The 2024 edition of the American Art Fair—presenting 18th through 21st-century American art works to the masses—saw considerable success with record attendance and impressive sales by the fair’s closing day on May 14. In quite a synchronistic fashion, the fair celebrated its 17th year with 17 premier galleries leading in “American folk art, the Hudson River School, Philadelphia painters, the Ashcan and New York Schools, as well as American impressionists, modernists, WPA artists and postwar abstractionists,” says Thomas Colville, the fair’s founder.
Joseph DeCamp (1858–1923), The Fur Jacket, 1910. Oil on canvas, 301⁄8 x 25 in., signed lower left: ‘JOSEPH DE-CAMP.’ Courtesy of Avery Galleries.
Hosted at New York’s Bohemian National Hall, with three floors of exhibitors, “the nearly 600 guests at the preview included dozens of museum curators,” adds fair director Catherine Sweeney Singer. “[There] was standing-room-only at most of the lectures, and over 50 sales by midafternoon on the fair’s closing day, with follow-up sales post-fair.”
Charles Burchfield (1893-1967), The Red Sun, 1920. Watercolor on paper, 18 x 31½ in. Courtesy of Meredith Ward Fine Art.Colville attributes the fair’s success to an “oasis of focused quality in an overwhelming art plethora at the dozen other May fairs, plus the auctions. Our free admission and knowledgeable, friendly exhibitors contribute to our relaxed, focused and inviting atmosphere.”
Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), Ruth (Haynes) Palmer, Hoosick, New York, ca. 1816. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 in. Courtesy of David A. Schorsch-Eileen M. Smiles.
On Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 12, there were significant lectures led by Museum of Fine Art, Boston, senior curator of American paintings, Erica E. Hirshler, on John Singer Sargent’s renowned portraits; Mary Cassatt’s work in relation to Philadelphia Museum of Art’s current exhibition, by Kathleen A. Foster, senior curator of American art; and the experimental work of the American Southwest artist Emil Bisttram, presented by Claire Mosier, registrar at the American Museum of Western Art, as well as others.
An interior view of the 2024 American Art Fair.
Among the 50-plus sales at the fair, were works by Joseph Stella, Joseph DeCamp, Jonas Lie, and Blanche Lazzell, exhibited by Avery Galleries; John Singer Sargent and Edward Mitchell Bannister from Alexandre Gallery; Charles Burchfield featured by Meredith Ward Fine Art and Forum Gallery; Lilla Cabot Perry by Hirschl & Adler Galleries; Jane Peterson from Graham Shay 1857 and Schwarz Gallery; and Guy Wiggins and William Merritt Chase by Thomas Colville Fine Art.
Singer adds that eight works sold for David A. Schorsch-Eileen M. Smiles, including Ammi Phillips’ Ruth (Haynes) Palmer, 1816 and a life-sized Tin Man, circa 1930.
After such a triumphant year of quality historic American art, organizers and collectors are already anticipating next year’s showcase, slated for May 10 through 13.
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