http://antiquesandthearts.com/Antiques/AntiquesShows/2011-10-04__12-10-46.html
USArtists American Fine Art Show and Sale Laura Beach 10/14/2011
Philadelphia, Penn. -- This year's USArtists was not a barn burner, but organizers of the September 23–25 show, a leading venue for traditional American painting from the Eighteenth Century through the present, are confident that the blue-chip fair will recover its once prosperous footing. Organized by the Women's Board as a fundraiser for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the nation's oldest art museum and school, USArtists got its start 19 years ago at the 33rd Street Amory. At the height of the market, top dealers made six-figure sales to collectors on opening night, then traded among themselves with their earnings. USArtists moved to the sleek, new Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, adjacent to PAFA's historic 1876 headquarters near City Hall, last year. While most participants suspect that the sluggish economy and erratic financial markets are chiefly to blame for the sales slowdown, there were other culprits. For one, USArtists — which debuted on Thursday evening, September 22 — fell earlier in the season. For another, some PAFA patrons may have felt forced to choose between supporting the show and attending the October 1 lighting of Claes Oldenburg's "Paint Torch," a 51-foot sculpture marking the start of Philadelphia's Museum Mile, and PAFA's accompanying after-party, just one week later. PAFA owes the Women's Board and USArtists exhibitors better dates and its wholehearted support in the future. "USArtists has been promised the third weekend of October from next year forward," said Alicia A. Sterling, who co-chaired USArtists with Diana Bittel. "Otherwise, I'm not sure what more the Women's Board could have done to make people buy art. Our marketing and promotion effort was thoughtfully conceived. We bought ads in the New York Times , The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest and Vanity Fair . We were on Facebook and the Phillyfunguide.com. The lights of the PECO Building were even dedicated to us." Martin Johnson Heade's monumental "Coast of Newport,” $3.5 million, a 51-by-72-inch oil on canvas of 1874, was an attraction at William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd, Newport, R.I. The dealer is standing in front of the painting that was first exhibited at the Louisville Industrial Expo in 1875. Managed by Karen DiSaia, USArtists sets up on two floors, a mild inconvenience offset by the beauty and intimacy of these elegant spaces. Reflecting PAFA's dual role as a school and a museum, the top floor of the show emphasized contemporary, if largely traditional, American art. Most of the powerhouse dealers in Impressionist and Modern American art — featuring a breathtaking range of works by Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam and Winslow Homer to Joseph Stella, Marsden Hartley and Andrew Wyeth — took booths on the first floor. "I can't complain," said Fraidoon Al-Nakib of F.A.N., a Philadelphia gallery that represents emerging, regional artists, some with ties to PAFA. Al-Nakib's second-floor display was crammed with canvases, many not more than a few inches large. Before the weekend's close, F.A.N. sold seven paintings by Al Gury, the head of PAFA's paintings department, plus nine more by the 28-year-old painter Gregory Prestegord. F.A.N.'s affordably priced pieces range from about $1,500 to $5,000.