Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York

Richard Wilson's "On Hounslow Heath" (ca. 1770) at Feigen & Co.

Didier-Aaron, New York

A 1761 oil by Hubert Robert at Didier-Aaron

June 2008 Datebook

A Perfect Pair

Grand Slam

One-Man Show

Brit Mod

In Fine Form

Beneath the Surface

Basel Dazzle

Auction House

Ancient History

Kapoor + Moore

Bible Study

Albrecht Durer Walter Gay Martin Johnson Heade John Hoppner Hans Memling Sir Joshua Reynolds Gilbert Stuart Sir David Wilkie

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

Following a recent gallery trend, two are presenting comparison shows that bridge the gap between artists of different eras and environments by calling attention to their aesthetic overlap. Simon Dickinson is displaying the contemporary artist Joe Coleman?s allegorical pictures—which recall both modern-day downtown street art and Frida Kahlo at her most arcane—alongside pictures of equal craftsmanship by early Netherlandish painters such as Hans Memling. Meanwhile David Tunick Inc. has “Crosscurrents: Dürer to Warhol,” an extensive survey of prints produced in the same period but at different locations, the juxtaposition of pieces by Dürer and his German contemporaries with less-celebrated Italian prints of the same era is particularly notable.

And though 18th-century pictures are somewhat unfashionable today, two excellent Masterworks shows hope to rectify this. The French painter and draftsman Hubert Robert?s landscapes and architectural studies are featured in a miniretrospective at Didier-Aaron, while notable portraits by the Georgian painters Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gilbert Stuart and John Hoppner, in addition to such celebrated romantics as Henry Fuseli and the Scot Sir David Wilkie, are on display at Richard L. Feigen & Co.

A neglected artist of more recent vintage is the American painter Walter Gay (1856–1937), who made his name in Paris as a painter of social swagger in a world enraptured by modernism. James Graham & Sons brings Gay back into the public eye with a fine selection of 16 paintings and works on paper. Finally, Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts hosts “The Exalted and Forgotten in Portraiture and Genre,” an excellent survey of 17th- through 20th-century paintings headlined by an unusual Portrait of Oliver Cromwell by Martin Johnson Heade (a 19th-century American painter best known for still lifes and tropical vistas).

"Master Class" originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's June 2008 Table of Contents.