Art Market Updates

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), The Wake, 1964. Private collection.Stories of the Sea

The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire, is currently hosting the exhibition Stories of the Sea, which brings together a wide array of artwork and objects from the museum’s permanent collection that explore various maritime themes. This vast selection of works, which includes a number of pieces on loan, spans the 16th century to the present day. Visitors can explore dramatic seascapes painted in the Romantic tradition, depictions of steamers and transoceanic travels, representations of harbors and shipyards, and poetic tributes to the hardships endured by men working at sea. In addition, Stories of the Sea examines how women have been conventionally depicted by the Western art canon in relation to the sea. “Although at times seductive and mysterious, as in the case of mermaids and mythological sea monsters, women are more often presented as melancholic and pensive, waiting in anguish ashore for the return of their men,” the museum notes.

The cover of American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship, published by Merrell, London & New York.

American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship

The book American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship, edited by Stephen M. Sessler and with a foreword by Elizabeth Broun, was recently published by Merrell. This exceptional publication provides invaluable information for the serious collector and connoisseur of 19th- and 20th-century American art through a series of illuminating essays. The book consists of 28 chapters, each written by an expert highly recognized in their respective field, offering a deeper exploration of a wide variety of topics within the historic art world, including collecting, buying and selling, valuation, conservation, legal issues and more.

Tokio Ueyama (1889-1954), Self Portrait, July 1943. Oil on canvas; 18 x 16 in. Bunkado, Inc. © Estate of Tokio Ueyama. Photo by Joshua White. Image courtesy Bunkado, Inc.

Tokio Ueyama exhibition

The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama, hosted by the Denver Art Museum in Colorado, will be opening on July 28 in the Western American Art Gallery of the museum’s Martin Building. Born in Japan, Ueyama moved to the United States in 1908 at age 18 and made a home here until his death in 1954. This exhibition tells the story of Ueyama’s life, including his early days as an art student in San Francisco, Southern California and Philadelphia; his travels abroad in Europe and Mexico; his role as artist and community member in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles; as well as his unconstitutional incarceration during World War II at the Granada Relocation Center, now the Amache National Historic Site, in southeast Colorado. The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama will be included as part of general admission, which is free for everyone 18 and under as well as for museum members.

Imagining Freedom

Norman Rockwell Museum announces the launch of Imagining Freedom, the museum’s first interactive virtual exhibition. This is an experience that can be accessed from anywhere—on your computer, mobile device or even a virtual reality headset. The exhibition explores the history, artistic interpretations and contemporary resonance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s concept of the four basic and core human rights of all people: the Four Freedoms. Also explored within the exhibition is the pivotal role of Norman Rockwell and other artists in advancing and communicating these ideals. Imagining Freedom features more than 400 artworks and objects organized into eight chronological and thematic galleries that visitors can experience in a 360-degree environment.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Campbell’s Soup Can, 1961. Casein and pencil on canvas, 20 x 16 in. Hall Collection, courtesy Hall Art Foundation. © 2024 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy Hall Art Foundation.

Andy Warhol: small is beautiful

A new exhibition of Andy Warhol art is currently on view at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. Andy Warhol: small is beautiful, running through October 13, allows visitors to explore some of the 20th century’s most celebrated and quintessentially American images on an intimate scale. During this comprehensive exhibition—featuring nearly 100 paintings from one of Pop Art’s leading artists—visitors have the chance to closely view Warhol’s iconic works (like the Campbell’s Soup Can) in a more personal size, some as small as 5-by-5 inches. “Even though he rose to prominence six decades ago, Warhol’s influence is still very much felt today,” says Margarita Karasoulas, curator of art at the Bruce Museum. The show also includes celebrated self-portraits and portraits of artists, friends, celebrities and political figures including Joseph Beuys, Roy Lichtenstein and Mao Zedong.

People &Places

Michael Hartman

Heritage Auctions has announced that Michael Hartman, an established design specialist with two decades of industry experience in the fine and decorative arts, has joined its New York office as director of design. Hartman will work with Samantha Robinson, Heritage’s Chicago director of decorative arts and design, and the broader fine and decorative arts team to expand Heritage’s footprint and expertise in modern and contemporary craft and design.

Dalila Scruggs

Dalila Scruggs will join the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s curatorial team as the Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art. Scruggs’ expertise ranges across different types of media—including painting, prints, sculpture and photography—from the 19th and 20th centuries. In her new role, Scruggs will help shape the museum’s exhibition program and collecting priorities as they relate broadly to African American art, a longstanding area of strength of the museum’s holdings distinguished by its depth and range. She will also contribute to “American Voices and Visions,” a major cross-departmental initiative to comprehensively reinstall the museum’s collection. She begins work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on April 22.