Lynne Drexler

There's no perfect way to assess sales performance at an art fair. Galleries are under no obligation to report sales, and they're incentivised to report strong interest, making their artworks seem more covetable. The success of sales also depends on context. In a down market—which auction sales suggest is already here—average sales look good.

At this year's Armory Show (7–10 September), sales got off to 'a bustling start' according to The Art Newspaper, though they also said some smaller galleries reported 'a slow start'.

New York gallery Berry Campbell had a standout booth, a curated presentation of 12 postwar women artists. The gallery has a distinct focus on re-examining underrepresented women artists of the 20th-century. Gallery owner Christine Berry called it “an incredible day,” noting high demand for artists including Alice Baber, Bernice Bing, and Lynne Drexler.

Works by Drexler sold for $885,000 and $200,000; the artist, who has been drawing intense interest, will likely be the subject of a traveling institutional retrospective at some point in the near future. A work by Baber went for $200,000—Berry Campbell hopes to mount a solo show of the artist next year.

Later on in the day, the gallery let Artnet News know that a painting by Ethel Schwabacher had been sold for $195,000.  

Proving that no force is stronger than girl power, Frampton Co and Berry Campbell present Women Choose Women at Exhibition The Barn.

Lynne Drexler Saw the World Through Kaleidoscope Eyes

The art establishment ignored Lynne Drexler in life and, for more than two decades, also in death. But suddenly, the brilliantly colored canvases she kept piled in her ramshackle Monhegan home are fetching millions. Who was the enigmatic painter, and why is her immense talent only beginning to get its due?

Will Grunewald for Down East, February 2023

These last years have been crucial for readdressing the gender imbalance in art history, unveiling powerful and inspiring stories of female artists. Today’s edition of Artland’s Lost (and Found) Artist series, which unveils the stories of artists who were once omitted from the mainstream art canon or who were largely unseen for most of their careers, explores the renaissance of Abstract Expressionist painter Lynne Mapp Drexler (1928-1999). Probably overshadowed by her husband (also a painter) and her male contemporaries, she experienced the vibrant and tumultuous New York art scene of the mid-20^th century but overwhelmed by it, and struggling with her career, left for the peaceful Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine. As is often the case, after her death in 1999 and especially in recent years, Drexler is eventually gaining the attention she would have merited, and (as some had anticipated) her paintings are now being sold for millions.

Art Basel’s 2022 edition in Miami Beach closed on Saturday, December 3, 2022, following a week of solid sales across all market sectors and throughout the show. 

The Fair celebrated its landmark 20th-anniversary edition in Miami Beach, signalling two decades of growth and impact by Art Basel as a cultural cornerstone in South Florida, across the Americas, and beyond. The 2022 edition – Art Basel’s largest to date in Miami Beach – brought together 282 premier galleries from 38 countries and territories, including 25 galleries participating in the Fair for the first time and multiple international exhibitors returning to the show after a brief hiatus.

Photo Clayton Calvert © Artlyst 2022

Art Basel continued to draw an attendance of unparalleled global breadth and calibre. Leading private collectors from 88 countries across North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East visited the Fair, as well as museum directors, curators, and high-level patrons from over 150 cultural organizations, including: Art Gallery of Ontario; Aspen Art Museum; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville; Denver Art Museum; Detroit Institute of Arts; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba); Museum of Fine Arts Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The New Museum, New York; Oklahoma Contemporary; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Serpentine Galleries, London; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, reinforcing the Fair’s commitment to showcasing exceptional art from the region, nearly two-thirds of this year’s participating galleries had locations in North and South America, with a powerful presence of galleries from the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. The show also featured standout presentations by galleries from Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay, including newcomers Herlitzka + Faria from Barrio Norte, Paulo Kuczynski from São Paulo, and Rolf Art from Buenos Aires.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Art Basel launched a Gift-Giving Campaign with a lead donation to the STEAM + program, whose mission is to bring active artists into the seven public schools of the city of Miami Beach. Founded in 2018, the program engages 5,000 children and teenagers every year. It is administered by The Bass Museum of Art, working with many other local institutions, including Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami City Ballet, New World Symphony, The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, Young Musicians Unite, and The Wolfsonian-FIU. In addition, UBS, Ruinart, La Prairie, Chateau D’Esclans, Valentino, Knight Foundation, and DRIFT generously support this philanthropic campaign. The fundraiser will run until the end of 2022 when the total sum collected will be announced.