The 2016 auction season is in full swing, with the latest major sale just around the corner at Auctionata. Classic works from the 16th through 20th centuries head to the block on May 30 in Berlin. The highlights?
 
As it brings together a host of outstanding classical paintings from the 16th through 20th centuries, collectors are sure to flock to Auctionata on May 30. One hundred and nine artworks comprise the sale, which includes highlights from Pietro Bardellino, John James Masquerier, Luise Ebel, Constantin Stoiloff, Eduard Otto von Braunthal, Josef Brettscheki, and Emil Il Pirchan.
 

Eduard Otto von Braunthal, “Fellah,” circa 1904, oil on panel, 18 1/2 x 23 cm. (c) Auctionata 2016

Josef Brettscheki, “Party in the Park,” oil on canvas, (c) Auctionata 2016

Luise Ebel, “Landscape with Resting Children,” circa 1860, oil on canvas, (c) Auctionata 2016

Attrib. John James Masquerier, “Portrait of Two Women,” circa 1810, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm. (c) Auctionata 2016

Constantin Stoiloff, “Gouverneur auf Reisen,” oil on canvas, 83 x 129 cm. (c) Auctionata 2016

Emil Il Pirchan, “Artistic Monkeys,” oil on cardboard, 37 1/2 x 32 1/2 cm. (c) Auctionata 2016

 
To learn more, visit Auctionata.
 
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Works by Russian artist Victor Koulbak are currently embellishing the walls of this outstanding New York City Gallery. Watch as his works magically evaporate from the page while retaining their solidity.
 
Featuring a number of still lifes, animal studies, and portraits, Didier Aaron in New York City is overjoyed to be presenting recent works from Russian artist Victor Koulbak. Inspired by the techniques and focus of Old Masters, Koulbak works in the extremely challenging medium of silverpoint — an engraving method using a prepared page and a stylus of pure silver. With little room for error, Koulbak prefers natural subjects, including wildlife and plants that appear smoky and hazy on the page.
 

Victor Koulbak, “Iris No. 1,” 2015, silverpoint and watercolor, 12 1/2 x 10 in. (c) Didier Aaron 2016

 
Marilyn Laufer, director of the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, says of the works in her essay for the exhibition catalogue: “they seem in the process of evaporating off the page: those enhanced with a wash of watercolor magically solidify.” Continuing, the gallery writes, “Koulbak continues the traditional method of preparing the paper by creating a ground, instead of following many of his contemporaries with the use of gesso, gouache, or commercially manufactured clay-coated paper. However, upon closer inspection, his works remain undeniably modern despite the traditional methods. His studies of animals reveal a hauntingly self-aware presence; they look out at the viewer as if acknowledging their condition as works of art. His portraits are self-assured and manifest a modern self-possession. These works are undeniably strong, straddling the classic appeal of old master works on paper with a contemporary sensibility.”
 
To learn more, visit Didier Aaron.
 
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Although we’re still over three months away, it’s never too early to begin anticipating and getting excited for one of the nation’s biggest and best art festivals.
 
Scheduled for September 16-17 in Jackson, Wyoming, the Jackson Hole Art Auction is one of the most anticipated fine art events every year. Although festivities don’t begin for a few months, highlights of the show and sale are already being announced, with Trailside Galleries and Gerald Peters Gallery being the most recent to showcase their lineup of stellar artworks.
 

N.C. Wyeth, “He Rode Away Among the Sage, Following a Dim Trail,” 1909, oil on canvas, 38 x 25 in.
(c) Jackson Hole Art Auction 2016

 
“New highlights include N.C. Wyeth’s masterwork ‘He Rode Away Among the Sage, Following a Dim Trail.’ Other western highlights include high-quality works by Robert Lougheed, E.S. Paxson, Frederic Remington, and Olaf Wieghorst,” the galleries note. “New wildlife highlights, the signature of the Jackson Hole Art Auction, include Robert Bateman’s ‘Above the Rapids — Gulls and Grizzly.’ New Bob Kuhn acquisitions include ‘Midnight Serenade’ and ‘In Ellesmere Land — Arctic Wolf.’ [Also featured will be] Stanley Meltzoff’s ‘The Lord of the Barcajon Channel.’
 
To learn more, visit the Jackson Hole Art Auction.
 
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.
 

If you could re-create your identity for public consumption, what qualities or characteristics would you want to convey? This question is, in part, what makes self-portraiture one of the most fascinating subjects in the study of art. Discover how artists from Rembrandt to Ai Weiwei have answered this question.
 
On view July 16 through October 16 at the National Galleries of Scotland, “Facing the World: Self-portraits from Rembrandt to Ai Weiwei” is an all-encompassing exhibition devoted to one of the most complex and dynamic subjects in the history of art.
 
During the self-portraiture process, the artist navigates, interprets, and employs a web of physical, social, and personal elements specific to him- or herself to arrive at a convincing artificial presence — a presence that often conveys, among many other qualities, status, pride, piety, and character. There seems to be no limit to the interpretive possibilities because self-portraiture is so personal to the artist creating it.
 
Some could argue that the convention of self-portraiture — i.e., the construction of an artificial identity — is more relevant today than ever, especially since “social media thrives on self-portraits and the continual presentation of self,” as the museum writes. Whether one enjoys traditional works or the more conceptual artists, all styles and types of self-portraits can be found at this exhibition, which is sure to leave visitors asking themselves, “Who am I?”
 
To learn more, visit the National Galleries of Scotland.
 
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.
 

For the first time, this monumental collection of Cuban and Latin American art is being offered with each piece priced individually rather than as an entire collection. Lovers of art from south of the border need to take note.
 
The Ladner Collection of Cuban and Latin American Art is causing a major stir in the art-collecting world. Gary Hendershott is proud to be offering individual selections from this incredibly important multi-million-dollar collection, which features sculptures, paintings, and much more, and makes up an integral part of Latin American art history.
 

Victor Salmones, “Danza,” bronze, 96 in. (c) Gary Hendershott 2016

 
Among the works included in the sale are 115 paintings by Cuban and Latin American artists; those featured include Arturo Rodriquez, Demi Rodriquez, Norma Bessouet, Louis F. Benedit, Enrique Castro-Cid, and Emilio Falero. Via the press release for the sale: “This is a unique opportunity for a collector or a museum, agent or curator to expedite the building of their own collections by acquiring the very painting(s) that they want from this life-time collection. Offered here individually for the very first time you can pick and choose the very painting that you want, previously offered only as a collection.” Works from sculptor Victor Salmones are included as well.
 
To learn more, visit Gary Hendershott.
 
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.
 

Although it’s still officially spring, many parts of the country are quickly heating up, which means pool openings, beach trips, and weekends at the lake. All things water is the subject of a captivating group exhibition that feels right at home in sunny California.
 
Arcadia Contemporary loves its new California location, and this summer — beginning June 4 — the gallery opens another star-studded exhibition, entitled “Water, Water Everywhere.” The exhibition will feature the works of Daniel Adel, Casey Baugh, Matthew Cornell, Christian Fagerlund, Stephen Fox, Jeremy Lipking, Stephen Mackey, Maria Perello, Julio Reyes, and Johannes Wessmark.
 
As the exhibition’s title indicates, the theme of the show is water — a favorite and especially relevant subject for artists. The capture of its fluidity and the unique effects of light in water is achieved through many different techniques, and many of those will be on display during this show. To learn more, visit Arcadia Contemporary.
 
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.
 

Little known but immensely important in French 17th-century painting, these three artist brothers — Antoine, Louis, and Mathieu — have never been the subjects of a major exhibition in the United States, until now.
 
For the first time in the United States, wonderfully beautiful works from brothers Antoine, Louis, and Mathieu Le Nain are subjects of a tantalizing exhibition at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Part of this absence in the States can be attributed to the shroud of mystery that surrounds the lives and careers of the men.
 

Le Nain, “Peasant Interior with an Old Flute Player,” circa 1642, oil on canvas, (c) Kimbell Art Museum 2016

 
“Little is known of their lives, and the attribution of their paintings to the hands of individual brothers has been hotly debated,” the museum writes. “The exhibition debuts new research concerning the authorship, dating, and meaning of their works. It is accompanied by the results of a major study by the conservation departments of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Kimbell Art Museum in cooperation with the Musée du Louvre.”
 
The exhibition will feature some 40 paintings by the brothers, which display their full range of subjects, production, and artistic evolution. Among the included works are altarpieces, private devotional paintings, portraits, and others. The exhibition opened on May 22 and will show through September 11.
 
To learn more, visit the Kimbell Art Museum.
 
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In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week: Tzu-chi Yeh, “Top of the Tree.”
 
Immensely detailed and strongly personal, the landscape paintings of artist Tzu-chi Yeh are truly something to behold. A native of Guangdong, Yeh studied at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts before earning his master’s degree at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York City. Ever since, the artist has been traveling and participating in shows across the globe, especially in China and his native Taiwan.
 
There’s something quite remarkable about Yeh’s landscapes, which often depict trees and deeply overgrown forests. The subjects are simple, with little to distract, but where they seemingly lack they make up in their amazing beauty and detail, and their powerful spirit. Via Ravenel International Art Group, “Yeh’s paintings are the records of his inner feelings, realistic with symbolic metaphors, paintings are filled with a personal touch, strong and unique in style.”
 
Heading to auction on June 5 in Taipei, Taiwan, is Yeh’s breathtaking “Top of the Tree.” Typically for Yeh’s landscapes, the viewer is presented with a large arching mass at the center of the linen that stretches from side to side. The mass is a richly detailed — almost cloud-like — arrangement of thick trees that seem to bubble up from the bottom of the frame. Above the central subject one finds a refreshing image of the sky with smoky clouds. Auction estimates are between $104,200 and $134,800.
 
To view the full catalogue, visit Ravenel International Art Group.
 
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The Society of Animal Artists (SAA) has partnered with the Susan Kathleen Black Foundation to offer a major series of artist workshops in Kerrville, Texas. Get the details here!
 
Registration is still open for TexArt 2016 in Kerrville, Texas. From May 22 through 27, artists are invited to attend a series of workshops from the Society of Animal Artists and the Susan Kathleen Black Foundation. From oil to acrylic, watercolor, sculpture, and more, nearly every medium will be considered during the workshops.
 
The instructors include Jan Martin McGuire, James Coe, David Rankin, Daid Turner, and Dan Chen. One-day options include instruction from John Banovich, Wes Siegrist, and Sally Maxwell.
 
To learn more, visit TexArt.
 
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.
 

Recently designated an Art Renewal Center approved atelier, Chiaroscuro Studio of Art is opening a group exhibition of student and instructor works.
 
Any institution recognized by the Art Renewal Center deserves our attention, especially when an exhibition like “Grounded” opens today. Chiaroscuro Studio of Art is quickly becoming one of the best ateliers to focus on classical techniques, representation, and the 19th-century academy. Via its webpage: “Our mission is to promote a return to discipline in the learning stages of art. By teaching traditional, time-tested methods, we guaranteed the aspiring artist with a strong basement in drawing and painting. They also learn about materials, tips, and secrets of the craft.”
 
Today — May 19 — the atelier is proud to be opening its group exhibition “Grounded,” which will feature a number of student and instructor works at Miami Dade College’s West Campus Gallery in Doral, Florida. Among the notable artists included are Milixa Morón and Carlos Martinez León.
 
To learn more, visit the Art Renewal Center.
 
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.