Show Stopper

Pull up a chair and check out this delightful pencil on paper drawing of a 1920's era audience watching a performance in the distance. Each person comes to life with just a few pencil strokes and shading. The woman wearing the wide brimmed hat and holding a fan looks particularly engaged by what she sees. This crowd-pleaser by artist Jerome Myers is another fantastic example from the Pantages Portfolio, which goes on sale to the public on Friday, September 28, 2018.

Jerome Myers (1867-1940) was born in Virginia and was one of five children. He moved to New York City in 1886 and started his art career as a scene painter while at the same time attending evening art classes at Cooper Union and the Art Students League. A few years later he started working in the art department of the New York Tribune. His career really took off when his colleague Edward Adam Kramer introduced his work to the art dealer William Macbeth. Myers became known for his urban scenes and landscapes, and his ability to capture the magic and details of everyday street life across cultures. Myers won numerous prestigious awards, including the Altman Prize (twice), the National Academy's Carnegie Prize, and the Isidor Medal. His work is part of the permanent collection or has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City,  among many others.

A Walk In The Woods

It is said that art builds bridges, and that's exactly what is happening here with this astonishingly lifelike work by noted 19th century artist Narcisse Virgil Diaz de la Pena. This painter is best known for his forest and storm scenes and it's easy to see why - the view here is so authentic it is as if one were looking out on it in person! This painting is another breathtaking example from the Pantages Portfolio, which will will be available for viewing and purchase starting on September 28, 2018.

Frenchman Narcisse Virgil Diaz de la Pena (1808-1876) had a rough start in life; he became an orphan and lost a leg to infection before he was a teenager. He began formally studying art at 15, focusing on painting after first working in porcelains. Over time, he met fellow artist Théodore Rousseau and really admired Rousseau's style and ability to capture forests on canvas so well. They eventually became good friends. Diaz de la Pena worked his entire adult life as a successful and highly sought-after artist. His paintings are part of the permanent collection of the Louvre, The Wallace Collection in London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Isabella Stewart Museum in Boston, among many others.

Catch the Spirit

What do you see here? A landscape, certainly. But don't the mountains in the back of the the work also hint of a majestic bird in flight or even a sacred figure? Only the artist, Elliott Daingerfield, knows for sure. This wonderful painting, from the Pantages Portfolio, truly soars to new heights.

Elliott Daingerfield (1859–1932) was an American painter best known for his religious, as well as landscape works. This example in some ways is a hybrid of these two areas. He was born in West Virginia and but grew up and spent much of his life in North Carolina. He completed his art training in New York and studied at the Art Students’ League. Daingerfield traveled to Europe in the late 1890’s where he became very interested in religious themes. He painted the mural in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in New York City. Later in his life he began writing about art, authoring several magazine articles as well as artist biographies. He was a full member of the National Academy of Design from 1906 onward. As a favorite son of North Carolina, Daingerfield’s work has been exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art and his childhood home in Fayetteville has been made into a local museum.

The Roar of The Crowd

You can almost feel the energy in the ring with this dramatic and handsome oil on board work depicting a bullfight. It was painted by artist Jorge Castillo and is another extraordinary find from the Pantages Portfolio.

Jorge Castillo was born in Spain in 1933 but moved with his family to Argentina as a baby. He started his formal artistic training in 1941 when he attended the “Ecole des Beaux-Arts” in Buenos Aires for a short time. In 1955, he moved to Madrid where he focused on surrealistic gouaches and drawings; his first exhibit was held a few years later in 1959. Castillo traveled extensively thorough the 1970's, living and working in Paris, Geneva, and Berlin. He moved to New York in the early 1980's where he concentrated on designing sculptures for public spaces. Casillo was lifetime admirer of Pablo Picasso and themes common to Picasso appear in Castillo's artworks over time. His paintings and sculptures has been shown throughout Europe and the Americas, and he has won numerous prestigious awards - including the International Drawing Prize in Darmstadt, Germany in 1964.

A Merry Mashup

This amazing reverse painting on glass from the Pantages Portfolio is certain to turn more than a few heads! This dramatic image features a sculpture comprised of items from two categories... outdoor sports (including fox hunting, fishing, birding, and powder horns) and very feminine things (like a purse, pink scarf, lace, and boudoir accessories.) What is the artist trying to say here?

This visually stunning work is by French artist Fernand Renard (1912-1990) and is signed "Paris 1937." Little about the painter's personal life or influences has been documented. His works usually feature hyper-realistic still life images, including flowers, fruit, and shells. Professionally, Renard worked as a trompe l'oeil painter for the Paris based interior decorators Maison Jansen. This company was started in 1880 and was the first truly global design firms. Maison Jansen decorated the homes and offices of royal families, famous celebrities, and politicians - including some rooms in the White House during the JFK administration. Maison Jansen closed its doors in 1989, but the firm's furnishings and decorative items are still highly sought after at auction today.

The View From Here

Come take a look - the view is delightful! This could be said both about this three-panel hinged painting by Bernard Chaet, as well as the entire Pantages Portfolio! This work, accurately entitled "Panorama," is colorful and upbeat - and in a way has a "selfie" feel to it, given its perspective and angle.

American artist Bernard Chaet (1924-2012) is best known for his colorful, modernist figure and animal paintings. He taught for over four decades as a Professor of painting at Yale University in New Haven, CT; he was also chair of the school's art department. He won many awards over the course of his lifetime, including a Sabbatical Grant from the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities, the Benjamin Altman Award in Painting from the National Academy of Fine Arts, and the Jimmy Ernst Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was also named a National Academician by the National Academy of Design in 1994. Examples of Chaet's work can be found at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., among many others.