I never told Marco Sassone this story. But with the recent release of his autobiography, American Journey — My Life in Art, it’s about time I did. It’s about his relationship with the late great art historian and impresario Peter Selz [1919–2019]. When he was Chief Curator at MoMA, he mounted seminal exhibitions, from Rodin...
Top of this page: Oscar Van Young. Laundresses, 1938, oil on canvas, 40 x 28 inches In Seattle’s present gallery scene one art dealer — Frederick R. Holmes — has stood out as the leader in introducing collectors to the paintings of early to mid 20th century Modern and Post War artists. His most important...
“In contending that aesthetic experience is cognitive, I am emphatically not identifying it with the conceptual, the discursive, the linguistic. Under ‘cognitive’ I include all aspects of knowing and understanding, from perceptual discrimination through pattern recognition and emotive insight to logical inference.” ...
One of the most extraordinary rediscoveries in American art in decades is now running through the month of October at the Karin Clarke Gallery. This exhibition does more than justify Tom Blodgett’s claim that he was “the van Gogh in America.” His masterfully executed large “painting-drawings” were selected from his estate collection by artist-curator Craig Spilman, who noted that “He’s one of about...
60 years of Collage in America curated by Peter Hastings Falk As Editor and Chief Curator of Discoveries in American Art I’m proud to announce the new virtual exhibition, It’s Time to Stick Together: 60 years of Collage in America. This early news release alerts you to an advance viewing before the opening on...
The most unique contribution of sculpture ever to grace a bridge is in the town of Willimantic, Connecticut. Leo Jensen’s huge 3,000-pound frogs sitting atop giant thread spools are symbols of the town’s history. Now they also bring pride, hope, and optimism. Granted, giant amphibians are among the most unlikely sculptures that one might imagine...
Making this puzzle come together At first, I’m a bit overwhelmed staring at 1,000 pieces of this big jigsaw puzzle. They must be reassembled into 19 great paintings, by masters ranging from da Vinci to Kandinsky. The magnitude of the challenge found me daydreaming: What if all those pieces represented museums and galleries in the...
How accidental damage to frames made of corrugated cardboard elicited a $100 million lawsuit. As the expert witness for the defense, I’m pleased that The Art Newspaper recently illuminated the largest “loss in value” claim in art history. Read the full story here. In addition to this 2019 case, Peter Hastings Falk has served as expert witness in...
The best of art-dealing and art historical scholarship are reinforcing, not antithetical. The eye of the art dealer-scholar comes with the ability to discern true innovation that emerged from particular periods, movements, or styles. There are numerous examples of museum curators joining with gallery owners to mount significant exhibitions. Historically, the exemplar nonpareil is Paul...
