I like to say that there was only one truly creative genius in the whole of art history: the first caveman (or woman) to draw a mastodon on that cavern wall.  All other artists have been stealing from him or her ever since. I’ve been reminded of this assertion...

My wife and I just got back from two weeks in California, visiting our daughters.  As always, Roberta and I were struck by the beauty of the California landscape.  It brought back a question I have occasionally pondered: why bother to paint landscapes in...

In Chicago in the mid-1950’s, Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977) was acknowledged as the “Queen of Bohemian Artists.” She grew up in Hyde Park, home of the University of Chicago, the daughter of itinerant opera singers, but she became a painter, not a musician, though...

I got a query through my website the other day, seeking an appraisal of some real estate.  Thanking the sender for his interest, I told him that I am an art appraiser and am not qualified to appraise real property.  I directed him to the professional organizations...

There are two kinds of collectors that can make a dealer tear his hair.  The first kind don’t know exactly what they want; they’re just in the mood to buy something.  “I’ll know it when I see it,” they tell you.  You end up pulling out paintings of every conceivable...

As we watched the news of the deep freeze in Texas, our horror at the images of people burning furniture to stay warm and lined up for hours trying to buy food was made doubly shocking, whether we realized it or not, because of the unconscious perception most of us...

Back during the days of the Reagan Administration, I was participating in the Tri-Delta Antiques Show in Dallas.  Among the artworks on display in my booth was a cast of Frederic Remington’s iconic bronze The Bronco Buster.  An older gentleman visiting the...

This past March, as the reality of the Coronavirus began to make itself felt in the United States, I sent out an email entitled “Art in an Uncertain Time” in place of my normal blog.  Galleries were being shut down, and dealers were working remotely.  I...

This past May, I wrote a blog about the art seen on the walls of talking heads from the news shows, broadcasting from their homes since the pandemic began. My wife, who suggested that I write the post, was struck in particular by the painting on the wall by the...

If you’ve been crazy about dinosaurs since you were a kid and you have several million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, mark your calendar for October 6. That’s the evening Christie’s in New York is selling the 40-foot-long skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex,...