In This Issue: - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Photos: Linda Johnson Photos: Linda Johnson
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USArtists American
Fine Art Show and Sale
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
Preview Gala: Thursday, September 22, 5 - 9 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24,
11 a.m. – 8 p.m. daily
Sunday, September 25, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
At USArtists 2010, Paul Gratz, owner of Gratz Gallery & Conservation
Studio, Doylestown, PA, discusses art with a client.
The Women’s Board is sponsoring the 19th year of
USArtists, the show and sale of over 2,000 works of
American art, and the second year the show will be held
at PAFA, making it the only major American art fair to be
held within a museum. An overview of American art from
colonial to contemporary, USArtists has long been considered
a “must see” for serious collectors. Nearly 40 of
the country’s most prestigious dealers are invited to bring
their finest works. Selected dealers will present ten-
minute talks as part of the ongoing effort to help develop
new collectors’ knowledge and enrich the USArtists
experience for all attendees.
The Preview Gala launches the event on Thursday,
September 22, 5 – 9 p.m. and New Collectors Night
is Friday, September 23, 5:30 – 8 p.m. The Preview
Gala attracts the most serious collectors as it offers the
first opportunity to view and purchase from the dealers’
collections and includes an elegant cocktail reception and
light buffet. If you are new to the world of fine art collecting,
you can begin your journey at New Collectors Night.
This event provides an opportunity to talk with the dealers
while enjoying a light buffet and a Beer and Chocolate
Tasting courtesy of Betty’s Speakeasy and Yards Brewing
Company, both of Philadelphia.
Tickets for the Preview Gala, New Collectors Night, and
General Admission are available for purchase online at
www.usartists.org or by phone (215-972-0550).
Proceeds from USArtists support student scholarships
at PAFA.
Dealer Talks, free with general admission, take place
Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24, at noon, 1, 2,
3, and 4 p.m.
For the first time, you can now find us on Facebook at
facebook.com/usartistsfineart, and follow us on twitter
@usartistsphilly. For more information and links to
facebook and twitter, please visit www.usartists.org.
Questions? Contact Patty Castner, Director of the
Women’s Board: 215-972-0550 or pcastner@pafa.org.
At USArtists 2010, Al Gury, Chair of the Department of Painting at PAFA,
discusses painting processes with Audrey Hall and Tim Dixon of Dixon-
Hall Fine Art, Phoenixville, PA.
Photos: Barbara Katus
From the Desk of the Museum Director
This, to me, is still a very new desk
- I have only had the pleasure of sitting
at it since March 1st. Then I was
still coming back and forth from New
York; my family and I just settled into
Philadelphia in June. In my brief tenure
here I have learned a great deal
about this amazing place, although
I am acutely aware that, with more
than 200 years of history, this is a
learning process that will never end.
Coming from a non-collecting
museum focused exclusively on
contemporary art there are many
aspects of my job that are new to me,
particularly the care, conservation,
and growth of our amazing collection.
More on that in a moment. What is
familiar to me is the creative buzz that
surrounds PAFA – my background
is that of an artist turned educator
turned curator turned administrator.
At the heart of my career is a
deep and profound respect for, and
belief in, artists. Their creativity, often
messy, sometimes too controlling,
sometimes too loose, or too provocative,
or perplexing, is at the core of PAFA’s founding, and its
storied and sometimes perilous journey through the 19th, 20th,
and now 21st century. PAFA is in a place of great strength
now - thanks to the good work of my predecessor in this job,
David Brigham, and the Board, faculty, and staff.
We still have much to do.
One of our challenges is also one of our greatest assets, our
incredible Frank Furness building. Part gallery, part church,
part factory, part greenhouse, our Historic Landmark Building is
one of the greatest places on the planet in which to look at art.
In the long term we look to the maintenance and restoration of
our beloved building, particularly as the centenary of Furness’s
death approaches in 2012. You can see from this view of the
space above the gallery skylights (photo below left) what a
The Attic, Historic Landmark Building, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts, Philadelphia, 2009
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1876
Paul Metrinko, A Picture Contest, 2011, Oil on linen, 64 x 144”, Judith McGregor Caldwell Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy Annual Student Exhibition, 2011.7a&b
complex building this is, with its mix of 19th and 20th century
technologies.
Our immediate challenge is to encourage more people to
walk through our doors, which, to contemporary eyes, can
seem small and uninviting. In time we’ll be unveiling new signage
and banners to make our invitation clearer. Eventually we
will be introducing art to the exterior of our building to make our
presence as a place for art more pronounced. This is a return
to how the building was in the 19th century, when a marble
statue graced the plinth above our main entrance.
Our collection continues to grow, and one of my first official
duties was to select, along with my colleague Dean Jeffrey Carr
the recipient of the Judith MacGregor Caldwell Purchase Prize,
an annual purchase award from the Annual Student Exhibition.
We settled on a two-panel painting by Paul Metrinko, A
Picture Contest, which was painted on site on North Carlisle
Street, at the back of the Hamilton building. From the first day
I arrived here I watched Paul work on his large canvasses as
the construction of our new Lenfest Plaza proceeded around
him. Paul is, like so many of his peers here at PAFA, a talented
and focused artist, which was plain to see as he worked and
reworked sections of the canvas, moving figures and cars and
fences and bicycles as his composition evolved.
Not only did he create a wonderful painting, he marked
a particular moment in the long life of PAFA’s continuing
evolution.
Please stop in and see for yourself!
Harry Philbrick
The Edna S. Tuttleman Director of the Museum
Photos: Frederick Gutekunst