New York’s esteemed Frick Collection recently announced it had made its most important and significant painting purchase in nearly 30 years. What was it?

In its most important painting purchase since 1991, the Frick Collection in New York City has acquired François-Pascal-Simon Gérard’s full-length portrait of Prince Camillo Borghese, a notable art patron and the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte.

According to the Frick, “Gérard was one of the most significant French artists of the first half of the nineteenth century, and this stunning canvas will coalesce seamlessly with the museum’s holdings, which until now have not included his work. Chronologically, the painting falls between the museum’s French masterpieces by Boucher and Fragonard and later works by Ingres, Renoir, Monet, and Manet, while joining contemporaneous portraits by Chinard and David. It will, likewise, find good company in major works of portraiture by Bronzino, Rembrandt, Titian, Holbein, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Romney, Hogarth, Goya, and Whistler. Following conservation and technical study this winter and spring at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ‘Prince Camillo Borghese’ will go on view at the Frick in mid-2018.”

To learn more, visit The Frick Collection.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

One of the highlights during the opening ceremony at the first-ever Figurative Art Convention & Expo in Miami this past November was 13-year-old Fina Mooney, who was celebrated for her essay about how artists can embrace and train younger students at a more sophisticated level.

Hundreds of figure and portrait painters gathered in Miami, Florida, from November 8-11 at the historic Biltmore Hotel for the first ever Figurative Art Convention & Expo (FACE). The event, created by Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, was designed to provide painters with an experience to develop their techniques, skills, philosophy, and marketing. It was met with rave reviews by attendees. Included with the event and held simultaneously was TRAC (The Representational Art Conference) for academics in the art world.

During the opening ceremony for the convention, Fine Art Connoisseur Publisher Eric Rhoads talked about his dream of creating an event just for museum-quality realists where they can gather as a community, sharing processes and ideas. In addition, Rhoads invited Fina Mooney to the stage. Fina was selected for a scholarship to FACE upon recommendations by her teachers and for her captivating essay:

To learn more about FACE, visit Fine Art Connoisseur or the Figurative Art Convention & Expo.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

The Pastel Society of New Mexico has chosen the new venue for the 26th National Pastel Painting Exhibition, slated to open March 2, 2018. Who landed the show?

Since 1991, the Pastel Society of New Mexico (PSNM) has held an annual national juried exhibition that has attracted submissions from artists across the United States, Canada, and Europe. For what is considered among the most prestigious fine art shows in the country, jurors select an average of 140-145 pieces, depending on scoring. In 2018, artist Dinah Worman will be judging the final pieces chosen by three nationally recognized artists serving as jurors: Susan Ogilvie, Jeanne Rosier Smith, and Frederick Somers.

Scheduled to open on March 2, 2018, next year’s exhibition will be hosted by the lovely Sorrel Sky Gallery at the gallery’s downtown location in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Shanan Campbell Wells, owner of Sorrel Sky Gallery, said, “With their enduring and luminous nature, pastel paintings are experiencing a resurgence of interest among collectors and art enthusiasts. We see it as an honor to be chosen as the new venue of the PSNM, and to lend our support to this group of skilled and gifted artists.”

To learn more, visit Sorrel Sky Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Artists George Inness and James McNeill Whistler were two of the leading champions of tonalism, an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s, when painters began to image landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. The style beautifully survives through the work of this painter in Charleston, South Carolina.

Reinert Fine Art in Charleston, South Carolina, is overjoyed to be currently showcasing the magnetic paintings of artist Mark Beale, a self-described tonalist. The solo exhibition will feature 12 to 15 works of the coastal sea islands near Charleston. “The perspective is unusual,” according to the gallery, “in that most are painted from the water looking toward the coastline. Beale has developed this style based on 40 years of boating along the coastal south. The show features pieces focused on times of changing light such as dusk, sunset, and moonrise and exuding an atmospheric quality. A sense of timelessness is evoked in many of the works, as Beale typically includes only elements of the pure landscape itself or primitive skiffs and dwellings.”

“The water gets in your blood,” Beale adds. “I didn’t know it at the time, but early on I was falling in love with the coastal landscape.” At the age of 14, Beale began attending workshops conducted by Barclay Sheaks and later studied with Theodore Turner at the University of Virginia. After seeing the tonalist paintings of George Inness and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Beale had an unwavering desire to pursue the style. He first went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Inness works, exploring even work in the process of restoration in the back rooms of the museum. Beale then contacted the Spanierman Gallery in New York City and was allowed to hold and study under magnification many of Inness’s private works in the gallery’s collection. Later, being invited to exhibit at the Salmagundi Club became of the first pinnacles of his career.

Reinert Fine Art owner Rick Reinert said, “Mark Beale’s work portrays the Lowcountry in an authentic way … exactly what guests to our city are looking for and exactly what our locals admire. Feelings of peace, serenity, and calm resonate from any Mark Beale creation.”

To learn more, visit Reinert Fine Art.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Davis Gallery of Austin, Texas, is pleased to have recently announced its upcoming annual winter group show. It features some amazing artistic talent and beautiful paintings; find out here why viewers shouldn’t have any trouble immersing themselves into these creative worlds.

Creating illusory, three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface such as canvas, linen, paper, or panel has been, perhaps, THE goal of representational painters for millennia. Indeed, each artist has their own unique way of creating depth and space in their works, which is part of the draw for “In Depth,” a winter group show at Davis Gallery in Austin, Texas.

Opening January 20 and continuing through February 24, “In Depth: A Group Show” will feature several of Davis Gallery’s roster of artists, including — among others — Laurel Daniel, Julie Davis, Matthew Fuller, Chris Gray, Denise M. Fulton, David Leonard, and William Montgomery. “Artists will demonstrate how positive and negative space interacts and how specific techniques can produce the illusion of depth,” the gallery suggests. “Each artist has either created new work for this show, or carefully chosen work from the past, which uniquely recognizes ‘In Depth’s’ concept.”

An opening reception will be hosted at the gallery on January 20 from 7-9PM. To learn more, visit Davis Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

A Memphis museum will soon be the first to mount an exhibition centered on the life and career of this remarkable figure in the history of modern art and design. Who’s the focus, and which museum? Details here.

Dixon Gallery & Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee, will open its doors to “The Real Beauty: The Artistic World of Eugenia Errázuriz” on January 28, 2018. As its title suggests, the show will center on the life of Eugenia Errázuriz, “tracing her life through the many portraits bearing her likeness, as well as some of the works of art that formed her extraordinary collection,” according to the museum. Dixon Gallery will be the first American museum to ever detail Errázuriz.

The museum continues, “Addressing the larger subject of the role of South Americans in turn-of-the-century Europe, the exhibition will also feature works of art centered around Eugenia’s relatives and friends, especially the Subercaseaux, who shared her passion for the arts. [Errázuriz] arrived in Europe with her husband, amateur painter José Tomás Errázuriz, in the early 1880s. Very quickly, the newlywed Errázurizes began making their rounds across Europe, becoming, along with their relatives Amalia and Ramón Subercaseaux, favorites among the cosmopolitan group of artists in turn-of-the-century Europe. Eugenia’s exotic beauty was celebrated by some of the greatest artists of her generation, including John Singer Sargent, Giovanni Boldini, and Jacques-Émile Blanche.

“As time went on, Eugenia continued to inspire artists, writers, and musicians around Europe, both through her unique personal style and her faithful patronage. In 1916, she was introduced to Pablo Picasso by Jean Cocteau; this marked the beginning of one of the most intriguing artist-patron relationships of the twentieth century. Eugenia was also known as a great tastemaker, as her belief in high-quality minimalism in both interior design and fashion spawned a legion of followers, most notably Jean-Michel Frank. Frank penned an article celebrating Eugenia’s discerning eye and contributions to the concept of modern design for the February 1938 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. In addition, several articles about Eugenia appeared in Vogue and in Vogue Paris in 1918 through 1928.”

“The Real Beauty” will continue through April 8. To learn more, visit Dixon Gallery & Gardens.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

On December 8, PoetsArtists publisher Didi Menendez listed the “Top Ten Figurative Art Galleries of 2017,” and the list has been met with praise — and debate. Who’s in and who’s out? Did she get it right? You decide.

*Note: Please comment below!  Fine Art Connoisseur wants to form its own list of favorite figurative art galleries.  Tell us and we’ll compile a list after the New Year!  

I can’t imagine trying to make a list like this: the top 10 figurative art galleries in the United States in 2017. As I continue to grow and learn more about the representational art world through my position here with Fine Art Connoisseur, one thing becomes abundantly clear: there are so many talented artists and stellar galleries out there, it’ll make your head spin. How did Didi do it?

“I tried to highlight galleries which have group exhibitions throughout the year, and I also took nominations from the PoetsArtists community, which includes several art collectors,” Menendez said. “I also monitor Artsy for solo and group exhibitions throughout the year as well as other submission calls posted on social media. Many of these galleries accept submissions and have open calls throughout the year. This list is comprised of galleries in the U.S.A., and they are in the order of most proactive to the figurative arts community.”

Here’s her list!

1) Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago, Illinois

2) Bernarducci Gallery Chelsea, New York, New York

3) Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, Illinois

4) Abend Gallery, Denver, Colorado

5) Sirona Fine Art, Hallandale Beach, Florida

6) Arcadia Contemporary, Culver City, California

7) RJD Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York

8) Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, New York

9) Flowers Gallery, New York and London

10) Simard Bilodeau Contemporary, Los Angeles, California

How did she do? To view the article on BuzzFeed, visit here.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

By now, nearly everyone on planet earth has heard about the monster $450.3 million sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” at Christie’s New York on November 15. However, have you heard about who bought it?

The art world continues to buzz nearly a month after the record-breaking sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” on November 15. The hammer price of $450.3 million made it the most expensive painting ever to sell at auction. However, the newest story surrounding the sale isn’t about the work at all, but rather its unknown—until now—buyer.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that the mystery buyer of the painting was a little-known Saudi prince from a remote branch of the royal family, with no history as a major art collector, and no publicly known source of great wealth. His name? Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud.

The revelation of the buyer’s identity has set off numerous investigations into his relationship with the country’s 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as well as his acquisition of the funds necessary for the purchase. According to documents obtained by the New York Times, Prince Bader only revealed himself as a potential buyer days before the auction, which sent Christie’s lawyers into a frenzied investigation into Prince Bader’s finances.

Prince Bader’s splurge on a controversial and decidedly un-Islamic portrait of Christ has also fueled questions among the Saudi elite, including some in the royal family, who are under a sweeping crackdown against corruption and self-enrichment. According to the New York Times, “Prince Mohammed’s consolidation of power has upended decades of efforts by previous Saudi rulers to build loyalty and consensus within the royal family. And even before the disclosure of the record-breaking purchase in a New York art auction by one of his associates [Prince Bader], Prince Mohammed’s extravagance has already raised eyebrows, most notably with the impulse purchase two years ago in the south of France of a Russian vodka titan’s 440-foot yacht, for half a billion dollars.”

To learn more, visit the New York Times, NPR, or the USA Today.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Any professional artist who makes portraits knows that no other international competition compares to the BP Portrait Awards. More than 2,500 works of portraiture by artists from 87 countries around the world were submitted for consideration in 2017, but that could certainly increase in 2018 after organizers announced this.

If gaining entry into one of the most coveted fine art competitions in the world wasn’t enough of an incentive, perhaps the recent announcement from organizers of the BP Portrait Awards will push many over the edge. In 2018, all prize values for the competition have been increased.

As announced on November 28, the National Portrait Gallery, London, is excited to now be accepting entries for the 2018 competition, with the First Prize award increasing from £30,000 to £35,000 (about $47,000), second prize rising to £12,000 ($16,000) from £10,000; third prize to £10,000 ($13,300) from £8,000. The BP Young Artist Award, awarded to one selected artist aged between 18 and 30 rises to £9,000 ($12,000) from £7,000, and the BP Travel Award rises to £8,000 (about $10,700) from £6,000.

Artists can enter at npg.org.uk/bp between now and January 22. Full competition rules and guidance for digital submissions can be found online as well. The BP Portrait Award exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from June 14 through September 23. In 2017, the exhibition is estimated to have been seen by nearly 250,000 people.

To learn more or apply, visit here.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.