Sanford Robinson Gifford
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AN ARTIST’S LEGACY AND AN ARTIST’S MICHAEL ALTMAN is a fine-art dealer who special- A DEALER’S ADMIRATION AN ARTIST’S LEGACY AND his catalog, published to accompany an izes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American exhibition of more than forty notable paintings. For more than twenty-five years he has A DEALER’S ADMIRATION paintings by Sanford Robinson Gifford advised both private collectors and public institu- T at Michael Altman Fine Art, provides an intimate tions in building and enriching their collections. His depiction of the artist and offers further proof gallery is located in a private townhouse on Manhat- Paintings by tan’s Upper East Side. as to why he is known by many to be the most accomplished luminist painter of the nineteenth KEVIN J. AVERY is a senior research scholar and a for- century. The works in the exhibition are para- mer associate curator at the Metropolitan Museum Sanford Robinson Gifford mount examples of the artist’s technical skill and of Art and an adjunct professor in the art depart- of the exquisite representations he made of his ment of Hunter College, City University of New surroundings. Gifford’s forte lies in his ability to York. Dr. Avery received his B.A. in art history from from Important American Collections Fordham University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees capture the moment in its magnificence, whether from Columbia University, where he wrote his dis- it is the dawn breaking over the Hudson Valley or sertation on the panorama and its manifestations in a canal in Venice just before sunset. American landscape painting. He is the author of The works in the exhibition, beautifully repro- Treasures from Olana: Landscapes by Frederic Edwin duced in the catalog’s pages, are pictures that Church, the catalog of an exhibition that toured the Michael Altman has acquired and sold over the United States in 2005–7. With Franklin Kelly, Dr. past twenty-five years. During this time, extraor- Avery organized and prepared the catalog for Hud- son River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford dinary examples of Gifford’s skill have passed R. Gifford, exhibited in 2003–4 at the Metropoli- through his hands, fostering a love and apprecia- tan Museum of Art in New York, the Amon Carter tion for the artist, which he shares with you today. Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and the National Gal- Among the works shown in this exhibition are lery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 2002 he edited ten that have hardly ever been seen by the public and coauthored American Drawings and Watercolors and come directly from the collection of Dr. San- in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I; and has ford Gifford, the great-grandnephew of the artist. written or contributed essays to the catalogs Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow (2010); Art and the Additionally, there are some important sketches, Empire City: New York, 1825–1861 (2000), American intimate studies, and major masterpieces from Tonalism (1997), Church’s Great Picture: The Heart of private collections, many of which have rarely the Andes (1993), and American Paradise: The World of been exhibited. the Hudson River School (1987). Currently, Dr. Avery Kevin J. Avery contributed the catalog’s essay is working on a narrative history of the Hudson River and conveyed his considerable expertise to the School, to be published in 2014. MICHAEL ALTMAN FINE ART MICHAEL ALTMAN & ADVISORY SERVICES, LLC SERVICES, & ADVISORY publication as a whole, and Donald J. Christensen A financial writer and Wall Street analyst,DONALD composed the biographical sketch and timeline; J. CHRISTENSEN knew little about the landscape of each writer brought to the project a deep appre- the Hudson Valley or the nineteenth-century artists ciation of Sanford Robinson Gifford. There has who recorded its splendor before he bought a house been no attempt here to recreate a retrospective, in 1985 that overlooked Mount Merino, a favorite so magnificently done in past years by the Metro- landscape subject of Sanford Gifford and many other politan Museum of Art, New York (Kevin Avery), artists, near Gifford’s hometown of Hudson, New York. Christensen turned his research skills to exam- and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, ining the lives and motivations of Gifford and his D.C. (Franklin Kelly). Our only goal was to show contemporaries and along the way gained an affinity some of the best paintings privately held that most and respect for the wonders and fragility of nature. accurately offer Gifford’s vision of nature and our nation’s treasured wilderness. JACKET ILLUSTRATION: Sanford Robinson Gifford, A Venetian Twilight, 1878 AN ARtist’s LegACY AND A DEALer’s AdmirATION Paintings by Sanford Robinson Gifford from Important American Collections Essays by KEVIN J. AVERY DONALD J. CHRISTENSEN MICHAEL ALTMAN FINE ART & ADVISORY SERVICES, LLC NEW YORK CITY This exhibition is dedicated to Dr. Sanford Robinson Gifford, the great-grandnephew of the artist, and to the many collectors who have shared my passion and vision for America’s greatest luminist painter. michael n. altman Contents Foreword 9 MICHAEL N. ALTMAN Origins of the Collection 11 SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD, M.D. Catalog 13 The Enchantment of Sanford Gifford 103 KEVIN J. AVERY Sanford Robinson Gifford: A Biographical Sketch 135 A LOAN EXHIBITION ORGANIZED BY DONALD J. CHRISTENSEN Michael Altman Fine Art & Advisory Services, LLC Notes 142 EXHIBITED AT Michael Altman Fine Art & Advisory Services A Brief Chronology 146 38 East 70th Street, New York City DONALD J. CHRISTENSEN October 12–December 14, 2012 Exhibition Checklist 148 Index of Works Reproduced 150 Foreword michael n. altman can never thank emphatically enough the collectors ers genre, portraiture, and landscape. With its depictions who have so generously lent to An Artist’s Legacy and of the artist’s native Hudson Valley and exotic locales IA Dealer’s Admiration: Paintings by Sanford Robinson abroad, this body of work is representative of Gifford’s Gifford from Important American Collections. Such loans spirit of adventure. are the foundation for the success of any show, and this There are several special collectors whom I would like one is no exception. to thank for lending more than one object to our exhibi- In my career I consider myself fortunate to have had tion. These passionate connoisseurs have been inspired the pleasure and privilege of handling most of the paint- by the depth and range of Gifford’s body of work, and ings exhibited here, and it all began with my recogni- have pursued and acquired numerous examples by this tion of and profound respect for the artist. In my opinion wonderful artist. Discretion requires that I stay quiet, Gifford is the greatest nineteenth-century American but I extend my great thanks to those who were willing luminist artist and perhaps the most technically accom- to share multiple examples. plished as well. Finally, it is this extraordinary gathering of paint- In addition to all of the Gifford paintings that I have ings and drawings by Gifford, including a few that have acquired and sold, there has always been a tiny treasure rarely been seen, that will be interesting and informative trove of paintings tucked away in a cottage in Cambridge, for the market. Among the Hudson River School artists, Massachusetts, in the collection of Dr. Sanford Gifford, Gifford may be the best of those who preferred to paint the great-grandnephew and namesake of the artist. Over on a small scale. It is often in these modest images that the last seven years Dr. Gifford has entrusted this group he most effectively captures the beauty and the grandeur to me to restore and preserve, and it has been our mutual of nature. goal to exhibit them one day. I am proud that the col- Very few people have ever seen the group of works laboration has become a reality and that this catalog and so generously lent by Dr. Gifford, and fewer still after exhibition have been realized. Dr. Gifford’s paintings they have been framed expertly by Eli Wilner & Co. and have descended through or been acquired by his family, gently and ably restored by the masterful Simon Parkes. and with the exception of three works, his unique collec- I am a firm believer in the proper preservation of paint- tion remains intact. This is a fascinating group that cov- ings with as little intervention as possible. 9 Origins of the Collection sanford robinson gifford, m.d. In addition, there is the marvelous, forty-two-inch have been possible. I owe my sincere appreciation to ost of the Sanford Robinson Gifford paint- Poughkeepsie, New York, her nephew Charles Maurice, Italian view, A Venetian Twilight, cleaned once after hav- Robyn Borgelt, Kate Thompson, and Caitlin Parker for ings in my possession were collected by my of New York City, and cousin, Kate Gifford, of River- ing not been seen for more than one hundred years, their tireless efforts in pursuit of perfection in the pre- Mmother, Alice Carter Gifford. She was born dale, California. and an exceptional, virtual pendant of the same size that sentation of this marvelous group of paintings by San- in Omaha, Nebraska, where she met and married my My mother kept the group of recovered pictures depicts the Hudson River, A Sunset on the Hudson; aston- ford Robinson Gifford. father, Sanford Robinson Gifford, who had been named together when she moved from Chicago to San Fran- ishingly, each has survived in nearly pristine condition, We are proud to present Gifford in such a compelling after his great-uncle, the Hudson River School painter. cisco to Santa Barbara, where she died in 1979.