Gladwell & Patterson has exhibited at the Palm Beach Show for over a decade and each year our trip to sunny Florida is the highlight of our exhibition calendar. The show offers us the opportunity to bring fresh artworks from our London gallery to our existing American clientele and to meet new collectors. The show has always been a huge success, with our most notable sales including paintings by Sir Winston Churchill, Gustave Loiseau, Norman Rockwell and Montague Dawson.

 

The Palm Beach Show is an opportunity that lets us share our expertise and the sheer breadth and variety of items we carry. We run a relationship-driven business and see that our clients’ attraction to art is deeply personal. Art is difficult to connect to and comprehend online. At the show, we get to interact with our clients, both old and new, who are equally excited to see us and these masterpieces in person. Lastly, since the pandemic we’ve seen Palm Beach Show newcomers tap into the vibrant art culture that makes the city so special. We cannot wait to interact with new clients who might walk into our booth for the first time; we are sure they will be as mesmerized by our collection as we are. 

 

For more than 35 years, Rehs Galleries has been participating in art fairs and art and antique shows throughout the country. Over the years, certain shows have proven to be more successful than others; among them are The Newport Show, Antiques + Modernism Show, and those run by the Palm Beach Show Group. The latter includes their Palm Beach, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Naples shows. Today, it is important for most galleries to exhibit at fairs to broaden their client base in areas where they do not have a physical location. These shows allow dealers to meet and talk with new and existing clients. They also allow collectors to see the quality and condition of the works a specific dealer offers and compare them to other works at the show. That is normally a good thing for those dealers who are very selective about the art they buy and sell. 

 

From the earliest artisanal fairs and pilgrimages dating back to the Greeks and Romans, to the first ever fair specifically for art in 1460, through the French Salons of the late 1700s and 1800s, to the creation of the first modern art fairs; Art Market Cologne in 1967 and Art Basel in 1970, art fairs have drawn the curious, the collectors and the commerce to sustain and grow. At their height, pre-pandemic, there were more than 300 art fairs globally each year. Like many others, the Boston International Fine Art Show was forced into hiatus due to COVID-19. We only relaunched a live show in October 2022 and happily, we are now planning our 25th Anniversary show in October 2023. We believe there will always be live art fairs. People love the excitement, the interaction and the networking. Whether or not you are in the mood to make a purchase, an art fair offers the opportunity to discover new artists and genres, speak with experts in the field, and share your knowledge and enthusiasm with others. A virtual fair might be interesting and convenient, but it lacks all of the human interaction of a live fair.