WORK OF THE WEEK: The Sport of Kings by Jenness Cortez

Jenness Cortez 

The Sport of Kings

acrylic on mahogany panel

20 x 24 inches

Realist painter Jenness Cortez was born in Indiana, and began her training under Dutch painter, Antonius Raemaekers at the age of sixteen. She attended the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and the Art Students League in New York. Cortez is most known for her homages to the great paintings in art history.

While artists have paid homage to those who came before them for centuries, Cortez manages to both honor the historic works of art and bring them into the contemporary realm by incorporating them in modern settings.  Many of the works that she pays tribute to can only be seen in museums, yet she brings them into intimate interiors that allow you to experience them as if they were really hanging in your own living room. 

This composition pays homage to 1880's French impressionist master works by Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Manet's "The Races at Longchamp", painted in 1886 is currently housed by the Art Institute of Chicago.  This painting features the finish of a horse race at the Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France.  The second work, Degas' "Before the Race", is shown in the left side of the composition, a study of horses and jockeys before the start. The original work by Degas is in the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, MA.  Both artists are known to have spent considerable time at the fashionable Longchamp races and created numerous equestrain paintings. Jenness Cortez also spent much of her early career painting equestrian scenes. 

Cortez' work is in numerous public and private collections including those of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, HRH Queen Elizabeth II, and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, among others. Public and corporate collectors include the New York State Museum, Fluor Corporation, Saratoga Harness, Inc., Skidmore College and SUNY Empire State College. Her work has been exhibited in museums including the Waterford Museum, the Albany Institute of History and Art, and the Burroughs Chapin Museum.

Contact us with inquiries about this work: 203.869.3664 or art@cavaliergalleries.com. 

Debranne Cingari Photography: The Nantucket Collection 2015 Catalog

Preview the NEW Catalog of Debranne Cingari's latest collection of Nantucket photographs. These images are available as limited edition, signed and numbered photographs in select sizes. Please contact us for additional information and pricing.

Click here to view this photo book larger

WORK OF THE WEEK: Day to Night, Bethesda Fountain, NYC by Stephen Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes

Day to Night, Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, NYC

Digital C-Print

20 x 40 inches

30 x 60 inches

40 x 80 inches

For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art and commercial photography. His photographs have been featured in leading magazines and periodicals including the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair and Time. Wilkes’ awards and honors include the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography, Photographer of the Year from Adweek Magazine, Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2004 Lucie Award, and the Epson Creativity Award. His monograph, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom was named one of Time Magazine’s 5 Best Photography Books of The Year in 2006. Wilkes’ work is in the permanent collection of the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collection, Griffin Museum of Photography, Jewish Museum of New York, Library of Congress, Snite Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection and numerous private collections. 

Stephen Wilkes’ newest body of work, Day to Night, captures epic cityscapes, iconic landmarks, and magical human moments from day to the night. Wilkes explains, "I imagined changing time in a single photograph. I began to explore this fascination with time in a new series of photographs called: Day to Night. Photographing from one camera angle continuously for up to 15 hours, capturing the fleeting moments throughout the day and night. A select group of these images are then blended into one photograph, capturing the changing of time within a single frame." The results are stunning. They glow. They invite the viewer to come in, look closer, feel the pulse of a location as it moves from the sunlit early morning hours into the electric glow of the urban night.

Learn more about Stephen Wilkes, his photographic process, and his Day to Night series in this CBS Sunday Morning profile.

Contact us with inquiries about this work: 203.869.3664 or art@cavaliergalleries.com. 

WORK OF THE WEEK: The Ostrich by Bjorn Skaarup

Bjorn Skaarup

The Ostrich 

Bronze and black granite
76 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches 

In celebration of spring's warm arrival and the promise of more time spent outdoors Cavalier Galleries presents a fanciful sculpture perfect for the garden, The Ostrich, by Dutch artist and Greenwich resident Bjorn Skaarup.

In discussing his work Skaarup explains, "my animal sculptures represent a number of characters that have been given man-made and cultural tools and attributes that underline their particular traits – the dignity and supremacy of the majestic lion, the chivalrous nature of the ermine, the speed of the cheetah, the height of the giraffe, and the heavenly aspirations of the ostrich... The sculptures are a celebration of life and nature and its many intriguing shapes and creatures, all placed in peculiar and surreal encounters between nature and culture. The result is a group of bronze sculptures that combines the gracious and exclusive with the communicative, distorted and humorous."

Skaarup holds a MA in History and Art History from the University of Copenhagen, and a PHD in History from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.  Skaarup has also furthered his education with post-doctoral studies at the Warburg Institute, London and Columbia University, New York

In addition to his career as a sculptor, Skaarup has written and illustrated numerous books on historical, archaeological, and anatomical subjects.

Skaarup’s unique sculptures draw inspiration from classical mythology, late Renaissance, as well as 20th century American pop culture, while reinterpreting both classical and modern artistic themes.
 

Contact us with inquiries about this work: 203.869.3664 or art@cavaliergalleries.com