THE COUPLE’S DECADES-IN-THE-MAKING ASSEMBLAGE INCLUDES ICONIC WORKS BY THE LIKES OF MEL RAMOS, GIL ELVGREN AND CHUCK CLOSE
By Christina Rees
Many art dealers follow trends in art; that’s where the fast and loose collector money comes from, where gatekeeping is a favorite posture and where conversations between the gallerist and the collector about the actual pleasure and beauty in an artwork are demolished under the weight of speculative conversation about investment in the next hot thing. The now-legendary New York gallerist, writer and collector Louis Meisel is not and was never that kind of art dealer. His profound commitment to his true loves – Photorealism, Pop and Pin-up Art – required a slow-burn, anti-trend business model that rewarded his collectors’ deeper commitment and, ultimately, Meisel’s.
“My gallery and situation evolved to be somewhat different from just about all the other dealers,” Meisel says. “I had discovered and chosen to represent a new genre of painters – the Photorealists – who were able to produce a very limited amount of paintings annually, which in most cases amounted to no more than three or four works. I was able to limit sales to those I felt really loved the work.”
Susan and Louis Meisel in front of their New York gallery in the late 1970s. Collection of Louis and Susan Meisel.
His model has worked: While most galleries that ruled 57th Street in the middle of the last century or were founded in SoHo in the 1970s are long gone, Meisel is still doing business in his namesake SoHo gallery Louis K. Meisel, which focuses on Photorealism and Pop. He’s also known as the preeminent authority on both Photorealism and Pin-up Art. In fact, he’s the man who defined the criteria of Photorealism, a self-contained movement that arose in the 1960s in the wake of Abstract Expressionism (contained in part because so few artists have the skill, patience or wherewithal to execute it – think Richard Estes and Robert Bechtle). He also, along with his friend, the renowned Pin-up collector Charles Martignette, shaped the discourse and burgeoning interest in Pin-up as a desirable and collectible art form.
Meisel, by honoring the slower churn of building relationships with collectors who reflexively understand the wow factor and beauty of great Photorealism and the enduring pleasure of Pin-up and Pop Art, has dedicated his art-world existence to works that trigger our sincere desire reflex. “I have been most interested in clients who were obviously collecting as opposed to decorating, and this was before the idea of investing was even thought about,” he says. “These were people who enjoyed lengthy conversations and viewings, who sometimes stayed for hours in the gallery.”
The Meisels in their SoHo loft. Behind them is Charles Bell’s ‘Sixteen Candles,’ 1992. Collection of Louis and Susan Meisel.
On October 15, Heritage will offer a thoughtful selection of works from Meisel’s storied collection in its Louis and Susan Meisel Pin-Up & Pop Art Showcase Auction. Most of the featured works – by the great Mel Ramos, along with those of Chuck Close, Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas and more – haven’t seen the auction block in many decades or ever, and while Meisel contemplates his retirement he credits Heritage’s robust relationship with Pop, Pin-up and Illustration Art as a reason to partner with the auction house to find new homes for these choice works.
“As the years have unfolded, my clients were and are the ones who would probably donate these rare and loved works to museums,” Meisel says. “None of these people would dump their paintings if the artists fell from favor; nor would they flip their works if a major price increase materialized.”
Mel Ramos ‘Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,’ 1963. Oil on canvas. 30 x 26 inches (76.2 x 66.0 cm) (sight). Collection of Louis and Susan Meisel.
A prime example that embodies the above quote is the work of Mel Ramos, a lifetime friend of the Meisels and one of the most famous style-and-genre straddlers. The West Coast artist’s paintings of superheroes and pin-up girls are legendary as he both played with and elevated the status of Pop Art and figurative painting during his 50-plus-year career. This Heritage event is led by a handful of works by Ramos, including his iconic early-1960s oil on canvas Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
“1963’s Sheena is one of the most significant works from the early career of Mel Ramos,” says Sarahjane Blum, Heritage’s Director of Illustration Art. “Dating to the moment when Ramos began to explore the relationship between mass-cultural production and the erotic, Sheena is part of a series of 13 works the artist created that juxtaposed branding, appropriation and Pin-up. These works are where Ramos found his signature subject, and the provocative insight of this canvas stands to this day.”
The blonde, defiant Sheena stares out from what looks like a blow-up of a branded advertisement or bold pulp-fiction cover, and yet what it’s advertising is itself – a work of fine art from one of the most playful and inventive artists of his era. Sheena is joined in this event by two more Ramos originals, including The Transfiguration of Galatea #3, from 2000, in which the artist plays with the classic Greek myth and depicts Galatea as a late 20th-century California dream girl. “Her pose evokes Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus,” Blum says. “The work powerfully encapsulates Ramos’ signature themes.” Ramos’ Unfinished Painting #3 from 1990 is an intimate watercolor that evokes a study, in this case of a quintessential modern American nude, her back to the viewer as she peers toward the viewer over her shoulder. As your eye travels from her feet to her head, the black-and-white “sketch” floods with fluid, lyrical color; her brunette quietude is emphasized with a background wash of bold sunset red. She epitomizes a cool, louche California.
Gil Elvgren ‘It’s Up to You,’ 1958. Oil on canvas. 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61.0 cm). Collection of Louis and Susan Meisel.
Significant works by Pin-up master Gil Elvgren also lead the auction. “Elvgren is the undisputed greatest of the Pin-up artists,” Meisel says – and he would know. Meisel co-authored, along with Martignette, the definitive Taschen tome Gil Elvgren: All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups. As Elvgren’s prices and profile have risen precipitously in recent years, Illustration Art and fine art fans alike would agree with the gallerist.
Elvgren’s It’s Up to You, from 1958, is the artist at the height of his engaged, good-natured power. “Dressed in red, white and blue, this all-American beauty – an American counterpart to Marianne, the iconic French symbol of liberty – encourages voter participation in the 1960 presidential election in this spectacular painting created for the Brown & Bigelow calendar company,” Blum says. “The 1960 election was a pivotal moment in U.S. history … Elvgren’s choice to create political art directly tied to the election highlights how high the stakes felt at the time.” The painting contains subtle nods to the famous “We Can Do It” Rosie the Riveter poster; the figure’s portrayal as a working woman with a hammer in hand further emphasizes the importance of the moment. “The painting stands as one of Elvgren’s masterpieces and underscores the cultural significance of Pin-up Art in mid-20th-century America,” Blum adds.
Other choice Elvgren works in the auction showcase the artist’s humor with on-the-nose titles like Appreciative Audience (a bikini-clad beachgoer modeled by Myrna Hansen is approached by a curious seagull) and Swim Anyone? (a curvaceous beauty smiles widely at the viewer as she begins to remove her shirt), both dating to the 1960s.
Alberto Vargas ‘You’re Really Forgetful Darling,’ Playboy interior, 1964. Watercolor on board. 25-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (64.8 x 41.9 cm) (sight). Collection of Louis and Susan Meisel.
Another Pin-up pioneer, Alberto Vargas, is represented in the auction by a handful of signature paintings in his unmistakable style. An image for a 1964 issue of Playboy titled You’re Really Forgetful Darling “showcases Vargas’ eye for unusual perspective, his virtuosity with tone and shadow to create sensual curve, and his judicious use of costuming and props to reveal more than they conceal,” Blum says. “The work’s soft sensuality, impeccable technical execution and the details within the scene that invite the viewer to view Pin-up as part of broader culture make it a perfect example of why Vargas remains one of the most celebrated Pin-up artists of all time.”
Other Pin-up greats featured in the October 15 auction include Joyce Ballantyne and Pearl Aleryn Frush, who produced calendar girls for publishers Shaw-Barton and Gerlach Barklow in the 1940s and ’50s. These female artists’ works are joined by sensationally sexy originals by collector favorites Haddon Sundblom, Greg Hildebrandt, George Petty and more.
John C. Kacere ‘Judi,’ 1979. Oil on canvas. 27 x 22 inches (68.6 x 55.9 cm). Collection of Louis and Susan Meisel.
But an event that showcases the collection of Louis and Susan Meisel would not be complete without a few select works by some favorite Photorealists. Two works by Chuck Close – one an untitled Polaroid from 1980 and a screenprint from 2004 – illustrate the evolution of the artist’s treatment of the portrait. John C. Kacere epitomizes a 1970s take on sensuality in 1979’s Judi. These works are joined by another type of portrait by Ron Kleemann titled St. Louis Mustang, a 1980 oil-on-canvas interpretation of the fighter jet reproduced from a photograph in Kleemann’s masterful invisible brushwork, which renders the body of the aircraft with a sensuality that echoes the sensibilities of his Pop and Pin-up forebears. It is a sensibility that Meisel, his favorite artists and his most astute collectors share.
“I’ve helped expose these works to as many people as possible by presenting over 250 museum exhibitions throughout the world,” Meisel says, “and I will continue to do business my way.”
The artists, their collectors and connoisseurs of Photorealism, Pop and Pin-up Art are better off for it.
CHRISTINA REES is a staff writer at Intelligent Collector.