Art at The Junto or Leather Apron Club

Open spaces and shared areas have formed the mantra for new corporate spaces, such as the one visited last evening by members of The Association of Professionals Art Advisors APAA. Circling the trading desks of Junta Capital Management LP are ingeniously utilized artworks that are a paeon to Benjamin Franklin, whose work ethic and history inspired the originators of the firm.

Brian Tolle is the artist responsible for the ingenious translation of Benjamin Franklin’s persona and views through art he has created throughout the offices of Junto, from wallpaper with word formations to complex mathematical formulas invented by Franklin made into color block artworks. All this was done around central trading desks so it becomes a bit of a puzzle to follow the art throughout the spaces, but well worth it.

The Junto or Leather Apron Club was founded in 1727 by Franklin in Philadelphia to debate questions of morals, politics and philosophy, and to exchange knowledge of business affairs. It also had a charitable component that included giving a library of their own books for public use.

Franklin’s one mistake was to mistake the word Junta for Junto, which is the masculine for “joins” when he meant to use Junta or “meeting”. I suppose there weren’t many Spanish speakers among the 12 members at the time.

By Dr. Elin Lake Ewald P.h.D / ASA / FRICS

Artist Brian Tolle

ASA New Jersey Chapter Presentation

The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and O’Toole-Ewald Art Associates, Inc (OTE) are proud to invite you to the Princeton Chapter event that discusses how professional appraisers in the personal property and business sectors can combine their practices in the art world. This is the second lecture that OTE experts are giving in the ASA which highlights the firm’s innovative appraisal and personal properties services.

Join us next Monday March 20 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Main Street Bistro 301 North Harrison Street. Princeton, New Jersey. Purchase your ticket and RSVP at http://asaprinceton.org/events/2017/3/20/asa-princeton-march-20-2016-the-untapped-collaboration-how-business-and-art-appraisers-can-work-together

Exploring Asian Art at Sotheby's

O'Toole-Ewald Art Associates, Inc appraisers had an amazing weekend refreshing their connoisseurship of Asian art. Here's a group of photos that the team took last weekend at Sotheby's New York of Asian Art Week. Look at the details, craftmanship and materials used in Asian art. It is truly fascinating!

Conserving the Tang era treasure

Since 2005, the Singapore government has maintained the preserved cargo of the Tang era shipwreck found near the Belitung Island in the Java Sea, for educational display and scholarly research. OTE shares the photos taken during the underwater archaeology excavations. These experts conserved the 70,000 objects and documented each one via text and photography. The Asia Society Institute recognizes the importance of sharing major works and discoveries of historical significance with the public to understand our past.

A thousand years under the sea

This ewer survived a shipwreck that happened more than 15 centuries ago, and maintained its intact condition during 1000 years under the sea. It's unbelievable!.
The Asia Society Institute presents a very interesting exhibition "Secrets of The Sea: A Tang Shipwreck and early Trade in Asia" to celebrate Asia Week New York Association. 
This exhibition is a window into global artistic exchange in the ninth century. Amazingly, the exhibition presented many of the artworks discovered from gold and silver objects, bronze mirrors and groups of ceramics (all from China).

Long-necked ewer. China, probably Henan Province. Gongxian kilns. Tang dynasty, ca. 825-50. Glazed stoneware with copper-green splashes over white slip.

A 10-Day Celebration of Asian Art

Starting today until March 18th 2017, Asia Week New York Association reunites the best experts and the most prestigious museums to celebrate its eighth consecutive year. “Asia Week New York is a collaboration of top-tier Asian art specialists, major auction houses, and world-renowned museums and Asian cultural institutions in the metropolitan New York area.” [1]

O'Toole-Ewald Art Associates, Inc. gives you a brief insight about the participants:
*Art Dealers will showcase 50 international Asian exhibitions presenting ancient through contemporary works of art from China, India, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, Japan and Korea.

*Major Auction Houses including Bonham's, Christie's, Doyle New York and Sotheby's will display paintings and contemporary Asian art.

*Museums and institutions will also join Asia Week by curating special exhibitions about the Asian rare treasures and culture. 

[1] http://www.asiaweekny.com/

The NY Armory Week is over: What's next?

The Armory, the ADAA and the other art shows are finally over after a high-energy week of viewing thousands of artworks citywide. And if you were one of those fortunate buyers now is the time to think about keeping up insurance on this purchase and the others in your collection. O’Toole-Ewald Art Associates, Inc. (OTE) offers advice that might help you:

• Make sure to update appraisals every one to five years since art prices fluctuate over time

• If you’re thinking of donating artworks to a museum or non-profit organization, then, you will need a Charitable Contribution appraisal. OTE provides this classic fine art appraisal report in conformation with IRS standards

• Request an Insurance appraisal for each artwork of your collection. OTE fine art experts will determine the retail replacement value to ensure you have the appropriate insurance coverage and evidence to support future claims in case of any damage, fire, unexpected accidents and theft

• If you bought art as a financial investment, you can also consider borrowing a bank loan using art as collateral. OTE provides Collateral Value appraisal for this particular situation 

If you wish to learn more about the steps needed to insure and maintain your collection, contact our multi-lingual staff to learn about the OTE valuation services.

The Armory Show
Yayoi Kusama Guidepost to the New World (2016) presented by Victoria Miro Gallery
Alexandre Arrechea L2VED2CH3 (2016) presented by Galeria Casado Santa Pau
Douglas Coupland Towers (2014) presented by Daniel Faria Gallery
ADAA Art Show
Alex Katz Nicole (2017) presented by Gavin Brown Enterprise

COLLECT International Art Fair at London

OTE's European Associate, Gillian Craig, shares her visuals during Collect - The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects at the Saatchi Gallery London which is presented by the Crafts Council of UK.

Gillian reports that Collect provides a unique opportunity to see and buy museum-quality works by leading craft masters and showcases the finest examples of contemporary craft presented by 30 galleries from around the world. Founded in 1971, and incorporated by Royal Charter, the Crafts Council is Britain's national agency for contemporary craft. It is a charity and its work is made possible by the support of foundations, patrons, sponsors and through public funding by The Arts Council England.

You can also visit COLLECT's website at http://crafts-council.myshopify.com/collections/collect

mid-January Art Shows in NYC

At certain times of the year art events come in clusters, filled with relentless high pitched chatter, multiple shoe changes, frantic scurries across town weighted down with bags of free brochures and occasional energy bars, allowing little time for sleep or regular meals or coherent thought.

Some of these times are more fun than others though because the regimen isn’t at all grueling and the discoveries negate the three hours standing/walking without a chair. Such was the case in mid-January with the Outsider Art Fair, the Winter Antiques Show, the Master Drawings multiple venues, and the IFA lecture on Carolingian Ivory. The last two weren’t mandatory for art appraisers, although they should have been for anyone who says he or she “really loves art.”

What did I take away from the Outsider Fair? A reaffirmation of what I have told colleagues here and in Europe – this is an expanding field, worthy of scholarly investigation, and increasingly appealing to collectors. The Fair itself is endlessly amusing, but also deeply fascinating, both because of the singular visions of the artists involved, both those with histories of mental disabilities, obsessional delusions or intuitive brilliance for art making. And the prices are so seductive.

Once I had an office only a block away from the Museum of Sex on West 27th Street, but never had either the inclination to visit or the courage, perhaps because the entrance was right smack on Fifth. But the invitation to view a show of erotic Outsider Art eradicated any possible prurient interests on my art and transformed it into an educational event. My only post-attendance worry is that the house photographer took a photo of me for their records and I can’t for my life remember what I was standing in front of at the momentous time.

As of this writing I still have time to return to the Winter Antiques Show because this finely tuned panorama of exquisite items cannot be enjoyed in one pallid walk through. It’s changing a little though, moving slightly and discreetly into a modern age without broadcasting it, but I hope not too much. There are a great many other exhibitions in Manhattan that show marvelous contemporary design, but where else would one see Pitcairn Island wood carvings of Fish carved by the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his band of settlers who had been the mutineers of the ship Bounty. These marvelously elegant inventive miro wood carvings were created by the first through eighth generation descendants of the sailors who had arrived at the Polynesian island of Pitcairn in 1790, found this week at the aptly named Lost City Arts.

I won’t even attempt to discuss the other two events because speaking the language of Esoteric can’t be properly translated on Twitter or on an OTE blog.

Dr. Elin Lake-Ewald ASA, FRICS, President of O'Toole-Ewald Art Associates Inc.

The American Art Exhibition at Bohemiam Hall

The American Art Exhibition at Bohemiam Hall was filled with an upbeat aura, as if dealers believed a turning point had arrived in the all too quiet market for American Art over the past few years. Compared to prices for Contemporary and Impressionist Art the press has heralded at recent auction sales, prices at this exhibition were more than modest – and for rather wonderful works.

A magnificent Alexander Archipenko from 1935 was available at Forum Gallery for $475,000, a rare example that would fit easily into any collection of 21st century art.  At Meredith Ward’s booth a striking oil and ink exploration of time and space and memory, created by Steve Wheeler in the 1960s, was for sale at $40,000. Wheeler is an artist coming into recognition after too long a time.

Alexander Archipenko

At the Abby M. Taylor booth she pared a Bertram Hartman painting ($28,000) with a bronze tiger by Anna Hyatt Huntington ($48,000), an interesting composition that showsthat seemingly at odds work can look pretty good when placed together. Debra Force introduced a charming couple by Robert Laurent in “Flirtation” of 1921 by Robert Laurent, priced at $600,000. And at DeeDee Wigmore’s a riveting and unusually large Werner Drewes carried a price tag of $250,000. Of course there were multiple paintings and objects that commanded far lower prices, but these caught my eye so I recorded them.

Bertram Hartman & Anna Hyatt Huntington

Werner Drewes

Nineteenth and 20th century American Art has been in the shadows of Contemporary Art for several years, rather like the quiet sister upstaged by the glamorous one. Taste may be evolving a bit now, as antique furniture is making a sort of comeback, often to be included as a single piece  with today’s latest décor. And some collectors are looking for colorful figurative work that makes a statement without overwhelming the room. We’ll see. Tastes change so rapidly and often unexpectedly that it is impossible to be a soothsayer in the art field. But it always pays to keep looking. You never know.

Robert Laurent in “Flirtation” of 1921 by Robert Laurent

Steve Wheeler

A Weekend in New York City

John McLaughlin and Mark Rothko had this in common: “I want to communicate only to the extent that the painting will serve to induce or intensify the viewer’s natural desire for contemplation without the benefit of a guiding principle.” Both artists were active in the post-war period, but the art world has seen far less of abstractionist McLaughlin until now with a revival by Van Doren Waxter through seven paintings, “Marvelous Void,” a term conceived by a 15th century Japanese artist and Zen monk, whose work is interspersed with that of the 20th century painter.

In his first exhibition since 2001 of Mike Kelley’s two and three dimensional works, Hauser & Wirth is presenting “Memory Ware,” an extraordinary presentation of the late artist’s exploration of his past through large panels of embedded buttons, chains, and keys embedded in clay or epoxy, and flat panels of personal objects presented in solitary fashion. It is a fascinating journey through a memorable life that ended in 2012.

Joel Shapiro’s small and large scale sculpture at Dominque Levy Gallery is a colorful departure from his assertive bronze work; the vividly pigmented pieces appear to fly through the air, held there by cords, while the mightier works occupy space aggressively. In another section of the building, at Galerie Perrotin the artist Julio Le Parc provides the closing show for the gallery which will relocate to the Lower East Side in the spring. The Perez Art Museum in Miami will open a historical survey of Le Parc’s work on Friday, the 18th.

Although I’d gone to The Asia Society primarily to view the paintings of Zao Wou Ki, and found the show beautiful, I stayed to watch a genuinely engaging video of a gay (he made particular note of it himself) Buddhist monk explaining both Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Judith Beheading Holofernes” and Jeff Koon’s “Unitled” of two semi naked women interacting with a standing male figure. I sat down for a minute and ended staying for as long as it took to listen to the cheerful teacher speak to small children and a scattering of “grandmas” on his interpretation of the two works in moral terms. Why had it taken me so long to realize that different cultures will see paintings in ways totally distant from ours in the Western World? I was truly touched by the monk’s dialog on Buddhist teaching that adds still another layer to the complexity of understanding art. Art CAN make us better people in a way that had not impacted my thinking in such a manner before.

Auction Previews / November 2016

O’Toole-Ewald Art Associates Inc (OTE) appraisers are constantly exploring the multiple art scenes in the New York area. This past week OTE’s experts attended major auction houses’ post-war and contemporary art previews. These are the most popular artworks that will be sold at auctions in November 2016.

London museum review from our associate from Athens

"Ergina Xydous had the opportunity to visit the American Abstract Expressionism Show at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. It was really impressive in the way that the visitor felt the connection to preceding European art movements such as Surrealism, Dada and Abstraction, understanding at the same time the influence Abstract Expressionism had on today's contemporary art. That was all so clear when standing in front of the original masterpieces.

Visiting time seemed too short to really absorb the multi-faceted character of Abstract Expressionism. The imposing central showroom with Mark Rothko's masterpieces, rivaled the Jackson Pollock's paintings and the sculpture of Robert Smith. I left the exhibition fully inspired!

Regarding contemporary art events in Europe, I would like to point out the interesting show of Ai Wei Wei at the Cycladic Museum im Athens (www.cycladic.gr ) , following the artist’s month long residence on the Greek island of Lesvos, a hot spot for refugees.  One work was created for the show, the rest were from previous years, including his characteristic photos of places and monuments all over the world.

It was the first time Wei Wei exhibited in an archaeological museum, and the first time he exhibited in Greece. At the same time an exhibition of Ai Wei Wei is going on in Vienna (21er Haus + Belvedere gardens) till the 20th of November."

By Ergina Xydous, Fine Art Appraiser, OTE European Associates

The Newest Art Fraud

The newest art fraud matter was front paged in today’s (October 18th) New York Times when a major Wall Street trader accused a college art history professor and her son of forging 30% of the Leon Golub paintings in his collection. Andrew J. Hall, whose commodities market trading acumen is said to have earned him a $100 million bonus one year, has exhibited his collection in the US and Germany and has his own museum in Vermont. He now claims that all 24 paintings he bought from Lorettann Gascard of Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire were all fakes. Samm Kunce, representing the Golub-Spero Foundation examined the Hall paintings and “found problems” according to the Times. Elisabeth McCarthy, speaking for the Golub-Spero Foundation, said that the Foundation would not opine on the authenticity of the works.

Dr. Gascard, earned her doctorate at the Free University in Berlin and in 2004 again traveled to Germany on a Fulbright grant for research purposes. She and her son apparently left the area about a year and a half ago and have not been heard from since.  Mr. Hall is seeking damages for the $676,250 he paid for the paintings.

Leon Golub, who died in 2004, and his wife, Nancy Spero, who died in 2009, were a couple famed for their sparely executed but passionately rendered political paintings. The artist is currently represented by Hauser & Wirth Gallery, New York. has shown internationally, and is represented in numerous museums world wide.

Take Me, I'm Yours Exhibition

This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to touch art in a museum and even bring some art home with you!
 

Hollis Taggart Gallery Opening

Last night I was in Chelsea, which was mobbed with hundreds visiting opening night exhibitions, and my first stop was at Hollis Taggart to see William Scharf’s first exhibition in years. It came about through the efforts of Christopher Rothko (Mark’s son) and Earl Davis (Stuart Davis’ son).

By Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, FRICS, ASA, President of O'Toole-Ewald Art Associates Inc.

The first picture, Sally Scharf. The tall man is Christopher Rothko and next to him, back turned, is Hollis Taggart, the gallerist.

A Sunday visit to the Guggenheim Museum

My Sunday visit to the Guggenheim was a journey of surprises.

First of all, I ran into a line of would-be visitors that disappeared around the block and down that street. Luckily I had a card that bypassed what looked like an hour long wait on a cool windy day and immediately ran into a wall of people who, when they weren't standing in line for the Mauritzio Cattelan's "Gold Toilet", were crowded the sloping aisles to examine the 100 plus Agnes Martin paintings and drawings, up close and fascinated. I always listen to comments at these exhibitions, and these were the most intelligent I'd overheard. I found the experience extraordinary for two reasons. 

One is that so many have been drawn to this mystical abstract artist who lacked flamboyance in her work, work that is not even easily understood on its most superficial level, let alone its most profound. Or maybe I'm very, very wrong. The crowds seem to indicate that.

Threw in some photos that are very Un-Agnes-like or certainly unlike what most folks think a typical Martin painting looks like. The non-grid ones came early when she associated with some of the most influential Abstract Expressionists and I see traces of Rothko and Newman and Reinhardt, but then this truly singular artistwent solo become Agnes Martin in the truest sense.

By Elin Lake-Ewald, P.hD, FRICS, ASA; President of O'Toole-Ewald Art Associates Inc.

Highlights of PAD Art+Design in London

OTE ends the week with photography highlights of PAD Art + Design Art Fair from Sarah Myercough Gallery. We hope you enjoy it!

FRIEZE Art Fair Highlights

"I went to Frieze London this morning, when it opened at 12PM, andit was full within half an hour, and then a constant stream of people - young people, international but with a lot of Italian being spoken.  

I have just been to a lecture on Aboriginal art and it is fascinating, every painting has a meaning and represents part of their beliefs, their land, their culture. So this one immediately caught my eye."

By Gillian Craig, OTE European Associate

Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Untitled, 2015, Acrylic on linen, 244 x 183 cm, Salon 94

Also, I would like to share other highlights from FRIEZE Art Fair of London.

Another that caught my eye.  By John Hoyland (1965 - was English) - at the Pace Gallery stand. It is 183cm high x 366cm long. Price: £180,000 (sterling)

A painting by Bridget Riley, £700,00 (sold, but they have another painting by her in their gallery!)

My favourite even though it is pink! £3.5 million (sterling)

Artwork fro Gallery P.P.O.W. of New York

London PAD Art+Design Fair Experience

OTE’s European Associate, Gillian Craig, shares her experience at PAD (Art + Design) experience. She considered of great significance a set of 12 chairs, designed by Bernard Boutet de Monvel, 1925, – at PAD London, stand A14, Galerie du Passage, France.  A Greek inspired design with needlework seats with 6 vegetable and 6  fruit designs.  Price: £140,000 (Sterling). The work of Bernard Boutet de Monvel (b. 1881 – d. 1949) was influential in the art deco movement during the 20th century.

A highlight also includes a Closed Vessel, in Limewood, by Marc Ricourt, living in France. At PAD, Stand A6, Sarah Myerscough. It has been a wonderful week of art and design in London!

Stand A6, Sarah Myerscough