O'Toole-Ewald Art Associates, Inc.

10/03/2022

10/03/2022

09/13/2021

The vastness of Javits Center’s hall made viewing a walking pleasure, but the viewing was incredibly uneven. New galleries, new artists, new viewpoints bringing explosions of colors to the pre-pandemic establishment, who, for the most part, weren’t much present. Some fun in seeing old friends – when I could recognize them under their masks. Didn’t see much buying going on during early hours.

09/13/2021

Lest you forget: Certainly a site for innovative and revealing exhibitions is always available on a visit to the Morgan Library. One recent visit brought exhibitions of early work by Shazia Sikander, new print acquisitions that included work by Martin Puryear, Eva Hesse and Stanley Whitney, a Renaissance bookbinding display of exquisite beauty and a chamber music ensemble in the courtyard- and that didn’t even include a visit to the main house museum. There’s never a need to be eye-deprived in New York.

08/19/2021

Part Five of the Women Artists Series - https://mailchi.mp/otoole-ewald/part-three-of-the-women-artists-series-5379186

08/09/2021

A visit to in early August opened the door to both new art and old friends.

07/29/2021

Part Four of the Women Artists Series - Orsola Maddalena Caccia - https://mailchi.mp/otoole-ewald/part-three-of-the-women-artists-series-5376630

07/29/2021

On July 30th begins bidding on, well…..easier to show it than say it….cans of human waste. But not just that, it’s human offerings. Ugh, you say? But it’s an NFT auction, so that sort of cleans it up by sending into space. Or so I’d like to imagine.

07/14/2021

The extraordinary Louise Bourgeois exhibition at explores and reveals the secret emotional life of the famous artist through her diary excerpts. It rips apart previous conceptions of her mental processes.

06/07/2021

Let’s take a stroll through the second part of Asia Society Triennial, We Do Not Dream Alone exhibition. After viewing the first part back in February, we were looking forward experiencing the second part of this show.

05/11/2021

Saturday viewing at Gagosian, Christie’s and Bonham’s, and Sunday afternoon at Sotheby’s – as if everyone waiting for May auction results to let us know where we are in the art world today. Can see the dimming of super big names just a few years ago. And that’s the way it generally go, waiting for the next rush of super stars.

03/25/2021

In 1951 Ellsworth Kelly must have been envisioning Beeple, only without the interference of interior images.

03/25/2021

In the final quarter of the 18th century, Goya began a series based on paintings by his great predecessor, Velasquez, and then continued on through the first quarter of the 19th century to became one of the great masters of the medium. The imaginative journey by the artist through a world, both real and unreal, comic, mundane and horrific, makes a weekend wait at the Metropolitan one of the more worthwhile events on the month’s calendar.

03/11/2021

It’s quiet time for contemplative viewing in the smaller galleries of the while upcoming exhibition is underway. Realized I had been missing a lot of really serious looking when scurrying in and out of galleries/museums before the pandemic.

03/11/2021

Openings and closings on a cold March afternoon in a very quiet Chelsea. Cacti at Marlborough was reminder that somewhere, somehow there’s permanent sunshine!

02/09/2021

OTE had the opportunity to visit the inaugural Asia Society Triennial, titled We Do Not Dream Alone celebrating artists like Anne Samat and Kevork Mourad. We can't wait for the second part opening in March.

09/11/2020

As we remember September 11th, OTE wants to recognize the for keeping alive the nation’s continued tribute to the heroes of that day. It was among OTE's most significant projects to help protect this precious content and its hundreds of thousands of photographs and objects whose history of the horrendous event will live forever in this nation’s memory.
Photo: 9/11 Memorial & Museum

08/26/2020

A List of Reopening Dates for NYC Museums

https://hyperallergic.com/583256/nyc-museums-reopening-covid-19/

Plan your visit to see art in person again with our growing list of reopening dates at major New York City institutions.

07/03/2020

John Singleton Copley (1738-1815)
Paul Revere, 1768
Oil on canvas

Anglo-American painter John Singleton Copley known for his portraits of the wealthy in colonial New England. Paul Revere in the MFA, Boston’s collection is one of Copley’s most notable artworks before his move to London in 1774. A lot of Copley’s portraits are portrayals of his sitters in their work environment, however, the depiction of Paul Revere in a casual attire underscores his status as an artisan and middle-class resident. Instead, Revere is shown resting his right arm on a highly polished table complimenting the sheen on his finished product of the teapot. It is worth noting that tea became a political symbol in late 1760s when the British empire passed the Townshend Act to impose taxes on several imported goods by the colonials including tea.

Excerpted from Dr. Bryan Zygmont, John Copley, Paul Revere, Smarthistory.org

Image courtesy: MFA, Boston

07/02/2020

Andre Kertesz
Chez Mondrian, Paris, 1926
© The Estate of André Kertész /Stephen Bulger Gallery
Silver gelatin print, printed circa 1982.

“I do what I feel, that’s all. I am an ordinary photographer working for his own pleasure. That’s all I’ve ever done.”

Hungarian-born artist Andre Kertesz, one of leading photographers in 20th century. Kertesz’s affinity for photography was sparked when his mother gifted him a Leica at the age of 18 where he instantly began taking photographs of his surroundings. Kertesz continued photography as an active hobby for more than a decade until he moved to Paris in 1925 to pursue photography professionally. His artistic process was focused on capturing reality while expressing his feelings through his surroundings whether it is an object or people walking. Chez Mondrian is one his most prized and highly sought-after work, when it achieved his record of $464,000 from the Collection of Joseph and Laverne Schieszler At New York in 2005.

07/01/2020

Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981)
VERTICAL DIAMOND
Oil on canvas

Russian-born American Artist Ilya Bolotowsky who was influenced by Mondrian’s De Stijl and Malevich’s Suprematism went on to pioneer Neoplasticism. Bolotowsky’s work is characterized by large areas of red, blue, and yellow with violet and black rectangles to achieve a pseudo-vibration effect. In addition, he was famous for painting on nonuniform canvas shapes such as diamonds (square canvas resting on one corner), tondos, and ellipsis. In his memoir, he described his affinity to painting on a diamond-shaped canvas because the feeling of space is greater than of a square since the measurements of the vertical and horizontal in a diamond are greater than of a square of the same size.
Vertical Diamond was purchased by Beth Feeback at a Goodwill in North Carolina for $10 to repurpose the canvas for her work. Not until examining the back of the canvas, she came to realize that the painting was by one of the leading abstract artists in the 20th century. Feeback sold Vertical Diamond at Sotheby’s, New York for $35,000 in 2012.

Bolotowsky, I. (1969). On Neoplasticism and My Own Work: A Memoir. Leonardo, 2(3), 221-230. doi:10.2307/1572151

06/29/2020

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Milton Glaser, an iconic figure in the American graphic design scene. Glaser’s designs were characterized by his liberal use of whimsical bright colors and rich visual language. Over the course of his career Milton Glaser designed over 400 logos, posters and book covers. He is widely known to be the mastermind of “I ❤️ NY” logo, the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster and Brooklyn Brewery logo. At O’Toole-Ewald we had the pleasure of appraising Mr. Glaser’s artworks for both the public Administrator for estates in the past and in private collections more recently.

Excerpted from the NYT Obituary

Logo courtesy: New York State Department of Economic Development

06/26/2020

Robert Henri (1865-1929)
Francisco, 1922
Oil on canvas

“I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.”

Robert Henri, a major influencer in American Urban Realism at the turn of the century. Henri rejected the genteel tradition of academic painting and impressionism, he was more interested in depicting everyday life in a bold, painterly style. In 1907, following his rejection to be part of the National Academy of Design’s annual show, he teamed up with colleagues and friends, Sloan, Glackens, Luks, and Shinn, on organizing an independent exhibition, “The Eight” hosted at Macbeth Gallery. Francisco fetched $87,500 at Christie’s, New York in 2017.

06/16/2020

Jim Dine (b. 1935)

Jumps Out at You, No?
1993
Etching and hand coloring

"I grew up with tools. I came from a family of people who sold tools, and I've always been enchanted by these objects made by anonymous hands."

American artist and poet Jim Dine emerged in the 1960s as one of the pioneers in the "Happenings" movement with Claes Oldenburg, Allan Kaprow, and Robert Whitman in New York. The "Happenings" movement aimed at breaking down the boundaries between art, theatre, and participation through multimedia performances, challenging the traditional role of the audience by becoming an active participant.



Dine's interest in highlighting the body and its movement as an artistic medium was pivotal to the Happenings movement. His artistic oeuvre explored a vast array of media and movements; however, the depiction of bathrobes is a recurrent motif in his work. In 1963, Dine was inspired by an ad in the New York Times of an airbrushed bathrobe floating in space, and since then, he decided to make it a symbol for himself. The bathrobe in Dine's oeuvre is an autobiographical element that he continues to explore in various techniques and expression. Among contemporary draughtsmen Dine is at the top according to appraisal experts at OTE.

06/15/2020

Lillian Bassman (1917-2012)
Golden Fox, Blue Fox: Marilyn Ambrose in a boa by Frederica, New York. Harper's Bazaar, 1954
Gelatin silver print

fine art and fashion photographer Lillian Bassman (1917-2012).

Bassman was introduced to the magazine and editing world by her mentor Alexey Brodovitch, former Harper’s Bazaar art director. In the mid-40s, she was appointed art director for Juniors Bazaar, a spinoff aimed at teenage girls. During her term as an art director, she promoted works of rising star photographers such as Richard Avedon, Louis Faurer, and Robert Frank, who also inspired her own photography. She often spent her lunch hours at the darkroom practicing non-traditional printing techniques, using gauze and tissue paper to manipulate the focus, resulting in soft, impressionist, and atmospheric images. Bassman rose to prominence in the 50s and 60s for her expressive and high contrast black and white photographs for lingerie, fabrics and cosmetics brands.

During the late 60s and throughout the 70s, her style was deemed unfashionable and she was no longer part of the fashion world. Still, Bassman reemerged in the 90s by re-interpreting her negatives in addition to fashion assignments by German Vogue and the NYT magazine. Bassman has exhibited internationally in Madrid, London, Paris and New York. Her works are currently held in the collections of the MFA, Boston, and FIT, New York. Bassman’s auction record for a 1949 print of Across the Restaurant, Barbara Mullen, dress by Jacques Fath, Le Grand Vefour, Paris, fetched $50,000 at Phillips, New York in 2016.

06/08/2020

https://www.lvhart.co/journal/10-african-american-artists-we-love

12/13/2019

OTE's President, Dr. Elin Lake-Ewald, addresses classes at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art on how her appraisal career included incidents of fraud, fakery, murder, mayhem, paranoia and the occasional testimony about deep fryers...

11/21/2019

1.    You’re an Arizona girl. How did you wind up as an international interior designer based in New York and did your early years impact on any of your design work?   Growing up in Paradise Valley, Arizona, I spent a great deal of time in an expansive back yard called the desert – rid...

10/11/2019

10/11/2019

Watched two classic horror movies on TV last night and didn't blink an eye until I saw your film and dove under the covers.

Horror has a new home with the DreadTV app. Get it NOW on FIRE TV, ROKU, APPLE TV AND ANDROID TV!

09/11/2019

The obituary of Robert Frank, the brilliant and innovative American photographer, that appeared in the Wall Street Journal today was written by the Photography Specialist and Appraiser at O’Toole-Ewald Art Associates, Inc. (OTE), Mary Panzer.

Mary is an award-winning author and former Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/robert-frank-1924-2019-he-saw-america-without-illusions-11568155629

The photographer, who died Monday, created unvarnished, revelatory images of the nation.

07/29/2019

The Appraisal Foundation applauds the 9th Circuit Court ruling affirming the primacy of personal property appraisers. Read The Appraisal Foundation's release: https://bit.ly/2Yqj3tK

02/11/2019

https://www.wealthmanagement.com/high-net-worth/have-clients-conduct-personal-property-review-it-s-too-late

Families may not have a realistic idea of an item’s monetary or sentimental value.

02/07/2019

https://mailchi.mp/9161ce8e542a/sothebys-institute-presentation-february-2019

02/05/2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/arts/design/moma-museum-renovation.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Don’t plan to visit MoMA this summer. It’s closing for renovations that will put a new focus on work by women and artists of color. The results will shake up every gallery.