Warren Adelson (born 1942) is an American

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

, and author specializing in 19th and 20th-century American Painting as well as contemporary art.

Biography

Adelson was born in

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri, a village * Brookline, New Hampshire, a town * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookl ...

, Massachusetts, the son of Beaze (née Gellar) and Harry Adelson. He opened his first gallery in Boston in 1965 on Newbury Street, Boston. Adelson Galleries exhibited Boston Impressionists, 19th-century American landscape and figure painting, and contemporary art. In 1972, Adelson joined Knoedler Galleries in New York, where he worked on the development of their American paintings department for one year. In 1974, he joined Coe Kerr Gallery in New York and became a partner with the principal owner, R. Frederick Woolworth, the following year. There, he organized exhibitions and catalogues of

American Impressionist American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose ...

painters including ''

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...

: An American Observer'', ''

Maurice Prendergast Maurice Brazil Prendergast (October 10, 1858 – February 1, 1924) was an American artist who painted in oil and watercolor, and created monotypes. His delicate landscapes and scenes of modern life, characterized by mosaic-like color, are ...

: The Remembered Image'', ''

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

: His Own Work'', and ''Sargent at Broadway: The

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

Years''. He also produced several exhibitions of new work by

Jamie Wyeth James Browning Wyeth (born July 6, 1946) is an American Realism (arts), realist painter, son of Andrew Wyeth, and grandson of N.C. Wyeth. He was raised in Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania, and is artistic heir to the Brandywine School traditio ...

, as well as the exhibition, "Portraits of Each Other, 1976," which featured images of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

and Jamie Wyeth. The exhibition traveled to many museums throughout America and drew large crowds. In 1990, Adelson re-established Adelson Galleries in New York and continued to specialize in 19th and 20th-century American art. The gallery regularly exhibits works by artists such as

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

Charles Burchfield Charles Ephraim Burchfield (April 9, 1893 – January 10, 1967) was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and townscapes. The largest collection of Burchfield's paintings, archives and j ...

, Mary Cassatt,

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design. ...

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionis ...

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters of 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

John Marin John Marin (December 23, 1870 – October 2, 1953) was an early American modernist visual artist. He is known for his abstract landscape paintings and watercolors. Early life and education Marin was born on December 23, 1870, in Rutherford, N ...

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American Modernism, modernist painter and drafter, draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "M ...

, Maurice Prendergast, John Singer Sargent, and

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist and one of the best-known American artists of the middle 20th century. Though he considered himself to be an "abstractionist," Wyeth was primarily a realis ...

, among others. In addition, Adelson Galleries represents several contemporary artists including

Jacob Collins Jacob Collins (born 1964) is an American realist painter working in New York City. He is a leading figure of the contemporary Classical Realism, classical art revival. He has founded several schools of art including the Water Street Atelier, th ...

Andrew Stevovich Andrew Stevovich ( ; born 1948) is an American painter. He is best known for oil paintings and pastels that combine abstract formalities with a figurative narrative. He has also produced lithographs, etchings, and wood-block prints. Biography ...

, and Jamie Wyeth. Under his direction, Adelson Galleries has produced numerous exhibitions and books, including ''Sargent Abroad: Figures and Landscapes'', ''From the Artist's Studio: Unknown Prints and Drawings by Mary Cassatt'', ''Maurice Prendergast: Paintings of America'', ''Andrew Wyeth: Helga on Paper'', ''Sargent's Venice'', ''

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for paintin ...

: Romantic Landscapes and Seascapes'', ''Jamie Wyeth: Seven Deadly Sins'', ''Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Collection of

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (; 3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with being a major supporter an ...

'', ''

: The Late Oils''. and ''Sargent and Impressionism''. Many of these exhibitions included paintings on loan from distinguished public collections such as the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, NY, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

, the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

, and the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, London. ''Sargent's Venice'' was conceived and organized by Adelson Galleries and traveled to the

Museo Correr The Museo Correr () is a museum in Venice, northern Italy. Located in Piazza San Marco, St. Mark's Square, Venice, it is one of the 11 civic museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. The museum extends along the southside of the squar ...

in Venice, 2007.

John Singer Sargent

Adelson is an internationally recognized authority on John Singer Sargent, and he initiated scholarship on the John Singer Sargent

Catalogue Raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...

in 1980 in partnership with the artist's great-nephew, Richard L. Ormond. The first seven volumes of the Catalog Raisonné have been published by the

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

. The two final volumes will follow, vol. 8 in 2014, and vol. 9 in 2016. Volume IV of the Catalogue Raisonné was awarded First Place for Scholarly and Reference Books at the 2007 New York Book Show Awards and chosen by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title from 2007. Adelson was also among the noted Sargent scholars who authored ''Sargent Abroad: Figures and Landscapes''. His recent publication, ''Sargent's Venice'', won the Award of Merit at the 2007 New York Book Show and a rating of "Outstanding" from the 2007 University Press Books Committee. Adelson has lectured extensively on Sargent at institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the List of largest art museums, largest ar ...

; the

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

; the

High Museum The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (2 ...

, Atlanta; and the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...

, Washington, DC.

Andrew Wyeth

Adelson has maintained a four-decade relationship with Andrew Wyeth and his family in concert with Wyeth's principal dealer, Frank E. Fowler, of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. In November 2006, Adelson and Fowler presented the exhibition, ''Andrew Wyeth, Helga on Paper'' at the New York gallery (then at 19 East 82nd Street).

Awards and honors

Adelson holds a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Art History from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. From 1986 to 2001, Adelson served as a board member to the Art Advisory Panel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, DC. From 1997 to 2002, he served on the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

's Advisory Committee on Museum Archives, Library, and Research. In January 2006 he was elected to the board of trustees of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. He also currently serves as the Chair of Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Leadership Advisory Board.

Personal

Adelson lives in New York with his wife, Jan Peterson Adelson. Jan is chairman of The Board of the

Hudson River Museum The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County, and features the only public planetarium in the county. While often considered an art museum due to its extensive collection of Hu ...

, Yonkers, NY, past chair of Lyndhurst, a National Trust Historic Site in Tarrytown, NY and served as secretary on the Board of

Historic Hudson Valley Historic Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. The organization gives tours and hosts events at five historic properties in Westchester County, in the lower Hudso ...

. Jan and Warren have worked together at Adelson Galleries since 1990. Jan previously worked for Curry Fine Art and at the Ankrum Gallery in Los Angeles in the late 1970s early 1980s and assisted the painter, Shirl Goedike. They have three children, Alan, Adam, and Alexa. Alan is employed by Adelson Galleries, New York. Adam is the Director of Adelson Galleries Boston, along with Alexa, the assistant director. Warren also has a son, Dr. Harry Adelson of Park City, Utah, by a previous marriage.

References

External links

Adelson Galleries website

Article at the "Boston University Arts & Sciences" website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelson, Warren 1942 births American art dealers American art historians People from Brookline, Massachusetts Living people Boston University alumni People from Briarcliff Manor, New York Historians from Massachusetts Historians from New York (state)