Whether Greek, Egyptian, Asian, or Roman, Artemis Gallery has it all during an upcoming auction of ethnographic art & antiquities.
 
From the renowned Artemis Gallery in Boulder, Colorado, a number of museum-worthy artworks from antiquity head to auction on October 22. The gallery, which is known for its integrity, has an unconditional guarantee that each of its lots is authentic and legal to purchase. The range of works is exceptional and originates from cultures spanning the entire globe, including Greek, Egyptian, Asian, and Roman.
 

Amphora, Greek, Athens, ca. 510 BCE, ceramic (c) Artemis Gallery 2015

 
Notables include an Egyptian relief of the goddess Hathor, circa 1570 to 1069 BCE. Although the sculpture has suffered damage over its 3,000-year history, the visage of the subject is remarkably clear, displaying the characteristic style of the Egyptian canon, including the cylindrically formed hair, strict frontality, and distinctive eye shadow. The gallery estimates a hammer price of between $30,000 and $40,000.
 
Also worthy of mention is a stunning Attic amphora, a de-accessioned object from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The beautiful vessel dates to circa 510 BCE and remains in remarkable condition. The vase displays all things one would expect from pottery of this period, including black-silhouetted figures with incised details. Further, white female figures are presented as well, a technique developed late in the 6th-century BCE in Athens. The piece is expected to fetch between $50,000 and $70,000.
 

Polychrome cylinder, Mayan, Honduras, ca. 550-850 CE, ceramic, (c) Artemis Gallery 2015

 
Hailing from ancient South America is a breathtaking Mayan polychrome cylinder, circa 550 to 850 CE. While the colors may be similar to the Attic amphora, the style couldn’t be more different. The Mayan cylinder shows a beautifully ornate jaguar framed at the top by a thick band of colored patterns. The style is quintessentially Mayan, with predominant use of organic lines and graphic abstraction. The artist has also provided lift to the object through cut feet. Collectors could take this home for $4,000 to $8,000.
 
Absentee ballots are online bidding is available through liveauctioneers.com.
 
To learn more, visit Artemis 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.

The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society just opened their 25th “Best of America” exhibition after an outstanding VIP Awards Banquet. Who took home top honors?
 
For 25 years and counting, The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS) has hosted a prestigious competition that has continually been met with grand acclaim. “The 25th NOAPS Best of America Exhibit 2015” opened last Saturday, October 10, with a sold-out VIP Awards Banquet attended by collectors, connoisseurs, artists, and local officials from all across the United States and Canada. This year’s events and exhibition is being host by The Dunnegan Gallery of Art in Bolivar, Missouri, and The Vine Wine Bar and Art Gallery in the Lake of the Ozarks area of Missouri.
 

Brenda Pollreisz, “Morning Patrol,” acrylic on Masonite, 18 x 22 1/2 in. (c) NOAPS 2015

 
Over 700 entries are submitted each year to the competition, with only 110 accepted for the 2015 exhibition. Awards exceeded $17,000 in cash and sponsor certificates. Artist Linda Massey of Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, took home top honors with the Best of Show award for her “Magnificent Seven,” a beautiful study of individuality, companionship, and loyalty. Set in a dark crimson background, seven hounds are found in a variety of positions. From standing to sitting, each subject displays an individuality of pose and expression, creating a captivating rhythm and movement across the surface. While most of the dogs gaze into the distance outside the frame, the central subject faces and engages the viewer directly with a welcoming expression.
 

Ann Kraft Walker, “Fallen in the Woods,” oil on linen, 18 x 16 in. (c) NOAPS 2015

 
Missouri painter Brenda Pollreisz earned second place for her “Morning Patrol,” which displays a prowling mountain lion in search of its next meal. The palette is particularly outstanding in Pollreisz’s work with a patterned arrangement of complimentary blues and oranges composing the shadowed rocks. Set against the cool tones is the earthy hues from the sun-bathed coat of the big cat.
 

A partial view of the VIP Banquet, October 10 (c) NOAPS 2015

 
Third place was given to Texas painter Ann Kraft Walker for her outstanding “Fallen in the Woods.” This still life displays Walker’s talent for capturing the phenomenon of light, but more importantly, the differences in texture between natural and man-made objects. The viewer finds on a tabletop an animal skull, deer antler, ceramic jar, and a curled, brown leaf. Each object has been treated with the utmost attention. Noteworthy are the minute details of each, the subtle grooves of the antler, the hint of cracks in the skull, and the weathered edges of the black jar.
 
A complete list of the 27 additional awards can be found here.
 
To learn more about this year’s event and how you could become part of “Best of America Exhibit 2016,” visit http://www.NOAPS.org.
 
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.

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: James Carroll Beckwith, “The Awakening.”
 
The son of a prominent wholesale grocer, James Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917) — or Carroll Beckwith, as he preferred to be known, was a well-respected American landscape, portrait, and genre painter hailing from Hannibal, Missouri. After the 1871 Chicago fire, Beckwith would pursue his artistry full-time, studying first at the Chicago Academy of Design then traveling to New York to study at the National Academy of Design before finally making his way to Paris, where he trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. It was in Paris that Beckwith cultivated a lifelong friendship with fellow student John Singer Sargent, with whom he assisted in painting the ceiling decorations for the Palais du Luxembourg.
 
Traveling back to New York in 1878, Beckwith concentrated his artistic vision on portraiture, genre, landscape, and figure studies, but he also remained fascinated by decorative design, which led to his commission to paint murals for the Liberal Arts Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
 
Throughout his career, Beckwith received numerous honors, including awards for his portraiture at the 1887 Paris Salon and medals at the Atlanta and Saint Louis expositions, and a gold medal at Charleston in 1902. A staunch supporter of American artists, Beckwith was known for his generosity through the Free Art League and Artists Fund Society of New York.

A beautiful Beckwith original will feature in Susanin’s Auctioneers & Appraisers October 24 sale in Chicago. Titled “The Awakening,” the large painting displays a nude female subject facing away from the viewer. She brings her knees towards her chest as she adjusts or prepares to remove her sandal. The spatial context of the piece is indistinct, with forms that appear like clouds taking shape in the upper left of the canvas. Further, the dark, undefined background behind the sitter allows her form to separate from the surface, enhancing her three-dimensionality and adding a slight sense of drama to the picture. Auction estimates are between $25,000 and $30,000.
 
To view the full catalogue, visit Susanin’s Auctioneers & Appraisers.
 
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 nation’s premier art shows and sale is only one week away. There’s sure to be BBQ, brews, cocktails, music, and the finest Western art by more than 175 of America’s top artists, of course. Yee-haw!
 
Join Southwest Gallery on October 22-24 for the Traveling the West Art Show & Sale in Dallas, Texas, one of the nation’s most outstanding fine art events. Over 175 artists will be featured, and collectors, connoisseurs, and the casual art lover can expect innumerable works of art showcasing the American West, complete with trains, planes, horses, scenes of Native American life, wagons, cattle, and more. Events begin on Thursday, October 22, at Southwest Gallery and continue through the weekend. Via the event website, organizers note, “‘Traveling the West’ touches on all areas of western life. From the earliest days of the Mountain Men, to the great push west after the Civil War. All moments in western history are included; wagon trains, cattle drives, ranch life, wildlife, hunting, fishing, the great railroads, and the first pilots that brought the airplane to the west are remembered.”
 

David Wright, “Guided Home by a Crescent Moon,” oil on panel, 24 x 30 in. (c) Traveling the West Art Show & Sale 2015

Sherry Blanchard Stuart, “1st U.S. Air Mail,” oil on linen, 36 x 32 in. (c) Traveling the West Art Show & Sale 2015

 
Scheduled events begin in earnest on Friday, October 23, at 9 a.m. with a series of tantalizing seminars by featured artist Steve Atkinson and others. Patrons will then have the opportunity to view their favorite artists in action with the “Quick Finish Art Event” from 1-3 p.m., followed by a sale preview and gala reception. Things really get cooking, literally and figuratively, on Saturday, October 24. Morning seminars are followed with a Texas Pit Master BBQ Picnic. Ballot books heat up at 6 p.m. with the main sale. Tickets for the events are still available here.
 
A complete list of the featured artists can also be found here, while a complete online catalogue of artworks available can be found here.
 
To learn more, visit the Traveling the West Art Show & Sale.
 
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.
 

Still life, tradition, art history, and masterful skill are beautifully orchestrated in the acrylic paintings of Guy Diehl.
 
For over 30 years, painter Guy Diehl has not only perfected his pictorial illusionism, he has intimately explored the ways in which still life can be employed to make art about art, allowing his viewers to both see and appreciate tradition in new and exciting ways.
 

Guy Diehl, “Still Life with Modigliani #11,” 2015, acrylic on canvas, 22 x 30 in.
(c) Dolby Chadwick Gallery 2015

 
Opening on November 5 at Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco is a solo exhibition of Diehl’s newest works, which showcase the artist’s recent exploration with natural lighting rather than the artificial illumination he was accustomed to. The resulting paintings, some 16 in the exhibition, are absolutely riveting in their simplicity and their extraordinary clarity and accuracy. What is more, the nod to — and dialogue with – the art historical canon adds a rich layer of reflexivity, contemplation, and narrative to the pictures that will undoubtedly leave viewers wanting more.
 

Guy Diehl, “Still Life with Kandinsky,” 2010, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 36 in.
(c) Dolby Chadwick Gallery 2015

 
The gallery reports, “As Diehl’s work has long set itself in immediate dialogue with art history – each painting creates a reflexive narrative around a specific artist, such as Richard Diebenkorn, Amedeo Modigliani, Egon Schiele, and Francisco De Zurbaran, among others – a return to the most basic form of illumination, one that is elemental to painting, therefore brings his entire process full circle.”
 

Guy Diehl, “Still Life with Matisse,” 2015, acrylic on canvas, 22 x 30 in.
(c) Dolby Chadwick Gallery 2015

 
“Still Life with Modigliani #11” is only one of the numerous masterpieces in the exhibition. Among a muted, blank, light brown background, we find a simple arrangement of objects along with a postcard displaying Modigliani’s famous “Caryatid.” From the left, a natural light source floods the scene, illuminating each object sharply. The lighting itself recalls the dramatic compositions of Baroque painters. The objects — a tall glass bottle, a sphere, stick, box, and inkwell — lean against the background, but equally leap from the surface through their illumination. Perhaps recalling Modigliani’s cubist or modernist sympathies, each object has a simplicity of form, nearly geometric.
 
“Guy Diegl: A Dialogue with Tradition II” opens on November 5 and will hang through December 5.
 
To learn more, visit Dolby Chadwick 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.

Three renowned painters take center stage in Carmel, California, with stunning landscapes, still lifes, and more.
 
Opening in 1997, Jones & Terwilliger Galleries represents the personal visions of owners Barbara Jones and Patricia Terwilliger, who now represent over 50 artists of national repute in their three galleries. Among them are local legends André Balyon, Brian Blood, and Laurie Kersey, each of whom features in the group exhibition titled “Local Legends,” which opened on October 10. Over 60 new artworks from these three Carmel, California, artists will be included.
 

Brian Blood, “Old Cypress Sunset,” oil, 30 x 24 in. (c) Jones & Terwilliger Galleries 2015

 
Hailing from the Netherlands is Balyon, who draws heavily upon the style, technique, and palette of the Dutch masters. Many paintings by Balyon will hang in the exhibition, including the magnificent “The Old Bird House,” a lovely 15 x 10-inch oil that has a quiet appeal. The viewer finds a weathered birdhouse with a strikingly beautiful and vibrantly red bird perched in front. Balyon has a soft touch and application of paint that is truly delightful.
 
In 2012, painter Brian Blood received the American Art Collector Award of Excellence, one of many earned throughout his 30-year career. “Old Cypress Sunset” is hypnotic with its dominant orange hue. Twisting and turning at center like the solidified veins of the earth, a cypress tree is bathed in a strong, saturated orange. At distance one finds a faint horizon out at sea, and the breaking surf along a small rocky projection.
 

 
Last but certainly not least are the paintings by Kersey, whose 30-year career has seen numerous juried exhibitions and many awards as she creates stunning views of her beloved Monterey Peninsula. The light within her “Early Morning Sun” commands extended consideration. The viewer finds themselves standing along the edge of steep sloping cliffs that lead to a calm sea below.  Although only slightly visible, the sun’s rays dance towards the viewer and sparkle across the water, creating a magnetic point of focus.  The majority of the canvas is given to the luminous green grasses on the slopes, which are imaged in a beautiful array of lime and forest greens.
 
“Local Legends” opened on October 10.
 
To learn more, visit Jones & Terwilliger Galleries.
 
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.

Lasting for nearly 400 years, the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030-1650 BCE) was an economic, social, and cultural flowering that produced some of the most outstanding artworks ever discovered from Ancient Egypt. Now, over 230 compelling masterpieces from this era have been brought together in one exhibition.
 
Ancient Egypt’s history is roughly defined by three distinct periods of political unification between Upper and Lower Egypt. Each kingdom, designated Old, Middle, and New, represented the height of Egypt’s cultural, artistic, social, and economic successes. The Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030-1650 BCE) is perhaps best known for its architectural advancements and the strict continuation of established artistic, cultural, religious, and political conventions from the Old Kingdom. Today, with the cooperation of 37 museums and collections in North America and Europe, masterworks from this exciting period of Egypt’s history are being made available to the public at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
 

Head of Amenemhat III Wearing the White Crown, greywacke, 18 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.
(c) Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek 2015

 
“Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom” will offer patrons a wide variety of objects in all types of materials, sizes, and functions. Particularly magnetic are the number of large, monumental stone sculptures on view. “Colossal Statue of a Pharaoh Seated” is one such highlight of the show. Likely a “ka” or “spirit” sculpture, an idealized and fit Pharaoh is shown seated in a rigid and highly formal pose. Completed in diorite, an extremely hard and durable stone, the piece is meant to exude stability, permanence, wealth, and power. The subject gazes out frontally; he sees everything and nothing.
 

Head of Senwosret III, quartzite, 17 3/4 x 13 1/2 x 17 in. (c) The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 2015

 
Extremely exciting is the inclusion of a quartzite portrait bust of Pharaoh Senwosret III. This piece, which is often noted in art history textbooks, is renowned for its revelation of the sitter’s character. One gets the sense that this Pharaoh, less idealized, is an individual, with distinct physiognomy. His deep-set eyes and his expression convey a tired, perhaps depressed emotional tone in a work that accords well with other images of this king.  
 
“Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom” opened on October 12 and will be on view through January 24.
 
To learn more, visit the Metropolitan Museum of 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.

Although Giorgio Vasari left this early Renaissance painter out of his Lives, Carlo Crivelli’s work and career are seeing a revival during an exhibition in Boston.
 
Born circa 1430 and known for his conservative Late Gothic decorative style, Italian painter Carlo Crivelli (1430-1494) has earned his first monographic exhibition in the United States, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. A touchstone of the exhibition is the recently conserved “Saint George Slaying the Dragon,” circa 1470, a dramatic image charged with excitement. The museum states, “Although the artist worked for more than thirty years after painting it, he never produced anything quite so full of vigor and imagination. What could be more dramatic than the contrast between the rearing horse, its head distorted with fear, and the tender saint, his eyes fixed on the dragon he is about to slaughter?”
 
Imaged within a large vertical format, bold forms, saturated color, and innovative compositional strategies characterize “Saint George Slaying the Dragon.” A large gray horse rears up at the center of the composition, twisting his head to the right of the panel in profile. The pained and fearful expression on the horse’s face is contrasted with the calm, confident poise of the Saint, who raises his sword above his head in preparation for one final downward thrust. The dragon, dwarfed by the magnificent horse, also stands on its hind legs, a spear projecting from its mouth and neck. In the distance we find a city amongst the hills and rocks, with a tiny, kneeling princess to the left.
 
The painting was, in fact, part of a much larger altarpiece painted for the parish church of Porta San Giorgio, the surviving panels of which are also included in the exhibition. The second part of the exhibition features 20 of Crivelli’s most important works from both the United States and Europe.
 
“Ornament and Illusion: Carlo Crivelli of Venice” opens on October 22 and will be on view through January 25.
 
To learn more, visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
 
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.
 

From Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, and Apulia to Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily; 19th-century Italian masters from throughout Southern Italy highlight a beautiful and carefully selected exhibition in New York.
 
Curated by the renowned expert and art dealer Marco Bertoli, 34 beautiful paintings rarely exhibited in the United States are on view at New York City’s Italian Cultural Institute. Although temperatures are cooling, viewers can bask in the mastery of Mediterranean light and exquisite chromatic skills of painters from gorgeous regions of Southern Italy. The Institute suggests, “While art enthusiasts may be more familiar with the artistic production from the North of Italy – such as work from Florence, Venice, Milan, etc. – the exhibition serves to highlight the Southern regions.”
 
In works that beautifully render diverse subject matter of everyday life, light and color were clearly the primary focus for artists of the 19th-century Neapolitan school. Viewers can expect a range of landscape, seascape, genre, and portraiture that captures the aura of this breathtaking region of the Mediterranean.
 

Francesco Lojacono, “Gulf of Palermo,” oil, (c) The Italian Cultural Institute 2015

 
Filippo Palizzi’s “The Ruins of Pompeii” is a stunning highlight of the exhibition, displaying one of the artist’s favorite models, Filomena. Independent of the subject, the clarity, luminescence, detail, and color of the painting are truly extraordinary. Standing at center is a pensive, contemplative female subject, one hand resting on her waist and the other touching her face. She gazes at a frescoed wall amidst the ruins of Pompeii as three other women recede into the background, carrying baskets of rubble. Bright reds, yellows, and blues from the frescoes dance across the canvas, their outstanding state of preservation represented masterfully. The subject was a popular one among painters of the late 19th century, as the 1864 unification of Italy initiated an active period of archaeological discovery and excavation. New technologies and methods gave rise to discoveries at Pompeii and Paestum, including new architectural complexes, some of which may be represented here.  
 
Francesco Lojacono’s “Gulf of Palermo” is another highlight of the exhibition. At center we find a single figure rowing his boat across the bay as the light of a fading day illuminates the picture. Other vessels, powered by both wind and man, are seen scattered throughout the picture. In the distance we find a faint cityscape underneath the dominating peaks of a short mountain. The light and color of the piece is mesmerizing, with an arrangement of blues, purples, and greens composing the water, while pinks, greens, and pastel blues detail the land and sky.
 
“The Light of Southern Italy” opened on October 8 and will be on view through November 5.
 
To learn more, visit the Italian Cultural Institute.
 
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.
 

Much more than simply layers of oil and pigment, the luminous paintings by artist Andrea Kemp are sure to evoke a lasting impression during her latest solo exhibition.
 
There always seems to be a captivating story to tell, whether clear or ambiguous, within Andrea Kemp’s paintings, especially those featured in her current solo exhibition at Saks Galleries in Denver, Colorado. “Luminous” includes 22 of Kemp’s latest figurative works, ranging from intimate portrayals of subjects deep in thought to full-length nudes to scenes of children in school or making their latest attempt to capture fireflies. The result is an outstanding exhibition that displays Kemp’s range of artistic talent and vision.
 

Andrea Kemp, “Umbrella,” oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in. (c) Saks Galleries 2015

 
The artist suggests, “For me painting is a way to communicate what words cannot. Through one frame a story is told, with lingering questions hanging and possible scenarios left for the viewer’s own interpretation. Like a good poem, painting has few opportunities to reach its audience in ways that can leave a strong lasting impression.”
 

Andrea Kemp, “Beacon,” oil on board, 16 x 16 in. (c) Saks Galleries 2015

 
“Excuse Me” is a magnetic picture featuring three children in a schoolroom. Two boys, one to the right, the other to the left, sit at their desks in profile. The subject to the left intently reads in a book while the other seems much less enthused and in desperate need of a nap. However, the gripping subject of the painting is the girl found between the boys, standing and gazing over her shoulder out at the viewer. Her ashamed and saddened expression leaves the audience guessing as to the events that led to this captured moment.
 

Andrea Kemp, “Summer Dip,” oil on board, 30 x 24 in. (c) Saks Galleries 2015

 
“Umbrella” fascinates as well, the seated subject shown in an emerald green summer dress. Hanging over her shoulder as she turns and looks out of the picture is a lovely pink and orange umbrella, which frames the subject and draws the viewer’s focus. There is a softness, a most expressive treatment in the painting’s brushwork, a feature Kemp intentionally manipulates in her work. She writes, “My paintings’ imagery can range from strong to soft depending on what kind of emotion I want to have as an underlying tone. Sometimes their stories are clear and other times they are more ambiguous. Their content does not always carry its story line; instead I try and utilize the language of the paint.”
 
“Luminous” opened at Saks Galleries on October 2 and will be on view through October 31.
 
To learn more, visit Saks Galleries.
 
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