Lynn Gertenbach pauses for a moment while painting a Catalina Island scene |
Out & About
For the second year, the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts has selected Southwest Art magazine to produce the official Indian Market magazine. The August issue will be sent to subscribers and available throughout Santa Fe during Indian Market…. Meyer Gallery of Park City, UT, opened a second location in Jackson, WY, in December…. The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center now has a new name: the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. The museum, which recently completed a $35 million expansion, houses one of the largest collections of western art in the world. “The new name showcases the museum’s progression from a hall of fame and heritage center to an acclaimed art museum,” says Martin Dickinson, president of the museum’s board of directors.
Popular Plein-Air Show
In November, 30 top landscape painters from across the country converged on Catalina Island, CA, for the annual Plein Air Painters of America show and sale. During the week we spotted well-known artists like Brian Stewart, Jean LeGassick, and Gay Faulkenberry painting the picturesque harbor, sailboats, and island bungalows in sunny Avalon. When the show opened at the casino collectors were saying that this was the best one to date. The dinner accompanying the display of artworks has become so popular that this year it sold out in two weeks. During the event PAPA president Kenn Backhaus honored the founders of the organization—Denise Burns, Jane Shuss, Betty Billups, Lynn Gertenbach, and Stan Sampson. Sales tallies for the show were not available at press time.
PAPA honors its founding members (left to right): Denise Burns, Jane Shuss, PAPA president Kenn Backhaus, Betty Billups, Lynn Gertenbach, and Stan Sampson |
Mountain Oyster Club Show
Tucson’s popular annual Mountain Oyster Club Contemporary Western Art Show tallied more than $225,000 in sales in November. More than 400 paintings and sculpture by 180 artists were displayed in the club’s historic downtown location. Tim Cox won the prestigious Olaf Wieghorst Award and was also a top seller. Claire Goldrick, Harold Holden, and Steven Lang were chosen as new honorary artist members.
Auction Report
At the November 8 sale of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s Rockefeller Center location in New York, Pablo Picasso’s Femme aux Bras Croisés sold for $55 million, the highest price ever paid for the artist. Sotheby’s New York hosted a two-day sale of Impressionist and Modern Art November 9 and 10, with the top seller, Edouard Manet’s Jeune Fille Dans un Jardin, fetching the highest price ever for the artist, $20,905,750.
Steven Lang is one of three new honorary artist members named at the Mountain Oyster Club show |
Sharing Artworks
In what is becoming an international trend, two more museums have announced a partnership. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Russia have created an alliance to share artworks. The first exchange sends 200 objects from the MFA’s African gold collection to the Russian museum this year. In December 2002, a treasure trove of paintings by such masters as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cezanne comes to Houston for the exhibit Masterworks of French Painting from the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
Erratum
Due to a production error, an image by Ray Roberts was incorrectly attributed to Ann Huston in Southwest Art’s Art Source. To see more of Roberts’ works, turn to page 126 of this issue. A painting by Huston can be seen on page 168.
Featured in February 2001