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Dryads Green Gallery
First and foremost is a commitment to American art. While most American painters of our period completed some study in France, Italy, Germany and Spain—they are uniquely American in approach to their subjects. In general we prefer the American landscape, and we can well demonstrate that in American painted European landscapes, the American vision remains at work. We believe that American art is only coming into its own in its homeland. This permits us to make available to our clients works whose stature would be out of reach if done by European artists.
Moreover, we do not want to sell to name-droppers who can’t distinguish the value of the American Tradition. Instead, we seek those who have an instinctive feel for its unique greatness.
We have no interest in Contemporary Art, and in general our focus ends with the beginning of WWII. Abstract expression is not to our taste. What we look for in both luminist and impressionist renditions of the natural image is a treatment that reveals natural meaning and its beauty in a unique artistic context that is shared with the viewer. We will not buy paintings that we can’t understand, nor do we offer the same.
The critical point is our ability to provide value for our clients. We want them to live with and respect the masterpiece paintings they obtain from us and ultimately to be rewarded when they sell them independently or ask us to represent them as a seller.
We provide value, first and foremost, through the quality of the work we offer. We want to offer what are among the very best works our artists have ever done—or works with a special rarity within their total output.
We think for example, that in Crane, Lawson, Reckard and C.P. Gruppe’ we are offering some of the very best things they have ever done. You as a buyer should recognize this. In other cases, as with Berthelsen, Enneking, Lever and Schofield, we are offering works that transcend the artist’s typical subject matter because of a unique commitment to individual subjects, which are often one-of-a-kind for these artists.
Finally, we work very, very hard to acquire not only the best, but to do so at prices, which allow us to sell to those who want a genuine art investment. This is by no means easy. We are constantly seeking value opportunities. That’s difficult. It’s even more difficult because of the standards we apply.
It’s just not easy to acquire works for resale, and we are frequently disappointed when prices go beyond what we want to pay. That can happen when untutored buyers led by so-called financial advisors with a collecting bent bid up prices to levels far above the actual market. We know this happens because we have obtained bargains when over-paid-for works come back for sale.
We also suffer forgeries, though our record here is excellent when it comes to spotting fakes. Of course there is not a catlogue raisonne for every painter and expert opinion is just that; so when it comes to provenance and signature (when present) the ultimate test is the strength of our own determination always. We must risk our opinion of authorship, and we also have had to destroy paintings whose condition was misrepresented to us and which we refused to sell when we had the opportunity to examine them. As we said, it's just not easy to add value for collectors.
Once in a great while we can make it work, and we do acquire something that passes our tests and speaks its beauty. No wonder, then, that paintings of this kind mean so much to us. Even then, we try to place them at a price that will enable our collectors to feel completely satisfied with their purchases and from their individual perspective as collectors.
We love these paintings and we live with them on a daily basis and we only deal with clients who are able to see the value of experiencing and knowing the truly great art they acquire from us. That's exactly who we sell to.