How do you find inspiration? Barbara Hack: As an artist, I have always held a deep passion for the figure, which is central to my work. My paintings serve as an ongoing exploration of people and their emotions, allowing me to connect with the essence of each individual I portray. I seek out a diverse array of figures, each representing a unique mood and context that resonates with my own experiences.
In every painting or drawing, I strive to capture an ephemeral moment—those fleeting expressions and gestures that tell a story. This relationship between myself and the figure is vital; it’s a dialogue that transcends the canvas, revealing the complexities of human connection. Through my art, I aim to make these moments last in time, inviting viewers to pause and reflect on the shared human experience.
What is the best thing about being an artist? Barbara Hack: The best part of being an artist is the constant presence of inspiration all around you. It’s in the smallest details—the way light filters through trees or the the expressions on people’s faces. . Inspiration doesn’t have to be sought; it’s always there, waiting to be noticed. It’s in the quiet moments, in the unexpected, and in the mundane. As an artist, you’re always open to the world around you, finding beauty in the everyday, and turning it into something unique.
Barbara Hack, Renewal, oil on linen, 12 x 12in., 2023; Renewal shows the woman emerging from uncertainty With eyes full of determination and clarityBarbara Hack, Jerome-A Life’s Collage, 24 x 30 in., 2020; capturing a man’s life depicted through painted images of his past in collage form
(Detail) Richard Tweedy, Charcoal and Pencil on Paper, Collection of the Art Students League of New York Artist Unknown, Charcoal on Paper, Private Collection
The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is presenting “True To Form: Academic Figure Studies from the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries,” an exhibition that celebrates the significance of the human figure in academic art training. The exhibition is on view through April 27, 2025 and will feature a curated selection of 26 works.
More from the organizers:
The human body has been a central motif in art for centuries, serving a variety of symbolic, philosophical, and aesthetic roles. From the classical and Renaissance periods to the 19th century, the nude in particular became a key focus for developing technical proficiency and expressing universal human experiences. Within the academic tradition, institutions like the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris believed the ability to depict the human body was the benchmark of an accomplished artist, and that mastery of anatomy, proportion, and movement was essential to the visual language of art.
Artist Unknown, Charcoal on Paper, Private Collection
Curated by Lyme Academy Co-Artistic Directors Amaya Gurpide and Jordan Sokol, this exhibition explores a period in art history when technological, scientific, and societal changes inspired a transition from idealized representations of the body to more direct, observational studies. The works featured here – generously loaned by the Art Students League of New York and several private collectors – reveal this shift away from classical idealization toward a more naturalistic understanding of the human form. So too, they offer a glimpse into the academic training and philosophies that defined a transformative era.
“With this exhibition, we invite visitors to reflect on the enduring relevance of the human figure in art, and to appreciate the rich legacy of academic training that continues to inspire artists and educators today,” says Sokol. “The human figure remains central to the curriculum at Lyme Academy and continues to play a vital role in contemporary art. While modern expressions have become infinitely varied, this exhibition offers an opportunity to locate the figure’s origins in the foundational studio exercises that began centuries ago.”
Joseph Mallord William Turner, "The Whale on Shore," about 1837, watercolor on paper. Taft Museum of Art, Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft, 1931.382
J. M. W. Turner paintings on view > Celebrate the 250th anniversary of James Mallord William Turner’s birth by seeing twelve of his watercolors from the Taft Museum of Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum. On view at the Taft Museum of Art through June 15, 2025, “J. M. W. Turner: Watercolor Horizons” is the first exhibition to bring together the entirety of the two museums’ luminous works by Turner in this medium.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, “Jedburgh Abbey,” about 1832, watercolor on paper. Taft Museum of Art, Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft, 1931.383
More from the Museum:
Considered one of Britain’s greatest landscape painters, Turner (English, 1775–1851) was a master of the art of watercolor. A prolific artist and intrepid traveler, he was especially drawn to mountains, alpine lakes, glaciers, river valleys, and the sea, as well as the human presence within these dramatic settings. Watercolor Horizons features views of Switzerland, Germany, France, England, Scotland, and Italy. The exhibition explores Turner’s skill with a brush on paper through these remarkable landscapes, examples of his innovative techniques, and painting tools from the era on loan from local collections.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, “The Death of Lycidas—’Vision of the Guarded Mount’,” about 1834, watercolor on paper. Taft Museum of Art, Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft, 1931.384
“’J. M. W. Turner: Watercolor Horizons’ is a rare opportunity to see these treasures up close and in person,” said the exhibition’s curator Tamera Lenz Muente. “Each is filled with exquisite color and mind-blowing details that you can examine with magnifying glasses we’ll have in the gallery. Paired with a tea from the café or a family program, the Turner birthday experience at the Taft is one not to miss.”
Joseph Mallord William Turner, “Folkestone, Kent,” about 1822, watercolor on paper. Taft Museum of Art, Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft, 1931.385
Robert Griffing (b. 1940), "Pushing through the Billows," 2014, oil on linen, 46 x 40 in.
On Collecting Fine Art >
Born in Germany but a U.S. citizen for many years, the New Jersey-based businessman Dieter Weissenrieder became interested in the visual arts as a young adult thanks to a close friend who became a curator at a major German museum. His wife, Eleanor, a retired schoolteacher, grew up in suburban New Jersey, so she has visited New York City’s museums all her life and began bringing Dieter along soon after they met. The couple have always enjoyed traveling, especially in Europe, and have visited many museums there.
“More than 40 years ago,” Dieter recalls, “Eleanor and I made our first art purchase because the small house we were renting needed some art on its walls. From a gallery in Greenwich Village we bought a landscape painted by a French artist, and we still own it today. In the 1970s, we acquired our first sculpture in Taos when we began skiing and visiting galleries there.”
In fact, the Weissenrieders are devoted skiers and have skied out west every year. Those experiences exposed them to what is now called Art of the American West: “We started to develop relationships with gallery owners in various ski resorts,” Dieter explains, “and as we got more hooked on art, we began attending auctions and museum benefit sales,” especially at the Autry Museum of the American West (Los Angeles) and Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis). The couple also drew inspiration from a fellow collector: because they have a house in Scottsdale, Arizona, they often visited the enormous and outstanding collection formed by Eddie Basha in nearby Chandler. (Fortunately, Basha’s heirs have donated it to the Heard Museum in Phoenix and Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West so that many other people can enjoy it, too.)
Today the Weissenrieders own paintings and sculpture by William Acheff, Gerald Balciar, Amery Bohling, John Buxton, John Coleman, Don Crowley, Michael Dudash, Toni Falk, John Fawcett, Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, Fred Fellows, Bruce Greene, Robert Griffing, William Haskell, Karin Hollebeke, Walt Horton, Doug Hyde, Jerry Jordan, Sue Krzyston, Steven Lang, Mel Lawson, Chul Young Lee, David Mann, Curt Mattson, Frank McCarthy, Denis Milhomme, K.W. Moore, Sr., Paul Moore, Bill Nebeker, Rock Newcomb, Gary Niblett, Don Oelze, Robert Peters, Dave Powell, Heide Presse, Robert Pummill, Alfredo Rodrigues, Scott Rogers, Roseta Santiago, Harry J. Sharre, Tim Shinabarger, Daniel Smith, Matt Smith, Gordon Snidow, Nathan Solano, Ray Swanson, Andy Thomas, Russ Vickers, Curt Walters, and David Wright. Sadly, several artists who were alive when they acquired the work have subsequently died, including Joe Beeler, Glenna Goodacre, Allan Houser, Harry Jackson, and Oleg Stavrowsky. Also in the Weissenrieder Collection are important pieces of Native American pottery by Autumn Borts-Medlock, Eric Fender, Jody Folwell, Susan Folwell, Tammy Garcia, Al Qoyawayma, Maxine Toya, and Alvina Yepa.
“Getting to know the artists has added an exciting dimension,” Dieter remembers. “Eleanor and I feel that collecting art without ever meeting the artist is not as rewarding as developing a relationship.” (Only rarely have they bought work by a deceased artist, perhaps five in total, including E.I. Couse.) “Now” Dieter continues, “we deal primarily with the artists themselves and with galleries. Because we have run out of wall space, we have even told several artists to create smaller paintings if they want us to continue acquiring!”
The Weissenrieders have formed a particularly close friendship with John Buxton and his wife, Noralee. Illustrated here is a painting Dieter commissioned, “Great Falls of the Passaic at Paterson,” a breathtaking site of natural beauty now protected as a national park. Dieter wanted his friend to imagine the falls as they might have looked around 1750, when Native Americans relied on their abundant supply of fish. The Weissenrieders visited this place with Buxton, who had hired a senior Boy Scout to paddle the artist’s canoe deep into the falls so he could get a better sense of scale and perspective.
John Buxton (b. 1939), “Great Falls of the Passaic at Paterson,” 2013, oil on linen, 56 x 35 in.
Dieter picks up the story: “Alas, the current proved too strong, so the canoe capsized and got a big hole in its side. Luckily, the young man was a good swimmer and we were able to pull the canoe out of the Passaic River about 400 feet downstream. The bad news: the canoe was totaled; the good news: John won two major prizes for this gorgeous painting, and we now have a wonderful memory to cherish forever.” In addition, the Paterson Museum located nearby displays a giclée replica of the painting to help visitors appreciate the significance of the falls historically.
Robert Griffing (b. 1940), “Pushing through the Billows,” 2014, oil on linen, 46 x 40 in.
Yet another close friend who carefully researches his scenes of Eastern Woodland Indians is Robert Griffing, represented here by “Pushing through the Billows.” Dieter admires how this artist studies elements such as clothing and tools “right down to the smallest detail,” and he recounts with a smile a missed opportunity to acquire yet another work by Griffing: “A dealer offered us one privately, but Eleanor and I balked at its price. Ten months later, that painting fetched a sum 70 percent higher during an auction we attended. It’s the one that got away.”
Dieter tries to have lunch with Buxton and Griffing at least once a year near Pittsburgh, where he owns a manufacturing plant. He and Eleanor are also friendly with the artist John Fawcett and his wife, Elizabeth; during a visit to the Weissenrieders’ small farm, Fawcett painted a portrait of their entire family mounted on horses, a large work that hangs over the fireplace in their living room. The collectors have visited the California home of Denis Milhomme and his wife, Lorene, who were especially pleased when the Weissenrieders loaned three of Denis’s best works to his 2022 retrospective at the Eiteljorg. The sculptor Scott Rogers and his wife, Janette, have visited the Weissenrieders in New Jersey, and Dieter still treasures their visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was “great to listen to Scott analyze the artworks on view.”
Though the pace of their collecting has slowed, Dieter says that he and Eleanor still aim to acquire art “that is meaningful, tells a story, and will outlast us.” They have succeeded on all three counts.
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Breathtaking, Marian Fortunati, oil on linen panel, 24 x 24 in; Marian Fortunati
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
Unknown Maker, View of Venice Wallpaper (Courtyard Seen through Drapery), c. 1840, woodblock print on paper, 21 5/8 x 22 1/4 in., RISD Museum, Mary B. Jackson Fund, 34.1055
Surprises await visitors to the RISD Museum in its exhibition “The Art of French Wallpaper Design.” Organized by curator Emily Banas, it explores the vibrant designs that adorned Europeans’ walls in the 1700s and 1800s.
“The Art of French Wallpaper Design”
Rhode Island School of Design Museum risdmuseum.org
through May 11, 2025
On view are more than 100 rare samples of salvaged wallpapers, borders, fragments, and design drawings, all revealing their creators’ innovations and technical skill. Accompanied by a digital publication, this project celebrates the foresight of Charles and Frances Wilson Huard, who assembled this collection in the 1920s and ’30s.
The online catalogue notes that “in the past, much like today, wallpaper designs typically reflected what was in vogue, so once papers were out of fashion, they were removed or pasted over. It is therefore not surprising that examples of historical wallpapers are few and far between, particularly those in good condition. To assemble a comprehensive collection today would be a difficult undertaking.”
Published six times per year, Fine Art Connoisseur is now a widely consulted platform for the world’s most knowledgeable experts, who write articles that inform readers and give them the tools necessary to make better purchasing decisions.
ON THE COVER KIT KING (b.1987), “The Tangible Manifestation of Change” (detail), 2017, oil on linen, cut and riveted to an aluminum and steel support, 50 x 36 1/4 in. (overall), Collection of Carl B. Bedell
FEATURES
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We highlight the talents of Lisa Lackey, Rachel Personett, and LaQuincey Reed.
DAUD AKHRIEV: WANDERING SPIRIT
By Rose Fredrick
CITY LIVIN’
By Max Gillies
MUSKEGON MUSEUM OF ART & THE BENNETT PRIZE: AN IDEAL PARTNERSHIP
By Leslie Gilbert Elman
KYLE MA: A YOUTHFUL VISION
By Thomas Connors
REDISCOVERING ROCKWELL KENT
By James Lancel McElhinney
WHY SELF-PORTRAITS NOW?
By Paul Rosiak
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF VALUABLE ART
By Daniel Grant
BREAK THE ALGORITHM: MAKING ART THROUGH A LIFETIME
By Julyan Davis
CELEBRATING AMERICA’S GREAT COLLECTORS
The flourishing of contemporary realism becomes even clearer as we highlight outstanding collectors living throughout the country.
OIL PAINTING HEAVEN: A POEM BY GREGG KREUTZ
GREAT ART WORLDWIDE
We survey 6 top-notch projects occurring this season.
SPRING INTO ART
There are at least 8 great reasons to celebrate the American West this season.
Fine Art Connoisseur‘s jargon-free text and large color illustrations are attracting an ever-growing readership passionate about high-quality artworks and the fascinating stories around them. It serves art collectors and enthusiasts with innovative articles about representational paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints — both historical and contemporary, American and European. Fine Art Connoisseur covers the museums, galleries, fairs, auction houses, and private collections where great art is found.
Haidee-Jo Summers (b. 1971), "Crystal Cove," 2022, oil on board, 14 x 16 in.; from the collection of Tracie and Brian Sullivan (featured in this issue)
From the Fine Art Connoisseur March/April 2025 Editor’s Note: “The art collectors highlighted in this issue of Fine Art Connoisseur buy art with their eyes and hearts…”
Collecting Art for the Right Reasons
My favorite issue of the year is the one that highlights real-world collectors of contemporary realist art. This is that issue, and we hope you will enjoy “meeting” the individuals and couples who have so generously opened their doors. These folks now join 97 others we have profiled since 2015, and we are honored and grateful to welcome them to this community.
Why do we do this? First, people need role models, in any walk of life. We play tennis better after watching Coco Gauff, and we cook more effectively after Bobby Flay demonstrates the recipe. It’s harder with art collecting because there is no single way to do it, and unfortunately the best-known collectors are financiers and movie stars paying millions at auction for a Hirst or a Koons. Good for them, but that’s collecting warehoused-investment-assets with your ears, not art-to-live-with with your eyes. I’m far more intrigued by celebrities who collect items of comparatively low value: just for example, Tom Hanks buys antique typewriters, Angelina Jolie goes for medieval and Renaissance knives, and Claudia Schiffer seeks out mounted beetles, butterflies, and spiders.
Great, but this is a fine art magazine, and besides, buying anything when you’re a hundred-millionaire is not particularly difficult. The real trick is to buy wonderful “unbranded” art on a regular budget, away from the limelight and the art advisers who think about this stuff all day. The folks highlighted in this issue buy art with their eyes and hearts, living with and enjoying it, sometimes enhancing their lives further by getting to know the artists who made it.
The hardest step in this issue’s preparation is asking the collectors to choose just two artworks to illustrate in their profiles. That’s like choosing among your kids, but the collectors do it bravely, and they understand why we ask them to. It’s simple: we can dedicate only two pages to each collector, and if we were to fill them with seven or eight “favorite” images, there wouldn’t be room for the words. Besides, each artwork would look more like a postage stamp than a painting. And so we go smaller (in number) and bigger (in photo size), reminding everyone that these two images don’t represent the whole collection, only evoke it.
Our work on the collector profiles never stops, so it’s already time for us to plan next year’s edition. There are great collections — many still being formed — in every region of this country, and no one person could possibly know all of them. Though our research is well underway and we already have some terrific names in sight, I hereby invite you to send me suggestions or nominations of other collectors. Our criteria are simple: they must be U.S. residents (still living) who have collected, or are continuing to collect, superb contemporary realist art created any time after 1980.
Ideas are welcome from everyone: the collectors themselves, their friends, families, dealers, advisers, curators, etc. Please just send me an email ([email protected]) and I will move it forward. Rest assured that our team is discreet; all communications with collectors will be virtual, and we will not turn up unannounced at their homes to take photos! The individuals selected will have an opportunity to fact-check everything, and in fact they themselves will provide the photos to be illustrated. That said, it’s our editorial team’s decision who goes in, and who doesn’t.
Thank you as always for your incoming suggestions, and please enjoy learning about this year’s fascinating collectors.
What are your thoughts? Share your letter to the Editor below in the comments.
Wrapped in You, 2022
by Narelle Zeller
22.4 × 22.4 in
Oil on linen
Narelle Zeller is an Australian representational portrait and figurative oil painter. Her refined oil paintings explore the beauty of the human condition and our environment, drawing inspiration from the people around her and her own personal life experiences. She aims to capture an honest and authentic representation of her subject and stir the viewer to question and connect to the personal and individual story behind each painting. Her paintings are found in the permanent collection of the Art Renewal Center as well as private collections. She recently exhibited in Figurativas at the European Museum of Modern Art.
“Benson Hotel Bar,” Richard Boyer, oil on board, 16 x 24 in; Cole Gallery, Edmonds, WA;
The walnut interior of the Benson Hotel Bar in Portland, Oregon glows in deep warmth
Richard Boyer: Richard Boyer, who began his artistic journey in high school and developed his skills under the mentorship of portrait and figurative painter Alvin Gittins at the University of Utah, will be showcasing new oil paintings at Cole Gallery in Edmonds, Washington. The exhibition will run from March 20 to April 29, 2025. Some of Boyer’s latest works capture intimate moments of humanity in familiar social settings such as hotel bars and sidewalk cafes.
“Cafe in Edmonds,” Richard Boyer, oil on board, 14 x 22 in; Cole Gallery, Edmonds, WA; The colorful allure of a sidewalk café on a sunny day in Edmonds, Washington
“Tadich Grill,” Richard Boyer, oil on board, 18 x 18 in; Cole Gallery, Edmonds, WA; At the bottom of California Street in San Francisco, the Tadich Grill stands since 1849
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