Ride ‘Em Cowboy

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...

Goodbye and Good Riddance

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...

The Artist in Question (Plus a Postscript on Stan)

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...

Jackson, Meet T-Rex

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,...

Obscene Flipping

One of the most celebrated artist/collector confrontations of the 20th century occurred at Sotheby’s (then called Sotheby Parke Bernet) in New York on October 18, 1973, when taxi-magnate Robert Scull was selling 50 paintings from his well-known collection of Pop Art....

Buying in the Boondocks

There’s a pleasant fantasy, held even by those who should know better, that goes something like this: You’re on a day trip in the country, and you happen across a little auction being held in a tent in a quaint village. A small painting that attracts you is being...