Palm Desert Gallery Walkthrough with Tom Venditti – 2022/2023 Season

PUBLISHED IN: Gallery Tours

Join Heather James Fine Art Director, Tom Venditti, as he tours our flagship gallery in Palm Desert, California. We feel fortunate to have Tom. Prior to joining Heather James Fine Art, Tom spent 14 years as the Senior Director of Art for the breathtaking Paul Allen Collection, which recently set several new records at auction in a triumphant display of the art market’s strength.

Heather James Fine Art endeavors to offer a wide selection of art of historical significance and aesthetic appeal and we can think of no one more capable of providing insights into a Claude Monet while seamlessly offering an informed perspective on a fabulous, new arrival by Wayne Thiebaud. We hope you enjoy Tom’s curated journey across several genres and blue-chip artists and that it will inform you and inspire a visit to our Palm Desert location to view the collection in person.

We are pleased to announce our winter hours at our Palm Desert location at 455188 Portola Avenue: Monday through Saturday from 9:00 – 5:00.

<div><font face=Lato> </font><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Diebenkorn’s path to the “<em>Ocean Park”</em> series was as layered and nuanced as his canvases. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1922, he found his artistic footing in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he absorbed the Abstract Expressionism of figures like Clyfford Still and Willem de Kooning. Yet even in his early abstractions, such as those inspired by the aerial views of the Southwestern landscape during flights to New Mexico, Diebenkorn’s work displayed a grounding in the tangible world. His shift to figuration in the mid-1950s, influenced by Bay Area peers like David Park and Elmer Bischoff, was met with surprise but underscored his belief in continuity rather than rupture. “I was never throwing things away,” he reflected. This ethos carried him back to abstraction in 1967 when the “<em>Ocean Park”</em> series began—a natural and revelatory return.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black><em>“Ocean Park #108”</em> (1978) showcases the spirit of Diebenkorn’s remarkable ability to translate the visual world into a meditative abstraction laden with intellectual rigor and personal resonance. Part of his acclaimed “<em>Ocean Park”</em> series, which spanned over two decades and more than 140 works, this painting captures the essence of Diebenkorn’s artistic philosophy: a fusion of restraint and spontaneity, where light, geometry, and color converge in perfect equipoise. Birthed in his Santa Monica studio overlooking this coastal neighborhood, the vantage point—framed by urban grids, oceanic expanses, and the shimmering Southern California light—shaped the language of these paintings. Yet <em>“Ocean Park #108,”</em> like its siblings, transcends a specific locality; it is less a depiction of a specific place and more a dialogue with the landscape of memory, perception, and art history.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>In this work, the coral-hued arch hovers above turquoise, ochre, and alabaster bands, evoking the interplay of horizon and sky. Below, an expansive blue-gray plane is bisected by a diagonal line, lending the composition a quiet dynamism. This scaffold of lines and planes—Diebenkorn’s signature vocabulary—draws on his early admiration for Cezanne’s structured landscapes and Mondrian’s architectonic grids but with a distinct California sensibility. The work’s veiled layers and pentimenti reveal the artist’s process: a cycle of addition and erasure, as though the painting itself is a record of thought in motion. “Indecision, conflict, and tinkering” were, as Diebenkorn once noted, essential to his practice, and here, they coalesce into a harmony that feels earned rather than imposed.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>What distinguishes <em>“Ocean Park #108” </em>within this celebrated series is its quiet confidence, a quality Diebenkorn achieved through rigorous exploration rather than easy fluency. While influenced by Matisse—whose luminous color and spatial tension left an indelible mark on his work—Diebenkorn resisted prettiness, instead striving for what he called “tension beneath calm.” In “<em>Ocean Park #108</em>,” this tension is palpable in the interplay between the precision of its linear framework and the softness of its painted surface. The visible corrections and reworkings imbue the painting with a human quality, a sense that it is not merely an object but an ongoing conversation.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>In the context of American abstraction, “<em>Ocean Park #108”</em> is a masterpiece of subtlety and nuance. Its interplay of horizon and sky geometry recalls earlier the desert roads Diebenkorn once photographed from an airplane, while its luminous palette evokes the marine light of the Pacific. But the painting’s emotional resonance—its “breadth of reference,” as one critic noted—elevates it. To stand before “<em>Ocean Park #108” </em>is to be enveloped in a space that feels both constructed and organic, abstract and deeply familiar. It is a testament to Diebenkorn’s lifelong inquiry into what painting could be: not a conclusion, but a possibility, ever unfolding.</font></div>

RICHARD DIEBENKORN

<div>When forty rural Sacramento Delta landscapes by Wayne Thiebaud were unveiled at a San Francisco gallery opening in November 1997, attendees were amazed by paintings they never anticipated. This new frontier betrayed neither Thiebaud’s mastery of confectionary-shop colors nor his impeccable eye for formal relationships. Rather, his admirers were shocked to learn that all but seven of these forty interpretations had been completed in just two years. As his son Paul recalled, “the refinements of my father’s artistic process were ever changing in a chameleon-like frenzy.” The new direction had proved an exhilarating experience, each painting an affirmation of Wayne Thiebaud’s impassioned response to the fields and levees of the local environment he dearly loved. </div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div>Viewed from the perspective of a bird or a plane, "The Riverhouse" is an agrarian tapestry conceived with a kaleidoscopic range of shapes and simple forms; fields striped with furrows or striated fans, deliriously colored parallelograms and trapezoids, an orchard garnished pizza-shaped wedge, and a boldly limned river, the lifeline of a thirsty California central valley largely dependent upon transported water. "The Riverhouse" is a painting that ‘moves’ between seamlessly shifting planes of aerial mapping that recalls Richard Diebenkorn’s stroke of insight when he took his first commercial flight the spring of 1951, and those partitions engaging a more standard vanishing point perspective. Thiebaud explained his process as “orchestrating with as much variety and tempo as I can.” Brightly lit with a fauve-like intensity, "The Riverhouse" is a heady concoction of vibrant pigment and rich impasto, one that recalls his indebtedness to Pierre Bonnard whose color Thiebaud referred to as “a bucket full of hot coals and ice cubes.” Among his many other influences, the insertion of objects — often tiny — that defy a rational sense of scale that reflects his interest in Chinese landscape painting. As always, his mastery as a painter recalls his titular pies and cakes with their bewitching rainbow-like halos and side-by-side colors of equal intensity but differing in hues to create the vibratory effect of an aura, what Thiebaud explained “denotes an attempt to develop as much energy and light and visual power as you can.” </div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div>Thiebaud’s Sacramento Delta landscapes are an integral and important part of his oeuvre. Paintings such as "The Riverhouse" rival the best abstract art of the twentieth century. His good friend, Willem de Kooning thought so, too.</div>

WAYNE THIEBAUD

During the early 1870s, Winslow Homer frequently painted scenes of country living near a small farm hamlet renowned for generations for its remarkable stands of wheat, situated between the Hudson River and the Catskills in New York state. Today Hurley is far more famous for inspiring one of Homer’s greatest works, Snap the Whip painted the summer of 1872. Among the many other paintings inspired by the region, Girl Standing in the Wheatfield is rich in sentiment, but not over sentimentalized. It directly relates to an 1866 study painted in France entitled, In the Wheatfields, and another, painted the following year after he returned to America. But Homer would have undoubtedly been most proud of this one. It is a portrait, a costume study, a genre painting in the great tradition of European pastoral painting, and a dramatically backlit, atmospheric tour de force steeped in the quickly fading gloaming hour light buoyed with lambent, flowery notes and wheat spike touches. In 1874, Homer sent four paintings to the National Academy of Design exhibition. One was titled, “Girl”. Might it not be this one?

WINSLOW HOMER

<div>Alfred Sisley’s Cavalier en lisière de forêt (Horseman on the Edge of the Forest), from 1875, is a luminous painting depicting a tranquil road near Marly-le-Roi, where Sisley found creative renewal after moving from Paris’s Batignolles quarter. This work, included in the 2021 catalogue raisonné of the work of Alfred Sisley prepared by Francois Daulte with Galerie Brame & Lorenceau and the Comité Alfred Sisley as no.196, showcases his unrivaled commitment to plein-air painting, even compared to Impressionist peers like Monet and Pissarro. Likely executed entirely outdoors, it captures the immediacy of a summer morning with feathery brushstrokes of muted greens, ochres, and blues, rendering a path winding into a forest, a lone horseman, and two figures—one with a parasol. </div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div>Sisley’s move to Marly-le-Roi, driven by a love for greenery and the need to support his young family amid financial strain post-Franco-Prussian War, shaped this work. Painted after the 1874 Impressionist exhibition’s disappointing sales, it reflects resilience. The diffused light and geometric composition—path and trees anchoring a vast sky—evoke the region’s gentle haze. Camille Pissarro, a close colleague, hailed Sisley as “a great and beautiful artist, in my opinion he is a master equal to the greatest” (Pissarro, quoted in C. Lloyd, ‘Alfred Sisley and the Purity of Vision’, pp. 5-33, M. Stevens (ed.), Alfred Sisley, exh. cat., New Haven and London, 1992, p. 8). The 2021 Brame and Lorenceau catalogue notes 360 of Sisley’s 1,013 oil paintings reside in museums, affirming his legacy. </div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div>This concise yet evocative piece offers collectors a rare glimpse into Sisley’s mastery, blending nature’s beauty with Impressionist innovation. </div>

ALFRED SISLEY

<div><font face=Lato size=3>Widely recognized as one of the most consequential artists of our time, Gerhard Richters career now rivals that of Picasso's in terms of productivity and genius. The multi-faceted subject matter, ranging from slightly out-of-focus photographic oil paintings to Kelly-esque grid paintings to his "squeegee" works, Richter never settles for repeating the same thought- but is constantly evolving his vision. Richter has been honored by significant retrospective exhibitions, including the pivotal 2002 show, "Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting," at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Abstraktes Bild 758-2" (1992) comes from a purely abstract period in Richter's work- where the message is conveyed using a truly physical painting style, where applied paint layers are distorted with a wooden "Squeegee" tool. Essentially, Richter is sculpting the layers of paint, revealing the underlayers and their unique color combinations; there is a degree of "art by chance". If the painting does not work, Richter will move on- a method pioneered by Jackson Pollock decades earlier. Richter is included in prominent museums and collections worldwide, including the Tate, London, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others.</font></div>

GERHARD RICHTER

The frame of reference for Irish American Sean Scully’s signature blocks and stripes is vast. From Malevich’s central premise that geometry can provide the means for universal understanding to Rothko’s impassioned approach to color and rendering of the dramatic sublime, Scully learned how to condense the splendor of the natural world into simple modes of color, light, and composition. Born in Dublin in 1945 and London-raised, Scully was well-schooled in figurative drawing when he decided to catch the spirit of his lodestar, Henri Matisse, by visiting Morocco in 1969. He was captivated by the dazzling tessellated mosaics and richly dyed fabrics and began to paint grids and stipes of color. Subsequent adventures provided further inspiration as the play of intense light on the reflective surfaces of Mayan ruins and the ancient slabs of stone at Stonehenge brought the sensation of light, space, and geometric movement to Scully’s paintings. The ability to trace the impact of Scully’s travels throughout his paintings reaffirms the value of abstract art as a touchstone for real-life experience.
<br>
<br>
<br>Painted in rich, deep hues and layered, nuanced surfaces, Grey Red is both poetic and full of muscular formalism. Scully appropriately refers to these elemental forms as ‘bricks,’ suggesting the formal calculations of an architect. As he explained, “these relationships that I see in the street doorways, in windows between buildings, and in the traces of structures that were once full of life, I take for my work. I use these colors and forms and put them together in a way that perhaps reminds you of something, though you’re not sure of that” (David Carrier, Sean Scully, 2004, pg. 98). His approach is organic, less formulaic; intuitive painter’s choices are layering one color upon another so that contrasting hues and colors vibrate with subliminal energy. Diebenkorn comes to mind in his pursuit of radiant light. But here, the radiant bands of terracotta red, gray, taupe, and black of Grey Red resonate with deep, smoldering energy and evoke far more affecting passion than you would think it could impart. As his good friend, Bono wrote, “Sean approaches the canvas like a kickboxer, a plasterer, a builder. The quality of painting screams of a life being lived.”

SEAN SCULLY

<div>In the mid-1920s, Rufino Tamayo embarked on the crucial development phase as a sophisticated, contemporary colorist. In New York, he encountered the groundbreaking works of Picasso, Braque, and Giorgio de Chirico, along with the enduring impact of Cubism. Exploring painterly and plastic values through subjects sourced from street scenes, popular culture, and the fabric of daily life, his unique approach to color and form began to take shape. It was a pivotal shift toward cosmopolitan aesthetics, setting him apart from the nationalist fervor championed by the politically charged narratives of the Mexican Muralist movement. By focusing on the vitality of popular culture, he captured the essential Mexican identity that prioritized universal artistic values over explicit social and political commentary. The approach underscored his commitment to redefining Mexican art on the global stage and highlighted his innovative contributions to the modernist dialogue. </div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div>Like Cézanne, Tamayo elevated the still life genre to some of its most beautifully simple expressions. Yet high sophistication underlies the ease with which Tamayo melds vibrant Mexican motifs with the avant-garde influences of the School of Paris. As "Naturaleza Muerta" of 1935 reveals, Tamayo refused to lapse into the mere decoration that often characterizes the contemporary School of Paris art with which his work draws comparisons. Instead, his arrangement of watermelons, bottles, a coffee pot, and sundry items staged within a sobering, earthbound tonality and indeterminant, shallow space recalls Tamayo's early interest in Surrealism. An overlayed square matrix underscores the contrast between the organic subjects of the painting and the abstract, intellectualized structure imposed upon them, deepening the interpretation of the artist's exploration of visual perception and representation. In this way, the grid serves to navigate between the visible world and the underlying structures that inform our understanding of it, inviting viewers to consider the interplay between reality and abstraction, sensation and analysis.</div>

RUFINO TAMAYO

<div> <font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Kurt Schwitters invented “<em>Merz”</em> in 1919, a term born from the fragmentation of the word "Kommerz" in one of his early collages. At a time of significant social, political, and artistic upheaval, Schwitters embraced modernist movements such as Dada, Expressionism, and Constructivism yet forged his path, developing <em>Merz</em> as his personal artistic approach. This idea of transformation, of elevating refuse into something meaningful, dominated his career and remained central to his creative practice until he died in 1948. <em>Merz</em> was not just a technique; it was a philosophy of creating art from the detritus of the everyday world, giving new meaning to objects independent of their original function.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Created in 1945 during his exile in England after fleeing Nazi persecution, “<em>Untitled, Merz Picture with Shoe Sole” </em>presents as an evocative example of his later <em>Merz</em> compositions. The work features a shoe sole as part of an assemblage whose topography includes two other raised elements: a textured scrap and a round white orb, creating an elevated terrain that brings physical depth to the piece. These elevated elements give the work a sculptural quality, blurring the line between painting and relief. At the same time, the layered textures and muted palette of slate and blue-gray, browns, and ochre underscore Schwitters' ability to draw beauty from what might otherwise be overlooked or discarded.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>The everyday experience, represented by the shoe sole, finds its place in an abstract landscape, much as Schwitters sought to create a sense of order from the disordered fragments of the world around him. The muted colors and rough textures of the assemblage suggest both scarcity—reflecting the limited materials available during wartime—and resilience, as Schwitters continued his artistic practice in the face of adversity.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Through this assemblage, Schwitters reaffirms his belief in the transformative power of “<em>Merz”</em>: the ability to turn the discarded into something new, meaningful, and enduring. “<em>Untitled, Merz Picture with Shoe Sole”</em> is a testament to Schwitters' unyielding vision, where even the most ordinary objects can become art, elevated literally and conceptually.</font></div>

KURT SCHWITTERS

<div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Hans Hofmann's <em>Baal</em> channels the charged energy of its evocative title, rooted in ancient Semitic tradition. The name refers to a lord or master but also carries associations with primal forces of nature, chaos, and creation. Hofmann's work reflects this duality, blending structured design with the untamed vitality of gestural abstraction to create a composition oscillating between entropy and order.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Painted at age 65, <em>Baal</em> also showcases Hofmann's willingness to revisit earlier disciplines while addressing the challenges of mid-century abstraction. Its vibrant palette and bold use of complementary colors, particularly the juxtaposition of red and green, heightens the painting's dynamism. His muscular brushwork also reflects his lifelong experimentation with the tension between form and freedom; undulating lines and biomorphic forms evoke the surrealist influence of Miró and the spiritual resonance of Kandinsky's gestural abstractions. Like these predecessors, Hofmann sought to translate "inner necessity" into visual expression, guided by his fertile imagination. Yet the planal elements and curvilinear shapes of <em>Baal</em> also reflect the influence of improvisational painting, a hallmark of Abstract Expressionism as practiced by contemporaries like Arshile Gorky, among others. It is a composition that teems with movement and energy, suggesting a cosmos in flux—chaotic yet deliberate.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Exhibited the same year at Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, <em>Baal</em> signals Hofmann's evolution as a master and innovator. With its vivid dynamism and symbolic title, the painting epitomizes Hofmann's ability to infuse abstraction with elemental power, crafting a deeply personal exploration of form and color.</font></div>

HANS HOFMANN

<div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Hans Hofmann's "<em>Astral Image #1"</em> of 1947 captures a pivotal moment in his artistic evolution as he wrestled with the competing forces of linearity and painterly abstraction. Exhibited in the same year at Betty Parsons Gallery in New York—Hofmann's first show with Parsons — the painting represents a phase of intense experimentation in which Cubist-inspired linear elements took center stage. Lines arc and stretch across the canvas, creating a dynamic framework that opens into areas filled with flatly applied alizarin crimson. These contrasting forces give the work a sense of tension and vitality.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>During this period, Hofmann's reliance on linearity provided a departure from the more fluid, painterly dynamism of his earlier works. From 1944 to 1951, this linear impulse permeated his practice, signaling a prolonged exploration of modes of expression in which he grappled with reconciling abstraction and structure. While some viewed this phase as a retreat from the energetic breakthroughs that defined American art's rise to global prominence, others recognized the distinctiveness of these paintings. <em>Astral Image #1</em> challenged the framework of Hofmann's singular vision, blending Cubist discipline with the vibrant, unruly energy that remained a hallmark of his oeuvre.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>The work's flat planes of bright alizarin crimson, contrasted with the angular momentum of the lines, evoke a cosmos of restless energy, hinting at the celestial themes suggested by its title. This painting reflects Hofmann's deliberate explorations during the late 1940s that underscore his unique ability to create works that resist easy categorization, standing apart as deeply personal explorations of form and color.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>

HANS HOFMANN

<div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Paul Signac’s <em>Saint-Briac. D’une fenêtre</em> (1885) captures the quiet beauty of the Breton landscape at a pivotal moment in the artist’s evolution from Impressionism to Neo-Impressionism. Painted during one of his frequent stays in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, a coastal village in Brittany, this work reflects Signac’s early fascination with the play of light, color, and atmosphere before his full embrace of </font><font
<br>face=HelveticaNeue size=3 color="#191919">Pointilist </font><font face=Lato
<br>size=3 color=black>technique. The composition, framed as if viewed from a window, balances structured geometry with painterly spontaneity, suggesting the artist’s growing concern with order and harmony in nature.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>The work once belonged to the French composer and conductor Jules Rivière and has been discussed in major art historical texts, including <em>Connaissance des Arts</em> (1956), Sophie Monneret’s <em>L’Impressionisme et son époque</em> (1980), and Françoise Cachin’s <em>Signac: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint</em> (2000), where it is illustrated as entry no. 102. Comparable examples from the same Saint-Briac series are housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Collectively, these works reveal Signac’s transition toward the structured luminosity that would soon define Neo-Impressionism and secure his place among the leading innovators of modern painting.</font></div>

PAUL SIGNAC

HANS HOFMANN

<div>Modigliani's premature death due to tuberculosis in 1920 at the age of 35 robbed the world of one of the fathers of Modern Art. His work was revolutionary; living and working in Paris during the first quarter of the Twentieth Century put the young artist at the center of the most significant advancement of painting since Impressionism, several decades before. </div>
<br>
<br><div>His short and brilliant career, filled with his signature nudes, could not be completely appreciated without considering the significant body of works on paper. "Cariatide" refers to the Greek architectural sculptures, the Caryatids. These columns carved into female figures hold up the entablature of temples. Modigliani called the subject his </div>
<br>
<br><div>"columns of tenderness." This drawing offers an early instance of the curving lines and almond shapes that mark Modigliani's signature style.</div>

AMEDEO MODIGLIANI

<div><font face=Calibri size=3 color=black>Camille Claudel's life story reflects an era when societal constraints often dimmed the brilliance of women; their genius was viewed as a threat to the male-dominated world. Most introductions to Claudel are steeped in misleading biographical details related to her as Rodin's assistant, mistress, or lover, associations that diminish her achievements as a first-rate sculptor whose work borrows little from Rodin in style or subject matter. Despite these challenges, Claudel's legacy has endured, celebrated through exhibitions, biographies, and films since her rediscovery in 1982. </font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Calibri size=3 color=black><em>“La Vague (The Wave),”</em> a remarkable sculpture of three women frolicking joyfully, embodies Claudel's passion for art and connection to nature. The women, their hair unruly like the sea, are depicted in a moment of freedom and abandon, yet the looming wave hints at the inevitable sorrow to come—a metaphor for Claudel's life, shadowed by fate. This piece, initially shown in plaster and later cast in bronze with an onyx marble wave, draws direct inspiration from Hokusai's <em>“The Great Wave,”</em> reflecting the Parisian fascination with Japanese art at the time. While <em>“La Vague”</em> showcases Claudel's technical mastery and the influence of Japanese aesthetics, it also poignantly symbolizes her acceptance of the overpowering forces of nature and the tragic course her life would ultimately take. This bronze, cast in 1997, is one of only two not held in a museum, further emphasizing the rarity of and reverence for Claudel's work.</font></div>

CAMILLE CLAUDEL

<div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Known for his ability to blend traditional Japanese techniques with modern aesthetics, Hiroshi Senju's sublime depictions of bands of cascading veils of paint evoke sensations of tranquility and awe. Senju began exploring waterfall imagery in the early 1990s, pouring translucent pigment onto mulberry paper mounted on board, creating cascading movement. In this work, "<em>Waterfall," </em>he masterfully bonds ribbons of cascading water into two curtain-like ethereal panels. Senju's interest in synesthesia is undeniable. "<em>Waterfall</em>" conjures sound, smell, and feel sensations as much as the rushing water's appearance. In the present work, he placed these dynamic elements in a context that grounds the viewer's sense of place within the natural world. A wedge of blue in the upper left corner contrasts the otherwise monochromatic palette, providing a sky association bounded by a hillside or cliff (for which Senju is known). Additionally, as the cascading water descends, it reaches a destination expanse at the bottom of the picture plane, where the force of the water disperses into a fine mist at the point of contact, serving as a visual anchor. </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Senju's finesse is evident throughout. He uses mulberry paper, a traditional Japanese material known for its delicate texture and strength. The paper's natural fibers absorb pigments in ways that create subtle gradients and fluidity, enhancing the visual effect of the cascading water. He employs traditional Nihonga techniques, such as layering washes to build depth and movement and utilizing varied brush strokes to achieve different effects. Additionally, he incorporates modern methods like the airbrush to apply fine mists of pigment, creating smooth and seamless gradients that mimic the delicate spray and vapor associated with cascading water.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Hiroshi Senju pays homage to the traditional art forms of his heritage while pushing the boundaries of contemporary art. His ability to convey the sublime through simplicity and abstraction makes this artwork a testament to his unique vision and artistic mastery. It stands as a serene reminder of nature's timeless beauty, captured through the ability of a master painter and artist. </font></div>

HIROSHI SENJU

HERB ALPERT - Arrowhead - bronze - 201 x 48 x 48 in.

HERB ALPERT

CAMILLE PISSARRO - Paysage avec batteuse a Montfoucault - pastel on paper laid down on board - 10 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.

CAMILLE PISSARRO

Mel Ramos is best known for his paintings of superheroes and female nudes juxtaposed with pop culture imagery. Many of the subjects in his paintings emerge from iconic brands or cultural touchstones like Chiquita bananas, M&M bags, or Snickers. In these works, visual delight is combined with suggested edible and commercial indulgence.
<br>
<br>Leta and the Hill Myna diverges from some of Ramos’ other nudes. Here Ramos depicts his wife, whom he spoke of as his greatest muse. Like his works depicting superheroes, Leta and the Hill Myna is imbued with mythos and lore. Myna birds are native to South Asia where some are taught to speak, often to recite religious. Furthermore, playing on his wife’s name and the avian theme, Ramos is referencing the famous tale of Leda and the Swan in which Zeus embodies a bird to rape Leda. The story has been reinterpreted throughout history, including by great artists such as Paul Cezanne, Cy Twombly and Fernando Botero. With this depiction, Ramos places himself in that same art historical lineage.

MEL RAMOS

<div><font face=Calibri size=3 color=black>Standing at an impressive 103 inches, this elegantly spare “Sonambient” sculpture by Harry Bertoia allows us to marvel at one of the finest artisans of his generation. This piece, the tallest in the series currently available here at Heather James Fine Art, features a precise arrangement of 36 slender tines in a 6 x 6 grid. This arrangement's uniformity and symmetry are visually captivating and crucial for the sculpture's acoustic properties. The rods, austere and uncapped by finials, have an aged patina with copper undertones, suggesting Bertoia's use of copper or a similar alloy known for its resonant qualities and distinctive coloration. Given the outstanding length of these rods, the attachment method is particularly noteworthy. Bertoia meticulously inserted each rod into individual holes in the base plate using precision drilling and securing techniques such as welding that ensured the rods were firmly anchored and stable, maintaining the structural integrity essential for consistent acoustic performance.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Calibri size=3 color=black>Beyond his uncompromising nature, Bertoia's work draws significant inspiration from natural elements. This sculpture's tall, slender rods evoke images of reeds or tall grasses swaying gently in the wind. This dynamic interaction between the sculpture and its environment mirrors the movement of plants, creating an immersive, naturalistic experience. Yet when activated or moved by air currents, the rods of this monumental work initiate metallic undertones that confirm its materiality without betraying its profound connection to the natural world.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Calibri size=3 color=black>Integrating technical precision and natural inspiration depends on exacting construction that ensures durability and acoustic consistency, while its kinetic and auditory nature imbues the piece with a sense of vitality. This fusion invites viewers to engage with the sculpture on multiple sensory levels, appreciating its robust craftsmanship and evocative, naturalistic qualities. Bertoia's ability to blend these elements results in a work that is both a technical marvel and a tribute to the beauty of the natural world.</font></div>

HARRY BERTOIA

After disappointing sales at Weyhe Gallery in 1928, Calder turned from sculpted wire portraits and figures to the more conventional medium of wood. On the advice of sculptor Chaim Gross, he purchased small blocks of wood from Monteath, a Brooklyn supplier of tropical woods. He spent much of that summer on a Peekskill, New York farm carving. In each case, the woodblock suggested how he might preserve its overall shape and character as he subsumed those attributes in a single form. There was a directness about working in wood that appealed to him. Carved from a single block of wood, Woman with Square Umbrella is not very different from the subjects of his wire sculptures except that he supplanted the ethereal nature of using wire with a more corporeal medium.
<br>© 2023 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

ALEXANDER CALDER

HANS HOFMANN - Song of Love - oil on canvas - 36 1/4 x 48 1/4 in.

HANS HOFMANN

ROLAND PETERSEN - Waiting Figure - oil on canvas - 68 x 56 in.

ROLAND PETERSEN

$<div><font face=Lato size=3>Maurice de Vlaminck’s <em>Le Viaduc de Saint-Germain-en-Laye</em> (circa 1910-1911), an arresting oil on canvas framed in ornate gold, captures the industrial elegance of a viaduct west of Paris. This work, set to be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, reflects Vlaminck’s fascination with the Saint-Germain area. Known for painting its urban landscapes and Seine-side scenes, he infused this particular scene with angular Cubist elements gaining traction in early 20th-century art. The viaduct, built in the 1880s to carry the Paris-Saint-Germain railway line, looms with golden arches against a turbulent gray sky, its unyielding structure juxtaposed with the fractured rooflines of quaint village houses. </font></div> <br> <br><div><font face=Lato size=3> </font></div> <br> <br><div><font face=Lato size=3>Vlaminck’s bold brushstrokes and muted palette create a textured, almost sculptural effect, with trees and rooftops rendered in dynamic, faceted shapes. The overcast sky enhances the scene’s ambient intensity, while the viaduct’s arches dominate, symbolizing modernity amid rural charm. This work exemplifies his early Fauvist roots evolving into Cubist influences, showcasing a pioneering style. </font></div> <br> <br><div><font face=Lato size=3> </font></div> <br> <br><div><font face=Lato size=3>A resident of the region, Vlaminck frequently depicted its evolving landscape, blending tradition with innovation. "Le Viaduc de Saint-Germain-en-Laye" offers collectors a rare glimpse into his transformative period. Its striking composition and historical context make it a compelling addition to any collection, celebrating Vlaminck’s contribution to modern art’s development. </font></div>$

MAURICE DE VLAMINCK

"A Dream Within a Dream" is a significant series of paintings and silkscreens by Ryan McGinnes that takes its name from a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Exploring themes of perception, reality, and the subconscious mind, McGinnes incorporates a variety of symbols and motifs, including geometric shapes, botanical elements, and figurative motifs, which he arranges in intricate patterns that seem to shift and morph before the viewer's eyes. The title suggests a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty, reflecting the elusive nature of reality and the fleeing quality of human experience. By engaging with themes of perception and illusion, McGinnes encourages viewers to question their assumptions about the world and to consider the possibility that reality may be more fluid and subjective than it appears.

RYAN MCGINNESS

"A drawing is simply a line going for a walk."
<br>-Paul Klee
<br>
<br>A significant draftsman, Paul Klee's works on paper rival his works on canvas in their technical proficiency and attention to his modern aesthetic. As an early teacher at the Bauhaus school, Klee traveled extensively and inspired a generation of 20th Century Artists.
<br>
<br>Klee transcended a particular style, instead creating his own unique visual vocabulary. In Klee's work, we see a return to basic, geometric forms and a removal of artistic embellishment. "Der Hafen von Plit" was once owned by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the First Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

PAUL KLEE

Manuel Neri was a central figure in the Bay Area Figurative Movement in the 1960s. Instead of abstract forms, the group emphasized emotion through the power of the human form. The present work, "Untitled" (1982), explores the female form on a life-sized scale. Neri preferred to work with just one model throughout his 60-year career, Maria Julia Klimenko. The absence of a face in many of the sculptures adds an element of mystery and ambiguity. The focus of the composition in "Untitled" is the structure and form of the figure. Manuel Neri is represented in numerous museum collections worldwide, including the Addison Gallery/Phillips Academy; Anderson Collection at Stanford University; Art Institute of Chicago; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University; Cincinnati Art Museum; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Denver Art Museum, the El Paso Museum of Art, Texas; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Harvard University Art Museums; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Honolulu Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

MANUEL NERI

<div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Born in 1881, the same year as fellow Spaniard Pablo Picasso, María Blanchard carved her distinct path within modernist art, blending Cubist influences with emotional depth. <em>"La Comida" </em>demonstrates Blanchard's evolution towards a more figurative style while retaining explicit Cubist references. This shift aligns her work with the “<em>Retour à l'ordre”</em> movement, a tendency many fellow artists embraced at the time. Thematically, “<em>La Comida</em>” recalls van Gogh's early works, particularly "<em>The Potato Eaters</em>" (1885), in both palette and subject matter. Like van Gogh, Blanchard draws attention to the simplicity of rural life, using muted tones of browns, reds, and ochres to convey the grounded, almost austere nature of the figures around the table.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Blanchard’s work after 1921 progressively bridged the gap between the rigid forms of early Cubism and a more emotive, personal representation of her subjects. Geometric rigors are present, but the scene's naturalistic light and volumetric composition echo Cézanne's influence. The sharp brushstrokes and angular figures evoke a sense of protection, reflecting Blanchard's intention to shield the inner spirit of her characters from the gaze of others. Yet, her sensitive portrayal invites viewers to connect emotionally with her work, engendering a sense of intimacy and quiet communion. Despite the somber palette, there is a subtle warmth, with the figures' inner spirit shielded from judgment, much like those in van Gogh's painting. Yet in synthesizing elements of Cubism, Blanchard added emotional complexity to the rural themes van Gogh explored, making her contribution distinct yet reflective of earlier artistic traditions.</font></div>

MARIA BLANCHARD

<div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>María Blanchard, born in 1881, initially emerged as a committed Cubist painter, heavily influenced by her friendships with Juan Gris and other avant-garde figures. Her work in the 1910s showcased rigorous geometric abstraction, yet by the early 1920s, she began to transition toward a more figurative style. This shift aligned her with the “<em>Retour à l'ordre”</em> movement, in which many artists returned to more classical forms after the upheavals of war and early avant-garde experimentation. Blanchard's increasing focus on emotional depth and human subjects became a defining feature of these later works, culminating in pieces like "<em>Fillette à la pomme</em>."</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Blanchard's Cubist roots, prominent in the angular treatment of the hands and apple, are softened throughout the girl's modest attire, suggesting a spiritual or religious significance. The model's pious countenance and the muted palette of browns, grays, and blues further reinforce that the painting continues a thread of religious themes, as seen in Picasso's early masterwork, "<em>The First Communion</em>," and Blanchard's own "<em>Girl at her First Communion</em>." The apple held in hand introduces layers of symbolism, often representing knowledge, innocence, or temptation, an association that suggests an emotional transition, bridging childhood and deeper awareness.</font></div>
<br>
<br><div> </div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Blanchard's ability to fuse Cubist form with symbolic narrative and emotional complexity makes this painting a poignant reflection of her evolution as an artist. She humanizes the rigid forms of Cubism while imbuing her subjects with depth and inner life.</font></div>

MARIA BLANCHARD

WALEAD BESHTY - Los Caballos en la Conquista - Ceramica Suro slip cast remnants, glaze, and firing plate - 9 1/2 x 32 1/4 x 21 1/2 in.

WALEAD BESHTY

The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) was a prosperous period that helped shape Chinese history's foundations for future centuries. This era was marked by notable technological and cultural advances, including gunpowder and printing. Among artistic advances during this period was the perfection of the sancai glaze technique, which was a prominent attribute of sculpture during this period. Sancai (tri-colored) glazing used the three glaze-colors were ochre or brown, green and clear. Glazed wares were much more costly to produce than other terracotta wares, and were therefore only reserved for the wealthiest patrons.
<br>
<br>This Sancai-Glazed Horse would have been an incredible status symbol for its owner and many have been lost to time. This sculpture is comparable to examples held in museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

CHINESE

The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) was a prosperous cultural period that helped shape Chinese history's foundations for future centuries. This era was marked by notable technological and cultural advances, including gunpowder and printing. Among artistic advances during this period was the perfection of the sancai glaze technique, which was a prominent attribute of sculpture during this period. Sancai (tri-colored) glazing; the three glaze-colors used were ochre or brown, green and clear. Glazed wares where much more costly to produce than other terracotta wares, and were therefore only reserved for the wealthiest patrons.
<br>
<br>The Sancai-Glazed Earth Spirit offered here depicts a "Zhenmushou." These are mythical hybrid creatures whose bodies are a combination of dogs, lions, boars and other animals. These fierce looking beasts would be found in pairs guarding the entrance of Tang Dynasty tombs.

CHINESE

<div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black><em>Alte Fischerhütten</em> (1949) by Max Pechstein is an oil on canvas in which the artist transforms a humble cluster of weathered fishing huts into a study of light, form, and atmosphere. Broad, rhythmic brushstrokes delineate the worn timbers and thatched roofs, while a sky streaked with lavender and rose imbues the scene with a quiet, almost meditative luminosity. Pechstein’s bold outlines and flattened perspective are tempered by a late-career restraint, allowing the simple geometry of dunes, huts, and sea to resonate with an almost timeless calm.<br>
<br></font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Though painted in 1949, this work reaches back to a motif Pechstein first explored between 1927 and 1930 during summers on the Baltic coast and in the village of Rowe with <em>Herbstabend </em>(1927) and <em>Getreideernte</em> (1930). In a letter from that earlier period he wrote of his inspiration:<br>
<br></font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>“A small, empty fishing hut on the lagoon, which Martin Sakuth had set aside for me… it was there that I first felt the heady, eternal rhythm of the sea.” (translated)<br>
<br></font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>By revisiting these modest structures in his final decade, Pechstein fuses the elemental power of wind, sand, and sea with a masterful control of color and form. <em>Alte Fischerhütten</em> thus stands as a poignant culmination of his lifelong dialogue with vernacular architecture and elemental landscapes, an enduring testament to his vision of nature’s quiet grandeur.</font></div>

MAX PECHSTEIN

Richard Diebenkorn once explained, “All paintings start out of a mood, out of a relationship with things or people, out of a complete visual impression.” Known for his defining role in the Bay Area Figurative Art movement, a counter to the abstraction dominating post-war New York City, Diebenkorn often oscillated between figuration and abstraction. In 1952, he took a faculty position at the University of Illinois in Urbana for one academic year. There, he taught beginning drawing to architecture students and used one of the bedrooms in his house as a studio. This period from 1952-53, known as the Urbana series, was a productive and pivotal time in the development of Diebenkorn's style. His innovative exploration of figuration through abstraction began in these crucial early years and would come to full realization in his widely celebrated Ocean Park series of the late 1960s-80s.

RICHARD DIEBENKORN

WILLIAM WENDT - Laguna Hills - oil on canvas - 25 x 30 in.

WILLIAM WENDT

<div><font face=Lato size=3>"Study for Three Sisters," a 1954 mixed media drawing by Balthus, offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s preliminary creative process. Executed in pencil with subtle blue watercolor accents, this sketch captures two figures—a reclining woman and a seated child—arranged with a spontaneous yet deliberate energy on a couch. The loose, expressive lines and minimal detailing reveal the immediacy and personality of the subjects, contrasting with the more formal and structured compositions of his final paintings. As a study for the major work "Three Sisters" within a series of significant canvases by the same name, it provides a window into Balthus’ evolution, showcasing how he refined his subjects over time and approached their portrayal with careful consideration. </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3>Balthus, like many avant-garde artists of the early 20th century such as Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso, saw children as vessels of raw, unformed spirit, untouched by societal constraints, and viewed adolescent themes as a potent source of psychological depth and uninhibited expression. This perspective infuses the drawing with a tender yet enigmatic quality. The provenance includes Nicholas Fox Weber, the acclaimed Balthus biographer, adding historical weight to the piece. A related "sister drawing" is held in the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection, further affirming its significance. This work not only highlights Balthus’ mastery of mixed media but also serves as a compelling study of youth and intimacy, inviting viewers to explore the artist’s thoughtful development of his iconic themes. </font></div>

BALTHUS

<div><font face=Lato size=3>Andy Warhol’s <em>Campbell’s Soup I: Vegetable Soup</em> (1968) is part of his first screenprint portfolio dedicated to the iconic soup cans, produced in an edition of 250 with additional artist’s proofs. </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3>The speed with which the art world embraced Warhol was remarkable: in July 1962, his thirty-two <em>Campbell’s Soup Cans</em> paintings debuted at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, quickly cementing his reputation. Those early canvases, among his last hand-painted works, appeared almost mechanically produced, but Warhol soon abandoned the brush in favor of silkscreen, a commercial process that allowed for both endless repetition and striking variations of his chosen subjects. </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3> </font></div>
<br>
<br><div><font face=Lato size=3><em>Vegetable Soup</em> was one of the original thirty-two varieties and remains a pop culture phenomenon, continually reappearing on everything from plates and mugs to t-shirts, neckties, and even surfboards. Warhol’s transformation of an everyday supermarket staple into an enduring icon underscores his genius for elevating the ordinary into the realm of high art. With its crisp outlines and industrial precision, <em>Vegetable Soup</em> embodies the artist’s most radical contribution: the merging of consumer culture with fine art. </font></div>

ANDY WARHOL

The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) was a prosperous cultural period that helped shape Chinese history's foundations for future centuries. This era was marked by notable technological and cultural advances, including gunpowder and printing. Among artistic advances during this period was the perfection of the sancai glaze technique, which was a prominent attribute of sculpture during this period. Sancai (tri-colored) glazing; the three glaze-colors used were ochre or brown, green and clear. Glazed wares where much more costly to produce than other terracotta wares, and were therefore only reserved for the wealthiest patrons.
<br>
<br>The Sancai-Glazed Earth Spirit offered here depicts a "Zhenmushou." These are mythical hybrid creatures whose bodies are a combination of dogs, lions, boars and other animals. These fierce looking beasts would be found in pairs guarding the entrance of Tang Dynasty tombs.

CHINESE

JOANNA POUSETTE-DART - Untitled (Red Desert Study) - acrylic on wood panel - 33 1/2 x 42 x 3/4 in.

JOANNA POUSETTE-DART

Harry Bertoia’s Willow sculpture resonates as an expression of grace and delicacy; qualities that bely the usual associations we have with the intrinsic properties of the alloy of which it is made. This suspended version – the rare version of Willow - seems to have a self-aware presence; one that delights in that contrast of properties. Yet it invites nothing more than existential pleasure in the viewing of it. Think of Willow as a boldly articulated version of Calder if the latter master had a more organic or corporeal evocation in mind. Suspended, it commands its area yet respects its spatial relationship to its surround. Light, form, space – these are conceptual tools of the sculptor. But who else would think to use reflective material more readily associated with inflexibility and tensor strength to create a bouquet of cascading strands of stainless steel, suspended in space, flora-like and so gracefully beautiful?

HARRY BERTOIA

Karl Benjamin and his peers Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley, and John McLaughlin hold a distinctive place in the history of American abstract art. Known for their precise, geometric forms and clean edges emphasizing flatness, they are California's Hard-edge painters who emerged in the late 1950s. Unlike Ellsworth Kelly, for example, their work reflects a brightness, clarity, and palette that suggests California's natural and built environment rather than the more urban and industrial influences felt on the East Coast. Furthermore, compared to the competitive art scene on the East Coast, the California group was a relatively small and close-knit community of artists with a sense of collaboration and shared exploration that contributed to a cohesive movement with a distinct identity.

KARL BENJAMIN

EDGAR ALWIN PAYNE - Venetian Boats at Sotto Marino - oil on canvas - 23 3/8 x 26 1/4 in.

EDGAR ALWIN PAYNE

ROBERT NATKIN - Apollo XL - acrylic on canvas - 88 x 116 1/4 in.

ROBERT NATKIN

LÉON AUGUSTIN LHERMITTE - Laveuses, le soir - pastel on paper laid on canvas - 17 1/2 x 13 3/4 in.

LÉON AUGUSTIN LHERMITTE

JAE KON PARK - Untitled - oil on canvas - 34 x 43 1/4 in..

JAE KON PARK

FELIPE CASTANEDA - Mujer con Guitarra - marble - 16 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 10 in.

FELIPE CASTANEDA

FELIPE CASTANEDA - Pensando - marble - 11 1/2 x 7 x 7 in.

FELIPE CASTANEDA

GEORGE BELLOWS - Tennis (Tennis Tournament) - lithograph on paper - 18 1/4 x 19 3/4 in.

GEORGE BELLOWS

GEORGE BELLOWS - The Tournament (Tennis at Newport) - lithograph on paper - 14 3/4 x 18 1/4 in.

GEORGE BELLOWS

Inquire