On Collecting Fine Art >

Born in Germany but a U.S. citizen for many years, the New Jersey-based businessman Dieter Weissenrieder became interested in the visual arts as a young adult thanks to a close friend who became a curator at a major German museum. His wife, Eleanor, a retired schoolteacher, grew up in suburban New Jersey, so she has visited New York City’s museums all her life and began bringing Dieter along soon after they met. The couple have always enjoyed traveling, especially in Europe, and have visited many museums there.

“More than 40 years ago,” Dieter recalls, “Eleanor and I made our first art purchase because the small house we were renting needed some art on its walls. From a gallery in Greenwich Village we bought a landscape painted by a French artist, and we still own it today. In the 1970s, we acquired our first sculpture in Taos when we began skiing and visiting galleries there.”

In fact, the Weissenrieders are devoted skiers and have skied out west every year. Those experiences exposed them to what is now called Art of the American West: “We started to develop relationships with gallery owners in various ski resorts,” Dieter explains, “and as we got more hooked on art, we began attending auctions and museum benefit sales,” especially at the Autry Museum of the American West (Los Angeles) and Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis). The couple also drew inspiration from a fellow collector: because they have a house in Scottsdale, Arizona, they often visited the enormous and outstanding collection formed by Eddie Basha in nearby Chandler. (Fortunately, Basha’s heirs have donated it to the Heard Museum in Phoenix and Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West so that many other people can enjoy it, too.)

Today the Weissenrieders own paintings and sculpture by William Acheff,  Gerald Balciar, Amery Bohling, John Buxton, John Coleman, Don Crowley, Michael Dudash, Toni Falk, John Fawcett, Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, Fred Fellows, Bruce Greene, Robert Griffing, William Haskell,  Karin Hollebeke, Walt Horton, Doug Hyde, Jerry Jordan, Sue Krzyston, Steven Lang, Mel Lawson, Chul Young Lee, David Mann, Curt Mattson, Frank McCarthy, Denis Milhomme, K.W. Moore, Sr., Paul Moore, Bill Nebeker, Rock Newcomb, Gary Niblett, Don Oelze, Robert Peters, Dave Powell, Heide Presse, Robert Pummill, Alfredo Rodrigues, Scott Rogers, Roseta Santiago, Harry J. Sharre, Tim Shinabarger, Daniel Smith, Matt Smith, Gordon Snidow, Nathan Solano, Ray Swanson, Andy Thomas, Russ Vickers, Curt Walters, and David Wright. Sadly, several artists who were alive when they acquired the work have subsequently died, including Joe Beeler, Glenna Goodacre, Allan Houser, Harry Jackson, and Oleg Stavrowsky. Also in the Weissenrieder Collection are important pieces of Native American pottery by Autumn Borts-Medlock, Eric Fender, Jody Folwell, Susan Folwell, Tammy Garcia, Al Qoyawayma, Maxine Toya, and Alvina Yepa.

“Getting to know the artists has added an exciting dimension,” Dieter remembers. “Eleanor and I feel that collecting art without ever meeting the artist is not as rewarding as developing a relationship.” (Only rarely have they bought work by a deceased artist, perhaps five in total, including E.I. Couse.) “Now” Dieter continues, “we deal primarily with the artists themselves and with galleries. Because we have run out of wall space, we have even told several artists to create smaller paintings if they want us to continue acquiring!”

The Weissenrieders have formed a particularly close friendship with John Buxton and his wife, Noralee. Illustrated here is a painting Dieter commissioned, “Great Falls of the Passaic at Paterson,” a breathtaking site of natural beauty now protected as a national park. Dieter wanted his friend to imagine the falls as they might have looked around 1750, when Native Americans relied on their abundant supply of fish. The Weissenrieders visited this place with Buxton, who had hired a senior Boy Scout to paddle the artist’s canoe deep into the falls so he could get a better sense of scale and perspective.

Dieter picks up the story: “Alas, the current proved too strong, so the canoe capsized and got a big hole in its side. Luckily, the young man was a good swimmer and we were able to pull the canoe out of the Passaic River about 400 feet downstream. The bad news: the canoe was totaled; the good news: John won two major prizes for this gorgeous painting, and we now have a wonderful memory to cherish forever.” In addition, the Paterson Museum located nearby displays a giclée replica of the painting to help visitors appreciate the significance of the falls historically.

Yet another close friend who carefully researches his scenes of Eastern Woodland Indians is Robert Griffing, represented here by “Pushing through the Billows.” Dieter admires how this artist studies elements such as clothing and tools “right down to the smallest detail,” and he recounts with a smile a missed opportunity to acquire yet another work by Griffing: “A dealer offered us one privately, but Eleanor and I balked at its price. Ten months later, that painting fetched a sum 70 percent higher during an auction we attended. It’s the one that got away.”

Dieter tries to have lunch with Buxton and Griffing at least once a year near Pittsburgh, where he owns a manufacturing plant. He and Eleanor are also friendly with the artist John Fawcett and his wife, Elizabeth; during a visit to the Weissenrieders’ small farm, Fawcett painted a portrait of their entire family mounted on horses, a large work that hangs over the fireplace in their living room. The collectors have visited the California home of Denis Milhomme and his wife, Lorene, who were especially pleased when the Weissenrieders loaned three of Denis’s best works to his 2022 retrospective at the Eiteljorg. The sculptor Scott Rogers and his wife, Janette, have visited the Weissenrieders in New Jersey, and Dieter still treasures their visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was “great to listen to Scott analyze the artworks on view.”

Though the pace of their collecting has slowed, Dieter says that he and Eleanor still aim to acquire art “that is meaningful, tells a story, and will outlast us.” They have succeeded on all three counts.

View more artist and fine art collection profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine here for expert art collection advice, gallery exhibition news, and more.

From the Fine Art Connoisseur March/April 2025 Editor’s Note: “The art collectors highlighted in this issue of Fine Art Connoisseur buy art with their eyes and hearts…”

Collecting Art for the Right Reasons

My favorite issue of the year is the one that highlights real-world collectors of contemporary realist art. This is that issue, and we hope you will enjoy “meeting” the individuals and couples who have so generously opened their doors. These folks now join 97 others we have profiled since 2015, and we are honored and grateful to welcome them to this community.

Why do we do this? First, people need role models, in any walk of life. We play tennis better after watching Coco Gauff, and we cook more effectively after Bobby Flay demonstrates the recipe. It’s harder with art collecting because there is no single way to do it, and unfortunately the best-known collectors are financiers and movie stars paying millions at auction for a Hirst or a Koons. Good for them, but that’s collecting warehoused-investment-assets with your ears, not art-to-live-with with your eyes. I’m far more intrigued by celebrities who collect items of comparatively low value: just for example, Tom Hanks buys antique typewriters, Angelina Jolie goes for medieval and Renaissance knives, and Claudia Schiffer seeks out mounted beetles, butterflies, and spiders.

Great, but this is a fine art magazine, and besides, buying anything when you’re a hundred-millionaire is not particularly difficult. The real trick is to buy wonderful “unbranded” art on a regular budget, away from the limelight and the art advisers who think about this stuff all day. The folks highlighted in this issue buy art with their eyes and hearts, living with and enjoying it, sometimes enhancing their lives further by getting to know the artists who made it.

The hardest step in this issue’s preparation is asking the collectors to choose just two artworks to illustrate in their profiles. That’s like choosing among your kids, but the collectors do it bravely, and they understand why we ask them to. It’s simple: we can dedicate only two pages to each collector, and if we were to fill them with seven or eight “favorite” images, there wouldn’t be room for the words. Besides, each artwork would look more like a postage stamp than a painting. And so we go smaller (in number) and bigger (in photo size), reminding everyone that these two images don’t represent the whole collection, only evoke it.

Our work on the collector profiles never stops, so it’s already time for us to plan next year’s edition. There are great collections — many still being formed — in every region of this country, and no one person could possibly know all of them. Though our research is well underway and we already have some terrific names in sight, I hereby invite you to send me suggestions or nominations of other collectors. Our criteria are simple: they must be U.S. residents (still living) who have collected, or are continuing to collect, superb contemporary realist art created any time after 1980.

Ideas are welcome from everyone: the collectors themselves, their friends, families, dealers, advisers, curators, etc. Please just send me an email (ptrippi@streamlinepublishing.com) and I will move it forward. Rest assured that our team is discreet; all communications with collectors will be virtual, and we will not turn up unannounced at their homes to take photos! The individuals selected will have an opportunity to fact-check everything, and in fact they themselves will provide the photos to be illustrated. That said, it’s our editorial team’s decision who goes in, and who doesn’t.

Thank you as always for your incoming suggestions, and please enjoy learning about this year’s fascinating collectors.

What are your thoughts? Share your letter to the Editor below in the comments.

Download the current issue of Fine Art Connoisseur here.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Building an Art Collection – a Fine Art Collection Profile >

Tom Vining is a retired veterinarian who lives in a small town 75 miles west of Houston. His home is adorned with approximately 275 paintings, almost all of them on display with — amazingly — enough wall space for more. Ranging from figures and still lifes to landscapes and cityscapes, these works have been created by impressionist and realist artists in America, Russia, and Ukraine, most of them after 1980, though a few before.

Tom says he did not grow up with original art: “I remember my dad doing some paint-by-numbers and framing prints of famous paintings, but the real spark for my interest in art was beginning a new relationship at age 40. In 1992 my partner and I made our first visit to Santa Fe, where we purchased three landscape paintings by Don Brackett, Eric Wallis, and [the late] Louisa McElwain. I was hooked, so when we returned home, I began seeking out galleries near our second residence in rural Texas, between Houston and Austin. Luckily, I found The Gallery at Round Top, which was owned by two artists willing to answer my questions and educate me more than I ever could have on my own.”

One of those generous artist-gallerists was Karen Vernon, and Tom began purchasing paintings by local and regional artists she represented, then joined an organization in which she was active. Arts for Rural Texas is dedicated to providing arts education for youngsters who would otherwise never be exposed. Its programming includes after-school and summer art camps, exhibitions of student and professional artists, and the subsidized transport of pupils to attend live performances in large school auditoria throughout Fayette County.

Every year Arts for Rural Texas mounts Art Walk, a juried exhibition presented in the main square of Fayetteville (population 258). Over the years Tom has bought lots of art there and has also taken many more trips to Santa Fe, especially off-season, when dealers and artists are better able to relax and share their insights at length. In time, he discovered and “fell in love” with comparable artworks from the Soviet Union, Russia, and Ukraine, and he is especially fond of the students who are sustaining this artistic tradition at the Repin Institute in St. Petersburg. (Sadly, the availability of their art in the U.S. has been challenged by trade sanctions imposed on Russia since 2022.)

Today, the Vining Collection encompasses works by such American talents as George William Allen, William Alther, Sunny Apinchapong, Suzie Baker, Phil Beck, Ovanes Berberian, Kathie Boehneman, Don Brackett, Michelle Chrisman, Graydon Foulger, Kaye Franklin, Greg Glowka, Walt Gonske, A.D. Greer, Eric Harrison, Rick Hodgins, Qiang Huang, Eric Jacobsen, William Scott Jennings, Robert A. Johnson, Roger Hayden Johnson, Rusty Jones, Ramon Kelley, Sonja Kever, Phoenix Kooper, Margie Leach, Calvin Liang, Chen Liang, Huihan Liu, Frances Macaulay, Sally Maxwell, Janice McCubbin, Ken Muenzenmayer, C.W. Mundy, Lenore Prudhome, Manfred Rapp, Jean Reavis, Laura Robb, Bob Rohm, Don Sahli, Mary Scott, Carol Swinney, Gary Taylor, Linda Tibolla, Hsin-Yao Tseng, T.W. Vanya, Karen Vernon, Scott Wallis, and Bruce Williamson.

The Russian and Ukrainian artists represented include Lyudmila Agrich, Nikolai Babasyuk, Arthur Bakhtiyarov, Ekaterina Belova, Olga Grigoryeva-Klimova, Vladimir Kholuev, Viktor Kiselev, Slava Korolenkov, Valery Koserukov, Sergei Kovalenko, Vladimir Kovalov, Olga Kuzmina, Oleg Lomakin, Piotr Marmanov, Andrew Piankovski, Erik Rebane, Semon Rotnitski, Andrey Selenin, Alexander Shabadei, Irene Sheri, Boris Spornikov, Vadim Suvorov, Evdokia Usikova, Helve Viidalepp, Ivan Vityuk, Nina Volkova, Olga Volkova, Edvard Vyrzhikovski, Fedor Zakharovich Zakharov, Zinaida Zatsepina, and Tuman Zhumabaev.

Tom says he buys regularly from artists themselves; about 30 of those represented in the collection have had the pleasure of visiting him, and indeed four paintings have actually been created in his house. All visitors are struck by the intelligence of Tom’s juxtaposition of artworks from different regions; on one wall, for example, hang complementary tree scenes painted in 1979 by Fedor Zakharovich Zakharov (1919–1994) and just last year by Eric Jacobsen (b. 1966). The close aesthetic connection between Old and New Worlds is epitomized by the presence of two masters in the Vining Collection: Nicolai Fechin (1881–1955) and Sergei Bongart (1918–1985) both immigrated to the U.S. and thrived here, introducing generations of their new compatriots to “the Russian School.”

Tom also buys regularly from galleries and is quick to credit three dealers as particularly inspirational: Paul Eubanks at Paul Scott Gallery (formerly Gallery Russia) in Scottsdale, Dianna Eaton at Kyiv International  Gallery (formerly Art of Russia International) in Santa Fe, and Vanessa Rothe in Laguna Beach. He admits he is stunned by “the determination of younger artists to bypass the gallery system.” He says, “They do not seem to realize that few artists will prosper without someone promoting their work and investing time and money to do so. Being discovered on the Internet is like finding a needle in a haystack. Even established artists will fade away if they are not promoted constantly.”

Tom continues to show support for artists by attending fundraisers that benefit Arts for Rural Texas and other nonprofits, and when local galleries invite their artists to teach on site, they frequently come to visit his collection. (In fact, entire art classes from local schools have come through.)

Not every acquisition is straightforward, of course. Tom confides: “Sometimes, I find too many great pieces at the same time. Fortunately they seem to wait for me to come back and collect them. One piece took three years because there was always another one I liked more. Once I had to wait eight years for a very expensive painting, and sometimes I find that a desirable painting I passed on has later shifted to another gallery at a moment when I can actually acquire it.”

Clearly, patience has been an essential virtue in the Vining Collection’s formation, and will continue to be so.

View more articles on building an art collection here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine here for expert art collection advice, gallery exhibition news, and more.

Fine Art Collection on View > In Salisbury, North Carolina, the Waterworks Visual Arts Center is hosting the exhibition “Never Before Seen … Modern Masterpieces from the Collection of Julian and Josie Robertson.” On view are 40 paintings and sculptures created by 28 European artists including Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Fantin-Latour, Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, and de Kooning, spanning a range of movements from impressionism to abstract expressionism.

All of the works are from the collection of the late New York City philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson, who began buying art in earnest after Julian (1932–2022) founded the hedge fund Tiger Management in the 1980s. He was born in Salisbury and remained dedicated to his hometown for the rest of his life.

It was there that he learned the importance of community from his parents, Blanche and Julian Robertson, both active members of the town’s church and civic life. Blanche was also instrumental in establishing Waterworks as a recognized organization in the late 1970s.

On a national level, the younger Robertsons became generous supporters of the arts, medical science, education, environmental conservations, and efforts to combat poverty. In 1997, they established the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation to support causes in Salisbury and in Rowan County, of which it is the county seat.

As plans were laid to tour the Robertson Collection, it was agreed that it should be seen in Salisbury first. Its 12-month presentation there is attracting visitors from throughout the region, and it’s impressive that Waterworks and the foundation have partnered to ensure that every child in Rowan County — some 19,000 students — will visit during the show’s long run.

Exhibition Details At a Glance:
“Never Before Seen … Modern Masterpieces from the Collection of Julian and Josie Robertson”
Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, North Carolina
waterworks.org
Through August 30, 2025

View more art museum announcements here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

By David Masello

Architect Peter Pennoyer is reluctant to cut and paste a document or fire up the CAD drawing software typical in his industry. Instead, he and his staff architects prefer to do much of their designing by hand, actually drawing the moldings and staircases, fireplace surrounds, and coffered ceilings that figure into his residential projects.

“Hand drawing connects you to the human scale,” says Pennoyer from his New York office, where for decades he has been designing scores of America’s most notable, traditionally styled residences. The latest are featured in his book Peter Pennoyer Architects: City/Country (Rizzoli). “You realize quickly that drawing teaches you humility, and you realize that people, architects in particular, who drew regularly in their day did it better than we can today. Some things should be difficult. Struggle isn’t always bad.”

Such methodologies echo why Pennoyer has remained fascinated by “The Architect’s Dream” (above), an 1840 canvas by Thomas Cole (1801–1848) that is in the permanent collection of Ohio’s Toledo Museum of Art. Within a span of just five weeks, Cole, also a trained architect, painted this monumental canvas for his commissioning client, I. Town, a prominent New York architect of the day. The painting reveals a kind of timeline of architectural styles through the ages.

“The moment I saw the Cole, I remember being absolutely stunned,” Pennoyer recalls. “He probably made a smaller-scale sketch of this, a cartoon. He was astonishingly talented at then laying down paint on a canvas.”

The scene, which depicts an amalgam of idealized buildings — a glowing neo-Gothic church, the looming form of an Egyptian pyramid, an arched Roman aqueduct, towering obelisks, circular edifices, an Assyrian temple — is presented to the viewer as a skyline of structures. Indeed, the architectural panorama is viewed from what Pennoyer surmises is a Romanesque-style loggia, its opening framed by billowing green curtains.

Fronting the array of structures is a public gathering space populated by an inestimable number of people, who appear to be attending a ceremony. Of the buildings the artist chose to depict, Pennoyer feels confident that “Cole is definitely editorializing, holding up the Greek as the pinnacle of architecture. Where does the brightest light shine in the painting? On the Greek temple.”

A visit to Pennoyer’s Manhattan office reveals not only teams of architects busy at their drafting tables, but also floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with architectural volumes, pattern books, and monologues — a repository of design wisdom and inspiration practically on the scale of the lost library of Alexandria.

In a metaphorical sense, then, it is fitting that Pennoyer is able to “read” even more into Cole’s scene than is initially presented to the viewer. Pennoyer points to the architect in the painting, who is depicted lounging atop a column, surrounded by volumes larger than he. “I’m an old-fashioned footnotes person,” he says, “and I’m pretty sure I remember learning that Town paid Cole for the work in architectural treatises.” Pennoyer surmises that such volumes might have included Claude Perrault’s 17th-century editions of his translations of the tenets of Roman architect Vitruvius. (Pennoyer has two copies in his office.)

“Just as hand drawing connects you to the human scale, so here does Cole relate the scale of the architecture,” Pennoyer emphasizes. Recognizing that computer technology does have its advantages, Pennoyer zooms up the image on his screen and comments on the crowd that appears to be marching in a procession from the Greek temple. “The fires suggest a pagan ritual, but while we can’t get in the head of Cole, it’s impressive to see how much he manages to pile on in this painting.”

***

Fine Art Today covers artists and products we think you’ll love. Linked products are independently selected and linked to for your convenience. If you buy something using a link on this page, Streamline Publishing may receive a small share of that sale.

Attention Art Collectors!
May 20-22, 2025: Visit the Plein Air Convention & Expo’s robust pop-up art gallery at the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, where hundreds of artists, including our master faculty, will have studio and plein air works on display and ready to purchase. Register for the full event at PleinAirConvention.com now.

View more artist and collector profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

From January 17 – February 28, 2025 and accompanied by a fully illustrated scholarly catalogue, The Kennedy Marshall Art Collection will be on view at Schoelkopf Gallery in New York City.

From the gallery:

This exhibition features one of the most significant private collections of American regionalist and social realist art created between 1920 and 1970. The art collection belongs to acclaimed film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, whose careers have defined modern cinema.

Spanning nearly 40 remarkable works—including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper—the exhibition highlights iconic pieces by artists such as Romare Bearden, Thomas Hart Benton, Jared French, Jacob Lawrence, Paul Sample, and Ben Shahn. Each work reflects figurative storytelling with a modern sensibility, embodying the cultural and social narratives that defined 20th-century America.

Kennedy and Marshall are celebrated as two of the most influential figures in entertainment, best known for founding Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and producing classics like E.T., Jurassic Park, and the Back to the Future trilogy. With numerous Academy Award nominations and wins, their impact extends far beyond film, exemplified in their thoughtful and genre-defining approach to art collecting.

For more details, please visit schoelkopfgallery.com.

Attention Art Collectors!
May 20-22, 2025: Visit the Plein Air Convention & Expo’s robust pop-up art gallery at the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, where hundreds of artists, including our master faculty, will have studio and plein air works on display and ready to purchase. Register for the full event at PleinAirConvention.com now.

View more fine art gallery exhibitions here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

As of this writing, roughly 180,000 people are evacuating more than 45 square miles in the Los Angeles area, and our hearts are with them. If you have a way to show support of the families and businesses in need, please do so.

The L.A. fires, in addition to all the damage we know of so far, have resulted in hundreds of lost paintings at artist studios, collector homes, and likely art galleries. Our hope is that this message will serve as a reminder to insure your artwork or make plans to try to protect what you have, as well as encourage you to help if you can.

My dad trained us to understand that if you have to think under pressure and don’t already have a plan, things won’t go as well in the heat of an emergency, or even drama and emotion. But if you try to anticipate situations, perhaps you can recover, or reduce the negative impact.

For many of us who are not in the midst of tragedy, now is the time to take action to make sure you have the best possible plan in case something does happen.

Progressive Insurance says that “art and collectibles may not always be covered through your homeowners policy for their full value. Some insurers may have a sub-limit that applies in the event of a loss, which means your insurer will only cover certain items up to a specified amount. In order to insure art and collectibles for their full value, some insurers will allow you to add these items as a separate endorsement or ‘rider’ to your homeowners, renters, condo, or manufactured home policy. Your insurer may require you to provide a photo or detailed description of the item, and possibly an appraisal.”

Art Studio Considerations

If you had a five-minute notice, what would you grab? Look around and decide what’s absolutely irreplaceable, whether because it’s valuable or sentimental.

The first thing crossing my mind isn’t the stuff we can replace, it’s the stuff we can’t. Things with emotional meaning — in my case, an extensive art collection, a collection of portraits other artists have done of me, and piles of paintings that are my life’s work. What would I do if it was all lost?

I created a list of everything that had meaning, then prioritized that list, and handed out instructions. If there is a fire, if there is time, get these items out to safety first. If there is still more time, add these things that are on the list.

What do you need to do to prepare to leave on a moment’s notice?

What will you regret not having, or not having created a digital copy of?

Most important, of course, is your life and your family. Don’t go into a burning fire and risk your life to save an old photo. It’s not worth the risk. But having a plan in advance is a great idea.

“Art studios give artists the space they need to create as well as a way to store their completed works of art and sell art from the studio,” says the team at Art Insurance Now. “Due to the nature of the work in an art studio, art studio insurance is essential. Risk exposures such as natural disasters and unexpected events like fire, flood, earthquakes, and storms, can cause extreme damage to the building and contents.”

Art Insurance and Documentation

Contact your insurance agency and ask what you need for proper coverage. They may require specific documentation of your collection or your body of work.

My friends in the 2023 Malibu fire had five minutes’ notice. They lost everything. That’s the most likely scenario. In that case, you would at least want records and proof such as digital photos and things stored online or on a server off-site. I have most of my paintings and collection documented, but the list has not been updated in five years. I would at least want to be able to remember those things or have evidence for insurance. (Artwork Archive is a great resource for helping you keep track of your art inventory.)

In your art inventory, include high-resolution photos of all of your paintings and document the size along with any other details you have available.

What if your paintings are lost in a gallery fire?

When you agree to sell your paintings through a gallery, you should have a written agreement that includes things like liability issues and insurance. Keep a digital copy of this online in case it’s ever needed.

Your agreement should also include answers to the following questions:

Will your insurance cover the loss of your art if the gallery has a fire or theft, or is that the responsibility of the gallery?

Do you need an insurance rider on your work that is hanging in a gallery?

What if the art gallery is unable to pay you for the paintings they’ve sold?

One More Note

The horrors of wildfires and other natural disasters are beyond awful. Families need help, and if you have something extra, this is the time to step up and find a charity that will help.

Related Article: How to Inventory Your Art Collection

A Western Art Collection Profile >

The artist Billy Schenck lives near Santa Fe with his wife (and business partner), Rebecca Carter, in a handsome adobe house built by the renowned landscape architect John Brinckerhoff Jackson (1909–1996) and then completely renovated by the couple. Here at the Double Standard Ranch they have created their own Shangri-La for making and displaying art, and also for playing the equestrian sport of ranch sorting, at which Billy excels.

Born in Ohio, Billy “began drawing before I can remember.” In 1965, during his freshman year at the Columbus College of Art & Design, he spent $125 (a substantial sum then) on a painting created by a sophomore friend named Peter Kambitsis. Soon he transferred to the Kansas City Art Institute and began collecting art by his peers there, too. Billy still owns all of those works, including six paintings by classmate Stanley Whitney that are the only figurative works Whitney made before famously turning to abstraction.

A key component of Billy and Rebecca’s collection is contemporary Western art. They follow only 20 or so artists, but in depth, much the same way that Dr. Albert C. Barnes did a century ago when he focused on such contemporaries as Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse in order to create what became Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation. The artists represented are James Butler, Russell Case, Kang Cho, Anne Coe, Frank Croft, Glenn Dean, Josh Elliott, John Fincher, Logan Hagege, Brett Allen Johnson, Jerry Jordan, T. Allen Lawson, Ed Mell, John Moyers, Erin O’Connor, Roseta Santiago, Tim Solliday, Tracy Stuckey, Kim Wiggins, Kathy Wipfler, and Dennis Ziemienski. (Robert Daughters is also here, though he passed away in 2013.)

Billy notes that all of these artists are “technical virtuosos who tend to have an immediately recognizable signature style”; he and Rebecca plan to publish a book on this group, something they have already done for their stellar holding of historical Western art, which encompasses such stars as Maynard Dixon, J.H. Sharp, and Frank Tenney Johnson. When it was exhibited at what is now the New Mexico Museum of Art, that trove drew record-breaking crowds and is still the only private collection presented at the museum since it was founded in 1915. (The show went on to visit six other venues nationwide.)

Also in the collection are key examples of handcrafted ranch furniture made by Thomas Molesworth between 1932 and 1950; this was his best period, after he had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright and brought his Arts & Crafts techniques to Cody, Wyoming. In addition, the Schencks are admired for their prehistoric Southwest ceramics.

Billy says the contemporary Western art has been purchased in a variety of settings — from the West’s many exhibition-sales benefiting museums, from galleries and auctions, and from other collectors and artists. He explains, “I know the living artists we collect because I have exhibited alongside all of them. People always assume that because I’m an artist, we acquire just by trading with other artists. But that is not true. We are extremely specific about the pieces we want, and those we get are usually exceptional and would never be available through a trade. We buy from the dealers and galleries that represent our colleagues and from the museum shows where their work is available.”

Some artists can be disorganized, but not Billy. Every artwork — regardless of value or rarity — is fully documented, including provenance, condition, the price paid, and the current market value. Billy and Rebecca keep this data digitally and also printed out in binders, and they have built a 1,000-square-foot climate-controlled storage unit that houses approximately 350 paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs.

In their home and office, nothing gets direct sunlight, and most photographs are kept in flatbed drawers to protect them from light and heat. Not surprisingly, the collection also includes the only complete set of Billy’s own serigraphs, lithographs, and etchings, along with color trial proofs and the original drawings used to cut the silkscreens. The serigraph collection has been exhibited at five museums and can be requested for loan in the future.

When asked about treasures that got away, Billy laughs and recalls: “There are a number of cases where I missed a painting and got it only after it went through two or three more sets of hands. One of them took 17 years before I acquired it. For the prehistoric Southwest ceramics, my all-time record was waiting 46 years to get one piece. In many cases, I did not have the financial wherewithal to acquire them right away. Moreover, I outlived all of the owners and bought the pieces from their estate sales. There are several instances where I had owned pieces and sold them in moments of financial weakness, then was able to buy them back as long as 40 years later.” He concludes, “Obviously the key is patience and living long enough.”

Billy is too modest to note one other key asset: his superb eye that discerns which artwork to pursue. Without that, patience and longevity will get a collector only so far.

View more artist and fine art collection profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine here for expert art collection advice, gallery exhibition news, and more.

A Fine Art Collection Profile >

Melba and Tom York are proud residents of Rockport, a once-sleepy fishing town that has blossomed into a lively arts enclave on the coast of South Texas, 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

Melba says she dabbled in ceramics in her mid-twenties and later took classes with the realist artist Wayne Floeck, who specialized in depicting animals, primarily from Africa. Under his tutelage she painted a desert ram in fine detail, which was a particular pleasure because she and Tom had visited Africa themselves. But then, she laughs, “My short-lived art journey was brought to a halt by the birth of our daughter, and so began my deep appreciation for artists and the joy their creations bring. I realized that I would have to live my Bohemian art life through others.”

Shortly after they married, the Yorks visited Tom’s parents in Rockport during its annual Independence Day festival, where artists from across the country exhibit their latest works. “At that moment,” Melba recalls, “we fell in love with coastal art and became interested in meeting the artists and acquiring their art.” They have been doing that ever since, and now own more than 100 paintings. Among the artists represented in the York Collection are Joey Blazek, Angalee DeForest, Anita Diebel, Shirley Farley, Larry Felder, Susan Forest, Lisa Baer Frederick, Robin Hazard, Caro Jackson, Elsa Lopez Mathews, Jeffrey Neel McDaniel, Lisa Millard, Bonnie Lou Prouty, Rebecca Bridges Rice, Clementina Rivera, Barb Robinson, Steve Russell, Alison McLean Schuchs, Betty Shamel, Debbie Stevens, and V. Vaughn.

The Yorks’ first purchase of an original artwork was a quirky scene of angry pelicans painted by Shirley Farley (1930–2017), who had grown up in Hollywood (her cousin was Marlon Brando) before moving to Rockport. Melba later sold that piece because it didn’t suit her home decor, but she came to regret that decision later. She takes up the story: “So I walked into my favorite antique/resale shop in Rockport, where the owner was busy preparing a large estate sale. I spotted a large painting a good 50 feet away and shouted, ‘Braxton, is that a Farley?’ He replied, ‘Yes, but you’ll have to wait until the sale starts. And it’s pricey!’ Melba responded, ‘I don’t care. I want to buy it now!’ So Braxton wrote up the receipt, and now we have that large Farley [illustrated above] hanging over our fireplace. Since then, we have learned that if you see a painting you love, don’t hesitate to pull the trigger because someone else will love it, too.”

The Yorks are particularly pleased to have spotted on Chairish (a website worth checking) a small pen-and-ink drawing created by the founder of the Rockport Art Colony, Simon Michael (1905–2002). He was the original occupant of the Spanish-style hacienda compound named Tortilla Flats that the Yorks purchased, renovated, and occupied upon retiring. Melba confides, “I think the ghost of Simon Michael inhabited my spirit after we moved into the house because that is when I really became interested in collecting art.”

Most of the couple’s acquisitions have come directly from local artists participating in Rockport’s annual festival or exhibiting at local galleries. They are active supporters of the Rockport Center for the Arts, which was devastated in 2015 by Hurricane Harvey but in 2023 reopened in an impressive new building shepherded into existence by executive director Luis Puron. It’s clear the Yorks are devoted to their community; Melba explains, “I look at our artworks every day and love the memories they evoke, and I love the people who painted them.”

Indeed, the Yorks know most of these artists personally and have become close friends with many of them. When Harvey severely damaged the residence of artist Anita Diebel, Tom and Melba had her move into Tortilla Flats until her home was habitable again. Since then, Diebel has opened a thriving gallery that features a range of artists and synchronizes its events with Rockport’s monthly art walks.

Melba says the couple’s passion for art makes it easy to meet new friends. Among their closest are artist Elsa Mathews and her husband, Lloyd; Bob and Jean James, who introduced the Yorks to the art made by another gifted local, Brother Cletus (1933–2016); and Richard and Denise Smith, who also have, in Melba’s words, “a beautiful art collection.”

Given the heat and humidity for which South Texas is known, the Yorks keep their artworks out of direct sunlight, with many under ultraviolet-resistant glass, and monitor their air conditioning to ensure a stable temperature. Most of the works are displayed by theme, and Melba admits she gets “teased that I’m going to have to start hanging pictures from my ceilings.” She says, “I believe in the philosophy that more is not enough, and my goal is never to need to paint my walls again because they are covered with art!”

View more artist and fine art collection profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine here for expert art collection advice, gallery exhibition news, and more.

Waterworks Exhibition Brings Masterpieces from Private Art Collection to Salisbury, North Carolina

Waterworks Visual Arts Center has announced a yearlong exhibition of paintings and sculptures from the private collection of the late New York philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson.

“Never Before Seen…Modern Masterpieces” will include forty works by 28 leading European modernists, including such greats as Kandinsky, Monet, Picasso, and de Kooning. Spanning more than a century of art history, the exhibition will introduce viewers to several pivotal movements from French Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism. The show is on view through August 30, 2025.

Julian and Josie Robertson began collecting art in the 1980s, after Julian founded the hedge fund Tiger Management. His success with Tiger not only enabled the couple to build their collection, but also to become two of the nation’s top philanthropists. Together, the Robertsons supported a wide range of causes, including medical science, education, the environment, and the arts, as well organizations combatting poverty.

Although many of these initiatives were national or even global in scale, the Robertsons never forgot Salisbury, the town where Julian was born and raised. It was here that he learned the importance of community from his parents, Blanche and Julian Robertson, both of whom were active members of the town’s church and civic life. Blanche was also instrumental in the establishment of Waterworks as a regionally recognized organization in the late 1970s.

View more art collection profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.