San Francisco Report

The artMRKT San Francisco fair, May 16th through 19^th, was wonderful.  

Of course, it’s hard to beat a pier in that sticks hundreds of feet into the harbor – a site that comes equipped with sea lions (actually lounging, playing, roaring, near pier 39), sailboats of all ages, sunsets, and unbelievable views of the Golden Gate.

William Baziotes, Young Clown, 1944-4

The fair was extremely well attended throughout and we were on our toes the entire weekend. 

Special highlights for us in booth 125 were two William Baziotes pictograph-era (mid-1940s) paintings. These made a great instgallation with the full wall of his surrealist drawings from the ‘30s. There was also interest in work Theodore Haupt Three Graces, Hugh Mesibov, and Anne Ryan.
     

 

Families/Cities SHIFT Now on View

In conjunction with the Ideas City Festival, sponsored by the New Museum.

Angelo Pinto, Hand with 
Skyscraper, (30 Rockefeller 
Center, NYC), 1946

This exhibition concerns nine 

artists from two families, the 

Gallagher-Leeches and the 

Pintos, whose histories converge 

over the decades, from the New 

Deal Era through today. Both 

began in Philadelphia, 

summered in New Jersey, and 

made the transition to New York. Besides the geographical parallels, 
the families support one another in 
the extreme, the artists all work collaboratively, and they teach 

or publish or build.

Michael J. Gallagher, New York  from
Brooklyn Heights, 1932

 Michael J. Gallagher, a contributor to magazines such as The New Yorker, was director of Philadelphia WPA’s Printmaking Workshop. His wife, Katharine McCollum, was the city’s Puppet Master. Their daughter, the painter Louise Leech, was the mother of Kitty, a costume and children’s book designer, and Gwyneth, a painter and video artist. Kitty and Gwyneth, moved to New York, in 1980 and 1999, respectively.

Angelo Pinto was a painter and printmaker.  He taught at the Barnes until 1992. In 1935 he started a photography studio in New York but stayed on at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, as teacher and photographer. His daughters are Jody, an environmental artist, and Anna, a draughtsman and calligrapher. A life-long New Yorker, Jody attended the Pennsylvania Academy where she now teaches. 

Anna Pinto, Beach Glass, 2000

Highlights from the Gallagher-Leeches include extremely rare New Deal-era carborundum prints of industrial subjects by Michael Gallagher and elegantly refined children’s book illustrations by Katharine. The costume sketch below.

Kitty Leech, Three Men, 2008

Three Male Dancers from Imprints on a Landscape, The Mining Project, 2008. In the dance, choreographed by the artist’s aunt, Martha Whitman, the men are the printmakers at her grandfather’s Philadelphia WPA Printmaking Workshop: from left to right, Hugh Mesibov, Gallagher, and Dox Thrash.

Gwyneth Leech, Ecuador/New York

Gwyneth’s installation Ecuador/New York, A Dream of Home, 2010-12, made from 55 used and painted paper coffee cups is shown her. Her painting, Directions of Flow, 2009, based on a flight over the new Jersey Meadowlands, is at the right.

From the Pinto family there are Angelo’s photographs, wood engravings, reverse paintings on glass of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, and a portrait of Jody, as well as an enormous preparatory drawing for Jody’s nine-ton Fingerspan Bridge of 1987 in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, and Anna’s Alphabet, 1994, a tour-de-force of delicacy. 

Jody Pinto, Fingerspan Bridge,1987

San Antonio Review, March 2013

-->

The 2013 McNay Art Museum Fair was early this year, March 2 and 3. It was in the high 60s or low 70s everyday and just beautiful.

Ours was the booth between the entrance doors. In particular there was interest in work by William Baziotes, Peggy Bacon, Franz Kline, Angelo Pinto, Anne Ryan, Louis Schanker, and Helen A. Strojny. The fair is located just across the hall from the mid-century American room -- we could practically see Baziotes’ White Bird of 1950, from our booth.

William Baziotes, White Bird, 1950, at the McNay Art Museum

With a few hours to play tourist we visited the site of the nineteenth-century Pearl Brewing Company. Currently developed as a multi-use residential community, the clear standout is the 1894 circular stable, now a banquet hall. (Of course, I’m also crazy about the Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts, round barn from 1826. However, the Hancock barn was for cows and was drastically more intricate.)

Horse Stable, 1894, at the Peal Brewing Site, San Antonio

On a drive south of San Antonio we visited The Espada Acequia built by Franciscans and Native Americans in 1731. Water from the aqueduct powered a mill at Espada and irrigated surrounding fields (as it continues to do). In accordance with ancient Spanish law excess water was returned to the creek.

It was mountain laurel (sophora secundiflora) season. A tall-growing scrub related to the pea family, its violet-colored flowers smell like grape soda. Once identified, it’s found everywhere and is always stunning.

Mountain Laurel at the McNay Art Museum, 3-3-13

At the San Antonio International Airport for our return trip we encountered the newly installed Suitcase Wheel by The Art Guys. Made of 75 vintage Samsonite cases, it is sixteen feet across.

In the departure lounge we found rows of seats with cup holders and windows that were part of Gateways, Four Directions, by Rolando Briseno, installed in 2010. Naturally, the McNay window was our favorite.

PROGRESS AND PAINTING

-->

On view through Saturday, February 23, 2013.

PROCESS AND PAINTING

PAINTINGS WITH RELATED PREPARATORY WORKS

Riva Helfond, Highlands Train Station (NJ), 1938

RIVA HELFOND

Fannie Hillsmith, Lilac Room, 1957-58

FANNIE HILLSMITH

Angelo Pinto, Harem, 1936

ANGELO PINTO

Fred Shane, Quandary, 1974

FRED SHANE

Link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanteller/sets/72157632725455639/

William Baziotes, Figure with Mirror, 1936-39

IN THE ALLEY GALLERY:

WILLIAM BAZIOTES

SURREALIST DRAWINGS OF THE 1930S, CONTINUED

Link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanteller/sets/72157631962211728/

LA ART SHOW now open

 

Now in the South Hall, the Los Angles Art Show opened with a bang and runs through Sunday, January 27. The reception party was packed and yesterday was filled with old friends.  The William Baziotes wall continued to capture the attention and there was interest in work by Theodore Haupt, Angelo Pinto, Doris Rosenthal, and Anne Ryan.

This is the first time in the South Hall.

William Baziotes Wall

Susan Teller Gallery, Booth 1105

Beautifully lit columns at back of South Hall

Report from Miami

It was terrific to be in Miami for the fairs – this past Wednesday through Sunday. The days were in the 70s, sometimes cloudy, with occasional sun showers. Maps showed either twenty-one or twenty-four fairs, more or less even divided between Miami and Miami Beach.  

William Baziotes, Woman with Brush, 1936

We were at INK Miami, at the Suites of Dorchester Hotel on Collins Avenue at 19^th Street – essentially the center of the Miami Beach Art Fair World.

The show was well attended, right through the days, and the visitors were knowledgeable. Several high school and college groups came through -- they were always a lot of fun to talk with and to observe.

It was interesting to install. Each suite was a small apartment (most furniture removed) and we did small groupings that seemed to work well: Angelo Pinto, Peggy Bacon & Her Circle, and William Baziotes.

WILLIAM BAZIOTES: SURREALIST DRAWINGS

-->

William Baziotes: A Centennial Exhibition, Surrealist Drawings of the 1930s, is on view at the Susan Teller Gallery from November 15 through December 29, 2012. (Closed December 2 - 11 for INK Miami.)

Wiilliam Baziotes, Bull's Head, 1936-39

Born in Pittsburgh, raised in Reading, PA, Baziotes (1912-1963) came to New York City in 1933. He attended the National Academy of Design and graduated in 1936 and then worked on the New Deal Projects. In the late 1930s he met the artists Jimmy Ernst, Gerome Kamrowski, and Matta, with whom he explored Surrealism. In early 1940s he met Jackson Pollock, Andre Masson, and Robert Motherwell, Abstraction Expressionists with an interest in Surrealism as well.  In his work Baziotes bridged these worlds.  His first one-man show was at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery in 1944.  He taught at the Brooklyn Museum the Museum of Modern Art, Hunter College, and New York University.  In the 1965 the Guggenheim Museum held a Memorial Exhibition.

The entire show may be viewed at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanteller/sets/72157631962211728/