Dr. James Harken, a retired dentist in Spokane Valley, Washington, never dreamed of becoming an art collector. He spent his formative years in Cartersville, Montana, where his family lived without running water, indoor plumbing, or electricity. “My father became an attorney after putting himself through...
William G. Kerr was an adolescent when he first encountered fine art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and he’s been captivated with paintings and sculptures ever since. His early affinity for art has since touched the lives of many artists, art...
Imagine shopping for art at the world’s top galleries, studios, and auctions, funded by a philanthropic benefactor. Laura Finlay Smith is the curator of the Tia Collection, a global art holding with a diverse range of paintings, drawings, prints, photography, sculpture, ephemera, and mixed media....
If there were an award for “Happiest Collector,” chances are Tim Newton, chairman of the board of the Salmagundi Art Club in New York City, would be the top contender. Newton and his wife Cathi have amassed a collection of 350 artworks in 28 years. As...
First-generation immigrants, Jack and Rebecca Benaroya met at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. They fell in love, and for 70 years they lived and appreciated life in a grand way. With a laugh, Rebecca tells how her husband was conceived in Beirut and delivered...
For almost 35 years, Scot Levitt has been collecting, organizing, appraising, and selling art. His position at Bonhams Auction House, as vice president and director of fine arts in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, provides excitement and satisfaction, with fresh opportunities present every day....
For 46 years, Chris Webster’s office has been located above Lincoln Avenue, on the grassy Santa Fe Plaza. Up a flight of stairs, the office opens into a space designed to resemble an 18th-century hacienda. Navajo weavings, Spanish Colonial furniture, and a chapirito, (a fermentation jar from Peru) are placed...
It is doubtful the U.S. could boast a national center for Dale William Nichols, the 20th-century artist whose acclaim rested on depicting red barns and realistic representations of rural life in the American Midwest, without the single-minded and whole-hearted efforts of Anna Nolan and her...
It could be that the spirits of Gertrude Stein and Mabel Dodge Luhan live today in the personas of Betty Barber-Hughes and Jerre Lynn Vanier. As mother and daughter, these two have built their lives around the arts. In Paradise Valley, Arizona, they collaborate to...
Walk into J.E. Cauthen & Sons, one of the charming historic storefronts on Main Street in Fredericksburg, Texas, and it feels as if you’ve entered an old English study. Modeled after the historic gun rooms of London, the building was constructed in the 1870s and...