All Categories - The Banks Gallery

Looking back

4/30/2013

With the closing of "Luminous Terrain" this week I took a moment today to look back at a year of great effort and wonderful success. In just over one calander year I helped organize and present three extraordinary exhibitions of 19th century White Mountain Art. That alone would be enough to be thankful for, but now that the exhibits are over it is the catalogs that remain, and they are fantastic.

The efforts of dozens of people from the directors of the exhibiting institutions, the collectors of the paintings, the art restorers, framers, art handlers, exhibition designers, printers, photographers, and scholars these catalogs remain as a testament to the skill and dedication of those people committed to art and New Hampshire. I am grateful to have played my roll.

POSTWAR Abstraction

4/18/2013

We are growing, both in space and focus. This June the gallery will open 50% more exhibition space at our Daniel St. location. This new space will allow us to expand the scope of work that the gallery handles to include Postwar American Art. The first exhibition, opening June 20th, focused on this new body of work will be "Postwar Abstraction". The show will include artists such as Hans Hoffman, Elaine De Kooning, Ludwig Sander, Ralph Coburn, Jack Roth, John Grillo, John Hatch, Jules Olitiski, Robert De Niro Sr., and Hannes Beckmann.

Keep a close eye on this blog to see future developments in this new and exciting focus.

Carl Austin Hyatt - Early Morning @ Rye Harbor

4/17/2013

Artist Carl Austin Hyatt has been photographing the Rye coast for more then 20 years. Usually he's well hidden down in the rocks above Wallis Sands but recently he's been working in Rye Harbor. Carl's work is often classified as modernist, and was recently highlighted by the Currier Museum's exhibition "A New Vision: Modernist Photography". As you can see in this photo of Carl's set up he's focussing on the poles, the curve of the rocky shore, and the reflection in the water to create a dynamic composition. I have no doubt that this early morning session will produce an extraordinary work of art.

White Mountain Art @ The Lamont Gallery PEA

3/27/2013

The Banks Gallery is extremely proud to be an exhibition partner for Phillips Exeter Academy's Lamont Gallery exhibition "Luminous Terrain". This exhibition was organized with the intent to show works by the very best Hudson River School artists who painted in the White Mountains. These artists include Albert Bierstadt, Alfred Thompson Bricher, Thomas Cole, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Martin Johnson Heade, John Frederick Kensett, and William Sonntag.

These are snap shots of the exhibiton taken during a walk through today. The Lamont Gallery space and lighting presents the works beautifully. The curators installed the works so the viewer is able to spend time with each painting as they move through the inviting space.

The quality of the work in this exhibition invites multiple visits. Each painting tells a wonderful story through color, scene, and narrative. After you have left the works seem like memories of journeys you have taken, but can't quite remember.

The exhibition is open until May 4th, 2013. For more information please visit the Lamont Gallery website.

Opening day at the Armory Show

3/7/2013

The snow, ice and rain didn't keep anyone away from the piers today. The show was packed, and business was brisk in many of the boths we visited. Our good friends at Valarino Fine Art had sold over a dozen works by the end of the day with prices ranging from $14,000 to well over $100k.

There were stunning works by Morandi, Diebenkorn, Olitski, Motherwell, Park, and Burchfield. Get to the show if you can!

Richard Diebenkorn @ Hollis Taggart Gallery.

Jules Olitski

I stunning small Charles Burchfield at DC Moore Gallery.

The Armory Show

3/2/2013

In 1913 the "International Exhibition of Modern Art" was held at the 69th Regiment Armory, from February 17 until March 15. This exhibition was the introduction of Modernism in America and changed the course of American Art forever. Iconic works by Picasso, Matisse, and Duchamp were on display and soon found they're way into American Museum collections.

One hundred years later we are days away from the 2013 Armory Show, which is now held on piers 92 and 94 in New York City. We hope to see all of our friends and colleagues at the show this year.

For more information on this years show please visit: thearmoryshow.com

There is also a preview of the show on: artsy.net

‘Lois Dodd: Catching the Light’

3/1/2013

‘Lois Dodd: Catching the Light,’ at Portland Museum of Art in Maine is a retrospective for a painter who has largely been over looked for her entire career. Now in her 80's this modest exhibition offers a chance to see the work of one of America's greatest living painters. On view till April 7th, 2013.

Exhibition webpage:
portlandmuseum.org

New York Times review by Roberta Smith:
nytimes.com

New Arrival: Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1915)

2/23/2013

Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1915), "The Shoals"

One of our favorite unsung artists, Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1915) created this lovely painting of the Isles of Shoals in August of 1887. The painting depicts Appeldore Island with the coast of York Maine on the horizon, the summit of Mount Agamenticus is viewable in the distance. During the 1880s Turner summered at the Shoals painting with his friend Childe Hassam.

Turner's work is represented in many public and private collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Public Library, Fogg Museum at Harvard University, National Museum of American Art, Worcester Museum of Art, Peabody Museum of Salem, and Denver Art Museum. In recent years, Turner's work has been well represented in several major traveling museums exhibitions including "The Bostonians: Painters of an Elegant Age, 1870-1930" and "Awash in Color; Homer, Sargent and the Great American Watercolor."

If you have interest in this painting please contact the gallery.

Art Museums and Video

2/21/2013

Museums have embraced video as a way to expand the reach of their exhibitions and programing. The production quality and the information shared through these videos is profoundly changing the way we are able to interact with these institutions. We are able to access information which would have never been available other then through direct access with artists and curators. I hope the community will embrace these videos the same way the museums have. At this point I am always amazed at how few views are registered.

Two examples have been posted bellow, Tate Gallery's "TateShots" and the Metropalitan Museum of Art's "82nd and 5th". Wether through a youtube channel, vimeo, or art video sites such as artbabble.org the educational opportunities are limitless. These doorways of ideas open infinite possibilities to explore in art and culture.

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TateShots was launched in 2007 as a new monthly art programme available online and featuring highlights from Tate exhibitions, collections, public events and performances.

Now part of 'Tate Channel' the programme still showcases a rich range of activities at the four Tate sites, via interviews with artists, studio visits, behind the scenes tours with curators and conservation experts and clips of unmissable artist performances.

tate.org.uk

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82nd & Fifth is the Met's address in New York City. It is also the intersection of art and ideas. We've invited 100 curators from across the Museum to talk about 100 works of art that changed the way they see the world. Eleven Museum photographers interpret their vision: one work, one curator, two minutes at a time.

82nd & Fifth is a year-long series of 100 episodes. Throughout 2013, new releases will appear every Wednesday. Sign up for email announcements so you never miss one.

metmuseum.org/82nd-and-Fifth

Inventing Abstraction @ MoMA

2/18/2013

Inventing Abstraction is a powerful exhibition which explores the development of abstract painting through the connections of artist during the early years of the 20th century. MoMA has also utilized many of todays most progressive media outlets to enhance the experience and reach of this ground breaking exhibit. Links to these different formats are imbedded bellow.

The exhibition has it's own website:

www.moma.org

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A tmblr site has been created where new content is posted almost daily, including interviews with contemporary artists discussing specific works of art in the exhibition:

tmblr site

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One of the best art critics writing today, Tyler Green, interviewed curator Leah Dickerman on his must listen weekly podcast Modern Art Notes:

POD Cast

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New York Times critic Roberta Smith reviewed the show:

NYT Review

The Times also created a video:

NYT Video

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