Featured Stories

Jasmina Danowski: Love Letters from Exile

Jasmina Danowski’s work has embodied a purity of approach over the years that is consistent and inspiring. Join us in admiring a curated selection of her works, on view from March 12th through April 14th.

Click here to view the virtual catalogue.

 

Danowski's art transports viewers into immersive floral landscapes and expansive spatial dimensions, drawing compelling parallels with artists such as Joan Mitchell. Rather than straightforwardly depicting natural and still-life elements, Danowski delves into the profound implications of her artistic process. Her work navigates the intricate balance between abstraction and representation, seamlessly merging the unity and individuality of forms. Through nuanced compositions, she invites contemplation on both explicit and suggested meanings, creating a rich tapestry of visual dialogue that resonates with profound artistic depth.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1960, Jasmina Danowski is a mixed media abstract painter known for her exploration of color, texture, and mark on both panel and paper. Based in Brooklyn, NY, she works out of a studio, employing a process-oriented and physical approach to her art. Using long and wide brushes, she creates vibrant compositions directly on the floor, drawing on influences from calligraphy, abstract expressionism, and natural imagery.

In her work, Danowski evokes sensations of immersion in floral landscapes or spatial dimensions, reminiscent of artists like Joan Mitchell. She suggests rather than directly depicts natural and still life elements, delving into the implications of her process to strike a balance between abstraction and representation, unity and individuality of forms, and explicit versus suggested meanings.

Danowski holds a B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute (1990) and an M.F.A. from Bard College, New York (1997). She is a recipient of two Pollock-Krasner awards (2001, 2005) and has exhibited her work at prestigious venues such as the Boston Center for the Arts, Mississippi Museum of Art, and Spanierman Modern in New York. Her pieces are also housed in collections at institutions like the Mississippi Museum of Art and Westfield State University.

 

The Straggler III, 2024, vinyl on paper, 22 x 30 inches

30 years dedicated to the visual stripe motif, Jay Rosenblum’s tiny vintage canvases from the 1970s are treasures of the hard-edge abstraction movement. A trove of unique compositions in original frames that metaphorically double as vibrant visual interludes in paint. 

Rosenblum was also a violinist who performed with the Seventh Army Symphony in West Germany, adding a layer of artistic resonance to his work. Perfect for young collectors at the price point of $800–$2,000, these works invite a group you can install anywhere you please and continue to reinvent on your walls.

Younger collectors are drawn to engaging with their art, savor the strong vintage vibe of these pieces, and appreciate colors that feel fresh in today’s environments.

At one point in the 1990s, Luigi Loir and Eugene Galien - Laloue were among the most sought-after artists in collecting Parisian street scenes. The 1990’s saw a revival of period dramas in cinema during the late 1990s and there was also strong collecting of French furniture styles.

The late 1880s through the 1890s in Europe was a time of rapid industrial growth, urbanization, and a burgeoning middle class that fueled a vibrant art market and a taste for elegant, intimate works. The era favored smaller canvases and scenes that could be enjoyed in domestic spaces. They emphasized social interaction and the importance of charm and wit. That period also marked modernization on a grand scale—railways expanding across the country, major public works and exhibitions like the 1889 Exposition Universelle celebrating technology and design, and a broader push toward education and cultural refinement embodied in Jules Ferry’s laws (1881–82) establishing free, mandatory, secular schooling.

France operated within a stable financial framework anchored by the gold standard, fostering a cosmopolitan art market even as tastes shifted toward contemporary forms. Today, as in that earlier era, there is a dialogue about balancing nostalgia with progress, valuing tangible, human-centered artifacts that anchor contemporary life in a richer sense of history—an approach that mirrors broader themes being pursued on domestic growth, education, infrastructure, and cultural investment, inviting collectors to curate judicious, meaningful works that anchor walls in conversation and context without losing sight of the era that gave us elegance, literature, and music. Different from the 1990’s collectors are judiciously mixing these period works alongside contemporary pieces.

It is interesting to speculate if the cultural optimism of the 1880’s and 1890’s in France isn’t a draw for us at a time where optimism has been low but we yearn for its return.

This month we pay tribute to Lewis Hine (1874–1940), an American photographer and sociologist who championed the working class during America’s most transformative era of growth. He went into factories and atop the steel beams of skyscrapers to capture the tenacity, the plight, and the fortitude of Americans at work, and his images—often used to advocate for workers’ rights and better conditions—humanized labor and illuminated immigrant life amid rapid industrial expansion. With the National Child Labor Committee, he documented children in mills, mines, and factories, helping spur reforms that reshaped American labor law.

Today, owning and viewing these works is a reminder of our country’s ongoing story—a story of hands, sweat, and ingenuity that helped build modern America. His documentary approach continues to inspire dialogue about work, community, and progress, preserved in major archives and museums that keep his legacy alive.

How can the work of a photographer like this not be a major contribution to any collector interested in American history.

Our art market is currently lacking a strong message. Typically, it rallies around a defining movement that ardent collectors and advisors clamor toward, sending prices jaw-dropping higher with each auction season. It’s not contemporary—indeed that sector has an eerily vacant feel—and it isn’t limited to Post War, even as that field remains vibrant yet lean in inventory.

What is emerging is a measured re approach to historic movements and quality, where content matters again and the workmanship reads as refreshingly enduring. Market analyses point to blue chip strength in top Contemporary, with selective Post War/Masterworks, but there’s a clear pivot toward craft, time intensive making, and narratives with historical resonance. In interiors today, pieces that reward close looking, provenance, and tangible presence are winning attention, reminding us that art as object continues to anchor conversations about culture and memory.

To navigate this evolving landscape, consider a balanced, story driven approach: a judicious mix of historic movement anchors and select contemporary pieces with messages that are well articulated. Embrace craft and time intensive making across painting, sculpture, and works on paper, where material quality and finish matter as much as subject. Photography and limited editions offer accessible entry points without sacrificing depth, while a globally diversified buyer base makes provenance and history more important than ever.

This is a moment to curate with intention: a dialogue between what is past and what is now. To get back to exploring interests and not art as a speculatory asset. History repeats and when the art market has had bubbles, similar to the dot.com bubble, it tends to be followed with a settling back to softer parts of the market and value.

In April, we are thrilled to share the arrival of a new group of marble sculptures by Richard Erdman. Most pieces are sized for indoor display, inviting intimate engagement with form, surface, and movement supply conveyed through the beauty of Carrera marble.

Erdman comes from a lineage of artists who dared to carve in stone, a path often taken by carvers who traveled to Carrara, Italy to study the trade and the traditions of stone work. Predecessors such as Jean Arp and Antoine Poncet made significant strides in defining abstraction in stone; Erdman has taken up the mantle, further exploring movement and paying tribute to the stone’s formation—shaped by the sea. We recognize him as one of today’s leading stone carvers.

This era’s scarcity of true stone sculptors, makes Erdman’s marble works stand out for their compelling presence and refined craft. Each piece speaks to a long lineage of practice while remaining eminently contemporary in its exploration of movement and form. We are excited to incorporate these marbles into our New York curation and for collectors to experience marble’s enduring voice.

The past months in the art market were marked by a delightful and buoyant return of buyers to market of the avant-garde of French Impressionism, Symbolism, and the Surrealist movements. If a good quality example was presented at auction or in the market we are seeing renewed eagerness. The good news is that collections are arriving back into the market perhaps due to a generational handoff.

French Impressionism stands as one of the most interesting and revolutionary moments in art history: born in the 1860s–1880s, it challenged academic conventions by embracing painting en plein air, modern life, and a new understanding of light and color that transformed perception and laid the groundwork for modern art. It remains one of the most interesting time periods in terms of the stories of the artists and their comradeship as a group. This shift helped redefine taste and market dynamics, and while there felt to be a dip in collecting interest for Impressionist works a couple years ago in the shadow of Contemporary art, it has surged back as the irrepressible appeal of the work itself speaks. 

We are pleased to be participating in this activity with exceptional and impressive offerings—Loiseau’s Pont-Aven paintings, Puigaudeau works of major scale, light-drenched Henri Martin’s of Marquaryol, rare Montmartre train scenes by Joncières, and Fauve-inflected Valtat still lifes amongst others.

As we move toward the May market, we anticipate another notable Impressionist season; we will monitor the May sales and share updates.