Fine Art Print Week New York 2003 is set for Nov. 3-9, 2003, and promises to be the biggest yet. Over 100,000 prints go on view at the 13th Annual Print Fair, which runs Nov. 6-9 at the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue. Add in the shows at the city's major museums and galleries, the special Editions/Artists' Book Fair '03 and the fall print auctions at four city auction houses, and you have the makings of a very busy week.
Central event of the week is the print fair, which features 87 print dealers in the show sponsored by the International Fine Print Dealers Association and produced by Sanford L. Smith & Associates. Among the promised attractions are works by Hendrik Goltzius at James A. Bergquist, prints by sculptors Henry Moore and Le Corbusier at Tobey C. Moss, rare Kthe Kollwitz prints at Galerie St. Etienne, "The Great American Woodcut" at Susan Teller and color woodcuts by Richard Estes at Marlborough Graphics.
New exhibitors to this year's fair include Allinson Gallery (Storrs, Conn.), Joel R. Bergquist Fine Arts (Stanford), Robert Brown Gallery (Washington, D.C.), Galleri K (Oslo), Goya-Girl Press (Baltimore), Graphicstudio/U.S.F. (Tampa), Harco Gallery (Wilson, Wyo.), Vivian Kiechel Fine Art (Lincoln, Neb.), Tobey C. Moss Gallery (Los Angeles), Lutz Riester (Freiberg), Marc Rosen Fine Art (New York), Kunsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler (Frankfurt-am-Main) and Weyhe Gallery (Mt. Desert, Me.).
The print fair's preview gala on Nov. 5 is hosted by the Museum of Modern Art, with proceeds to benefit the museum's department of prints and illustrated books. Tickets begin at $200, though a $1,500 benefactor ticket also includes a print by Robert Mangold made especially for the event. For more info, email specialevents@moma.org.
The print fair is sponsoring a pair of A-list presentations (seating is free, but limited -- reserve a space by contacting the IFPDA). On Saturday, Nov. 8 at 11 am, art writer Catherine Bindman moderates "Contemplating Rembrandt's Journey," a panel including Morgan Library curator Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Rijksmuseum curator Ger Luijten, Met curator Nadine Orenstein, and Boston MFA curator Thomas E. Rassieur. And on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 1 pm, Museum of Modern Art curator Deborah Wye presents a lecture titled "Collecting Prints for Museums: A Perspective from MoMA."
In addition to their presentations at the fair, IFPDA members have exhibitions in their galleries (needless to say). Just a sampling: "Matisse and Picasso," presented by Marc Rosen Fine Art at the Adelson Galleries; "Etchings by Rembrandt" at C.G. Boerner; "From Mantegna to Matisse" at David Tunick; "Etchings by John Sloan" at Kraushaar Galleries; "Donald Sultan: New Prints and Galleries" at Mary Ryan Gallery; Bruce Conner at Susan Inglett; and Helen Frankenthaler at Jim Kempner Fine Art. For a complete listing, see www.printdealers.com.
The New York Public Library is presenting "Depression-era Prints and Photographs from the WPA and FSA," Oct. 17, 2003-Jan. 17, 2004, which includes 56 prints by Albert Abramowitz, Nan Lurie, Louis Lozowick, Raphael Soyer and other artists who participated in the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The show also includes 73 photographs by Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, John Collier and others who documented rural America for the Farm Security Administration.
On the auction front, the fall season begins at Sotheby's with more than 800 lots (including about 90 by Picasso) offered in two days of sales on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The first morning session begins with more than 120 etchings and prints by James McNeill Whistler, while the afternoon session features several lots by Marc Chagall, including a complete suite of 12 Arabian Nights color lithos from 1948 (est. $250,000-$350,000). Among the contemporary lots is a quite large "Cubist" Image of Celia from 1984-86 by David Hockney (est. $60,000-$80,000) and several works in the same price range by Jasper Johns.
Christie's fall print sale on Nov. 4 features a selection of 50 prints by Max Beckmann deaccessioned by the Saint Louis Art Museum, including the artist's largest woodcut, Group Portrait, Eden Bar (est. $150,000-$250,000). Christie's morning session also includes a rare working proof of Winslow Homer's dramatic The Life Line (est. $30,000-$40,000) from 1884. Among the offerings in the afternoon is a classic Jasper Johns target image from 1974 (est. $100,000-$150,000).
Swann Auction Galleries on East 25th Street holds its "Old Master through Contemporary Print Sale" on Nov. 6, while Doyle New York on East 87th Street puts on its sale on Nov. 11.
Last but certainly not least is Editions/Artists' Books '03, Nov. 6-9, which calls itself "the first stop for anyone interested in the latest in contemporary publishing." Now in its sixth year and in new, larger quarters in the Starrett Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th Street, the fair features about 35 exhibitors from the U.S. and Europe, including Brooke Alexander, Marianne Boesky, Peter Blum, Crown Point Press, Gemini G.E.L., Landfall Press, Renaissance Society, Edition Schellmann and U.L.A.E. The opening night reception benefits Printed Matter; tickets begin at $25. For info, call (212) 647-9111.
