Heather James Jackson Hole 3D Virtual Tour – Summer 2021

PUBLISHED IN: Gallery Tours

We are excited to share the fantastic collection of artworks on view this summer at our gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Located just off of the town square at 172 Center Street, our Wyoming gallery showcases blue-chip artworks from all genres including Frida Kahlo, Joan Miro, Alexander Calder, and Mary Corse. Discover the full collection in our 3D virtual tour.

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>Camille Pissarro’s La Briqueterie Delafolie à Éragny (1884) offers a vivid rural scene from Éragny. The painting has never been to auction, instead gracing numerous exhibitions in Zurich, Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, and Santa Barbara since its creation. Documented as no. 776 in volume III of the catalogue raisonné by Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts (illustrated p. 514), it stands as a testament to Pissarro’s Impressionist legacy. </div>
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<br><div>The foreground features a polychrome meadow. The staccato green, ochre, and lilac brushstrokes in all directions convey the wind’s gentle movement through the field beneath a fleecy sky. In the distance, the Delafolie brickyard emerges, owned by Pissarro’s good friend and neighbor. The catalogue raisonné notes:  </div>
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<br><div>“The Delafolie brickyard at Éragny, refers to a local family-owned and operated brickyard. Mr. Delafolie wasn’t just a bricklayer—he was Pissarro’s neighbor and brewed his own cider. His cider was reportedly so good that Claude Monet once wrote to Pissarro asking who the merchant was and how he could order a keg for himself. Pissarro and Mr. Delafolie were good friends, and Pissarro often took advantage of Mr. Delafolie’s regular deliveries to Paris and Gisors to ship his paintings along with the bricks.”  </div>
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<br><div>Similar works reside in the Musée d’Orsay, the Walters Art Museum, and the Birmingham Museum of Art. This painting offers collectors a rare, well-traveled piece, embodying Pissarro’s intimate connection to Éragny’s landscape and community. </div>

CAMILLE PISSARRO

<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>
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<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>
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<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=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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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HANS HOFMANN

<div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Hans Hofmann's <em>The Zoo</em> (1944) brims with playful energy, its abstract forms suggesting a whimsical exploration of animalistic shapes and gestures. Dominated by a vivid blue field punctuated by bold strokes of red, green, and yellow, the formal elements and composition provide a lively interplay of color. While the title invites the viewer to seek out zoo-like references, the forms are ambiguous yet evocative: sweeping red arcs might suggest the curve of a tail, while the triangular green shape evokes the profile of an enclosure or a cage. The painting captures not the literal essence of a zoo but the dynamism and movement one might associate with such a space.</font></div>
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<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black>Heavily influenced by Surrealist automatism and the biomorphic forms of Joan Miró, the organic shapes and bold colors seem to pulse with life, blurring the boundary between abstraction and figuration. Yet, unlike Miró's delicate dreamscapes, Hofmann's brushwork carries a muscular energy, grounding the composition in his signature gestural style.</font></div>
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<br><div><font face=Lato size=3 color=black><em>The Zoo</em> reflects Hofmann's ability to balance spontaneity with deliberate compositional choices. The result is a vibrant, joy-filled work that celebrates the world's visual complexity and the boundless creative freedom of abstraction during this pivotal phase of his career.</font></div>

HANS HOFMANN

<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>
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<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>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>
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<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>
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AMEDEO MODIGLIANI

Under the Tang China experienced a period of great cultural flowering, remarkable for its achievements across all areas of the arts and sciences. The tolerance of the Tang Imperial Court to outside influence and the free movement along the East- West trade route known as the Silk Road saw major urban centres become thriving cosmopolitan cities, with the Chinese capital, Chang’an (modern Xian) expanding to reach a population of over one million.
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<br>In keeping with centuries of tradition, funerary rites remained very important. A separate government department existed with responsibility for overseeing the manufacture of funerary wares. Officially there were limits on the number of grave goods and restrictions on the size of the objects which could accompany the deceased, according to rank – the highest ranked officials were meant to have a maximum of 90 figurines, no more than 30cm tall while members of the Imperial family were allowed several hundred up to about one meter tall. However, these rules were frequently broken. The deceased’s relatives believed they could improve their ancestor’s status in the afterlife by providing mingqi in excess of necessity, thereby ensuring their own good fortune. Tang Dynasty figurative ceramics share particular characteristics. The forms are animated and life-like, the subject matter covers all aspects of social and ritual life and the scale of the figures was reasonably small with the exception of some magnificent larger works commissioned for the tombs of the elite. Figures of courtiers and entertainers, polo players and the exotic travelers who now regularly arrived in the Chinese cities with their great pack camels became common place, illustrating the cosmopolitan nature of the times. The variety of forms tells us that craftsmen had scope for individual innovation and were not controlled by rules regarding particular styles. Now the funerary wares spoke not only of power and military strength, but also of the sophistication and intellectual achievements of the deceased.

CHINESE

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.
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<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

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

CAMILLE PISSARRO

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

ROLAND PETERSEN

GEORGE RICKEY - Space Churn with Squares - kinetic sculpture in stainless steel - 35 1/2 x 20 x 13 in.

GEORGE RICKEY

<div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>Michael Corinne West’s story is a significant one. A prolific painter and poet at the forefront of the Abstract Expressionist movement, West is the artist least likely to be acknowledged as standing among the first generation with the core group of male artists. Placed in a confrontational role as one of the few women defying a male-dominated mythology, she shifted to gestural painting in the mid-1940s, often laying the canvases on the floor and working like Jackson Pollock. Her earliest work in black and white predates Franz Kline’s by several years. It included “<em>Black and White” </em>of 1947, which impressed Clement Greenberg, who was never inclined to dish a gratuitous compliment. Despite the changing tides of art and fashion, her devotion to mysticism, inner emotional states, and the subconscious as they relate to Abstract Expressionism continued unfazed and steady.  </font></div>
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<br><div><font face=Aptos size=3 color=black>“<em>The Day After</em>,” painted in 1963, is West’s visceral, abstract response to a pivotal moment in American history — the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The overlapping layers of saturated blood-red tones clashing with forceful strokes of black suggest the rupture in the national consciousness and evoke feelings of disruption and confusion, embodying the artist’s internalized grief. West transformed the event into a deeply personal expression of mourning, capturing the weight of a nation’s sorrow in a form that defies literal representation yet speaks volumes emotionally.  </font></div>

MICHAEL CORINNE WEST

HARRY BERTOIA - Willow Sculpture - stainless steel - 61 1/2 x 39 x 39 in.

HARRY BERTOIA

HARRY BERTOIA - Untitled (Sounding Sculpture) - beryllium copper and bronze with wood base - 36 1/2 x 8 x 8 in.

HARRY BERTOIA

<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>
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<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>
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<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

<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>
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<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=Calibri size=3 color=black>Harry Bertoia was an authentic visionary in art, and they are rare. Of those whose métier is sculpture, Alexander Calder and Harry Bertoia are the twentieth-century American standouts. They are engineers of beauty; their creative currency is feats of invention and pure artistry that honor our experience of them (if we are willing to quiet our mind) as if a sacred event. It was Duchamp who suggested Calder call his kinetic works “mobiles”, but it was up to Bertoia himself to coin a word to describe something for which there was little precedent. Visually precise, kinetic, and offering resonant, vibratory sound, a “Sonambient” sculpture is at once a metaphor for our sentient experience in the world yet capable of inducing an aura of transcendent experience. Given that insight, it is easy to understand Bertoia’s view that “I don’t hold onto terms like music and sculpture anymore. Those old distinctions have lost all their meaning.”</font></div>
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<br><div><font face=Calibri size=3 color=black>The present “Sonambient” sculpture is a forty-eight-inch-tall curtain of thin-gauged tines. Once activated, it becomes a 15 3/4 inch long, 8 inches deep wall of sound. Five rows of narrow tines are staggered in number, alternating between 30 and 29 tines that, when activated, present as an undulating wall of sound. When touched or moved by air currents, the rods produce a sound that, while metallic, does not betray its source of inspiration: the serene connection Bertoia felt in observing the gentle undulating movement of desert grasses. As always, this is a Bertoia sculpture that invites participation in the experience of changing shapes and sounds, a participatory work that asks us to be present in the moment, to connect across time with the object and its creator.</font></div>

HARRY BERTOIA

TADASUKE (Tadasky) KUWAYAMA - B-139 - acrylic on canvas - 47 x 47 in.

TADASUKE (Tadasky) KUWAYAMA

Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans series marks a pivotal moment in his career and the Pop Art movement. The series, consisting of 32 canvases, each depicting a different flavor, revolutionized the art world by elevating mundane, everyday consumer goods to the status of high art. The screen print Pepper Pot from 1968 employs his signature style of vivid, flat colors and repeated imagery, characteristic of mass production and consumer culture. Screen printing, a commercial technique, aligns with Warhol's interest in blurring the lines between high art and commercial art, challenging artistic values and perceptions.

ANDY WARHOL

<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>
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<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

Signed, titled and dated ‘81 verso
<br>JR-198-81

JACK ROTH

KHMER - Male Torso - sandstone - 24 x 9 x 5 in.

KHMER

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

ANDY WARHOL - Northwest Coast Mask - screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board - 38 x 38 in.

ANDY WARHOL

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Great Britain and the corresponding ripples that made their way across the Atlantic Ocean were felt in the work of Jesse Arms Botke (1883-1971).  Botke was born in Chicago, Illinois but found her home in California, where she had a successful career working first in Carmel and later in Southern California. 
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<br>Rich textures, extensive use of gold leaf, and highly stylized birds would become synonymous with Botke's mature work as she established herself as one of the West Coast’s leading decorative mural painters of the 20th century.
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<br>"The White Peacock" (1922) shows an idyllic landscape with Botke's signature bird subject matter; the white peacock and cockatoos were among her favorite aviary subjects. Her work today can be found in countless museum collections, including the Art Institute, Chicago.

JESSIE ARMS BOTKE

Born in 1944, Thomas Nozkowski created small, richly hued paintings that reflect the dichotomous influences of the Abstract Expressionists and Bauhaus refugees with whom he studied at the Cooper Union. Using a small brush, his handling includes scraping and rubbing off paint in ways that register in the finished work. He developed a distinctive, wide-ranging vocabulary deploying biomorphic-like geometric forms in varied color schemes and a wide range of associations: tile flooring, to cell clusters, to architecture and outer space. Often, they are distilled from his own memories and experiences. Nozkowski commented on this specific painting (Untitled, 1994) saying that it reflects his fascination with the mythological scenes painted upon Renaissance cassone dowery chest panels. He pronounced it the best one of three or four 15” x 30” panels of this series. Nozkowski was handled for many years by Pace Gallery. He died in 2019.

THOMAS NOZKOWSKI

This well preserved bell is one of the largest known bronzes from the Southeast Asian Bronze Age, generally named after the Dongson site in North Vietnam.  The swirling band design is finely and crisply cast. Dongson bronze drums were also reported in South China, Thailand, Laos, West Malaysia, and Indonesia and as Far East as Western Iranian Java. 
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<br>The Dong Son culture is a Bronze age culture including all of southeast Asia and into the Indo-Malaya Archipelago from about 1000 to 1 BC. Centered on the Red River Valley of Vietnam, the Dong Son were sophisticated agriculturalists, raising rice and buffalo. Dong Son probably arose from local Neolithic cultures, such as Phung Nguyen and Dong Dau phases. Dong Son is identified with the Van Lang ruling dynasty, the first ruling dynasty of Vietnam. By the second century BC, impacts from the Han Dynasty in China were being felt and according to historic records, the Dong Son were absorbed into the Han Dynasty territory.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN

KHMER - Head of Avalokiteshvara - gray sandstone - 13 x 7 x 7 in.

KHMER

JACK ROTH - Untitled - acrylic on canvas - 18 x 30 1/8 in.

JACK ROTH

GERTRUDE PARTINGTON ALBRIGHT - Below Twin Peaks - oil on canvas - 24 1/4 x 29 1/4 in.

GERTRUDE PARTINGTON ALBRIGHT

The character shown here is the character for long life, read shou in Chinese and kotobuki in Japanese. The elegance of the characters, especially when depicted in their cursive forms, has made them poplar decorative motifs on textiles, ceramics, lacquer and many other media. Here the character, built up using gold-wrapped threads, is surrounded by chrysanthemums, which are also symbols of long-life because of their health-giving properties. Such a fukusa was likely made as a cover for a birthday gift.

JAPANESE