston Harbor from Parker Hill Reservoir Embankment, 1910 (Thomas Colville Fine Art).Hirschl & Adler Galleries.

“The American Art Fair restores meaning to the word ‘curated’, as the fair is curated by 17 of the world’s premier specialists who have decades of experience and deep knowledge of the field, as well as engaged, young colleagues,” says fair director Catherine Sweeney Singer. “The fair is a ‘disrupter’—an alternate to ‘fair fatigue.’”

More than 400 landscapes, portraits, still lifes, studies and sculpture were exhibited by 17 premier specialists: Alexandre Gallery, Avery Galleries, Bernard Goldberg Fine Art, Debra Force Fine Art, Forum Gallery, Driscoll Babcock Galleries, D. Wigmore Fine Art, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Jonathan Boos, Kraushaar Galleries, Menconi + Schoelkopf, Meredith Ward Fine Art, Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, Taylor|Graham, Thomas Colville Fine Art and Vose Galleries, with American Illustrators Gallery exhibiting for the first time.1. Carey Vose and Tyler from Vose Galleries in Boston. 2. Debra Wieder and Eric Baumgartner of Hirschl & Adler Galleries. 3. Judy Goffman Cutler, Lawrence Cutler and staff of American Illustrator’s Gallery. 4. Beth Hamilton of Jonathan Boos. 5. Fair director Catherine Sweeney Singer, center, and staff, clockwise from left, Jomo Falconer, Tessa Goldsher, Kayla Seifert, Andrea Moreno and Gabriel Rose. 6. A record number of works of art were sold on opening night. 7. Record crowds were also reported throughout the fair, with more than 700 people attending the opening night gala. Photos by Gabriel Rose.

The 13th annual American Art Fair will be held Saturday through Tuesday, November 14 to 17, 2020, at the Bohemian National Hall, 321 E. 73rd Street, New York City. Fair hours are from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; noon to 7 p.m. on Monday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday; admission is complimentary. For complete details, visit www.theamericanartfair.com. —