The Benefits of Purchasing Art from a Private Dealer

At Karges Fine Art, we take pride in forming personal relationships with our clients, getting to know them, their unique tastes, their concerns and priorities, while gaining extensive knowledge about artworks in their existing collection. Our clients gain reassurance that they're making the right decision based on our familiarity with their individual taste and budget. We become keenly aware of the specific plan the client has for the future direction of their collection as a whole, or work to assist a new collector with the creation of a vision. This close relationship saves the client time, since a trusted art advisor is always looking for specific works that will appeal to each individual customer and fit in with their current collection. Our knowledgeable, professional staff provides customized service that is specifically tailored to suit the client's individual needs. We realize that ours is a customer service business, not just a sales opportunity. Our Art Consultants might assist a collector with the reframing of one of their other paintings and enjoy a leisurely dinner together. Each of our invoices is typed out by hand. Concierge service is our specialty and we go out of our way to make our collectors feel valued and appreciated.

Art galleries offer a more relaxed environment to view an artwork in person, evaluate, and decide on purchases, at the client's own pace, without the pressure of another buyer trying to outbid them in real time.

Galleries often have more flexibility in pricing. A private dealer may be able to immediately contact a consignor who could agree to lower their net to facilitate a sale. A gallery may occasionally be willing to offer a discount to a valued, long term collector, or to a new collector whose loyalty they would like to secure for the future. No “Buyer's Premium” is charged.

Whenever anyone buys a work of art, the reputation of the source should be of primary concern. Karges Fine Art has built a very strong international reputation over a 30 year period, assisting both private collectors and museum curators in building collections that are relevant to their goals, unique to their tastes, and personally meaningful to them. Honesty and trust are essential components of the relationship between a private dealer and the client. A private gallery owner knows that their business cannot be successful and enduring without a solid long-term reputation based on truthfulness, fairness, and integrity.

Karges Fine Art caters to individual tastes and we specialize in particular styles of art and specific periods, focusing primarily on Early California paintings created between 1870 and 1950 by historically important artists including Edgar Payne, Thomas Hill, and William Wendt and Alfred Mitchell. We also carry works by notable artists of the American Southwest, including paintings by Maynard Dixon, E. Martin Hennings, Walter Ufer, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Nicolai Fechin, as well as woodblock prints by Gustave Baumann. Additionally, our Gallery Director has extensive experience with sales and purchasing of paintings by early Philippine artists including Fernando Amorsolo and Anita Magsaysay-Ho. Our staff has extensive knowledge about these very specific sectors of the art world and we work hard to stay informed about the current market for those works through comprehensive research and networking. As private art advisors, we can slowly develop long-term relationships with other knowledgeable experts in the art community, including appraisers, museum curators, and other dealers. We stay informed about fluctuations in the current market so that we are able to provide insight and advice to our collectors. A personal art advisor is well informed about the particular place the artwork holds in the history of art, and its individual position in the oeuvre of the specific artist.

Russian Villagers
by
Southwest Artist Leon Gaspard (1882 - 1964)

We provide an environment where a collector's privacy is valued, offering discreet consultations with a well informed professional. The details of the sale remain confidential, and are not made available to the public. We often offer to make an appointment, at a time that is convenient for the collector, to personally bring paintings to our clients' homes so that they can be viewed on different walls, in different locations, with various lighting options. This gives the collector the ability to make an informed decision at their own pace, in their own home.

Winding Valley
by
Early California Impressionist Alfred Mitchell (1888 - 1972)

A private gallery or home setting provides an intimate, quiet space to view a work of art in person, directly, rather than from a reproduction in a catalogue or on a computer screen. The emotional experience of physically looking at a painting, feeling the human connection with the artist, and seeing the texture of the surface and the subtleties of the brushwork and coloring is much more profound and powerful in person.

Art is not a just a “commodity” that is bought and sold by the square inch. There is an intangible quality to unique original works of art. The well trained professional staff at a private gallery understands that these precious connections to the past are valued as part of the historical record of humankind, and knows that the works can and should evoke deep feelings and emotions in the collector that will bring them joy in the years to come. When a painting is acquired, the collector becomes part of that artwork's story. For many, collecting art is not just an investment or a hobby, it's a passion that provides deep satisfaction on a personal level. Our experienced art consultants have a real understanding of this intangible factor. Need assistance starting a new collection or finding the perfect work for your existing one? Contact us any time at (800) 833-9185, or by email to gallery@kargesfineart.com, or stop by and visit our gallery at Dolores and Sixth Avenue in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea.

The Exotic World of Jessie Arms Botke

During the height of her career, Jessie Arms Botke was proclaimed by critics as the greatest decorative painter of the West. The art world consisted primarily of male artists in the early twentieth century, yet Botke quickly earned a name for herself through a strong work ethic and an undeniable talent. She is primarily remembered for her ornate depictions of exotic birds, especially pelicans, geese, ducks, cockatoos, and peacocks, as well as her elegant paintings of tropical flowers, which inspired her to a high level of artistry.

No matter the medium, Botke’s paintings are unique and filled with both wonder and fantasy. From her early plein air landscapes and her decorative friezes to her more mature gold-leaf oil compositions, Botke’s work remained relevant, even in the ‘60s, as a testament to her longevity as an artist and the sheer beauty of her creations.

Born in Chicago in 1883, Jessie Arms began painting and sketching at a young age. By 1902, she had enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago, where she trained under the tutelage of renowned artists and teachers John C. Johansen and Charles Woodbury. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City to work for Albert Herter of Herter Looms, famed textile and tapestry design firm. She later contributed to a series of wall murals done by Herter for San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel.

Jessie Arms Botke

"Peacocks and Poppies"

Oil and gold leaf on board

32 x 28 inches

SOLD

After moving back home to Chicago, Jessie Arms met artist Cornelis Botke, who soon became her husband and lifelong partner. In 1929, the happy couple settled in Santa Paula, California’s Wheeler Canyon on a peaceful ranch consisting of ten acres. From her home and studio, Botke became the most exceptional decorative painter of the twentieth century with her bold portrayals of birds and flora, which were heavily inspired by Japanese screens. Later in life, she also proved herself to be a master watercolorist and printmaker.

Click here to view additional examples of Botke's paintings.

Click here for additional in-depth information about the artist and her life.

Call William A. Karges Fine Art at (800) 833-9185 for additional information about available paintings by Jessie Arms Botke and other early California artists, or email gallery@kargesfineart.com.

Granville Redmond: Color and Silence

Granville Redmond: Color and Silence by Rob Pierce

On March 9th, 1871, Charles and Elizabeth Redmond gave birth to healthy baby boy, whom they named Grenville Richard Seymour Redmond. Sadly – though perhaps from an art historical perspective, felicitously – young Grenville contracted scarlet fever at the age of two, rendering him completely and irreparably deaf. As a result, Redmond never developed the ability to speak.

In 1874, the Redmond family moved to the Bay Area, eventually enrolling their son in the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, one of the nation's most renowned institutions for the hearing impaired. Redmond excelled in his classes, both academically and socially, but it was in the arts that he truly shone.

Under the instruction of artist Theophilus D'Estrella, he developed a keen eye for light and color, and a particular love of the outdoors and the en plein air method, which was coming into fashion among the burgeoning California art scene. It's difficult to say to what degree Redmond's hearing impairment influenced his art, but whatever the cause, he found himself immediately attracted to the subtle gradations and quiet isolation of Tonalism, a love affair that would follow him all of his life.

Granville Redmond

"Flowering Hillside"

SOLD

At the encouragement of his instructors from the California School, Redmond enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design at the age of 16. It was here that he would meet perhaps the most significant instructor of his early artistic career, Director of the School of Design, Arthur Mathews. Mathews is recognized by many art historians as the single most important figure in Early California painting, as he is responsible for the first artistic movement that can accurately be described as Californian: The eventually-termed California Decorative Style. Still, had it not been for this invention, his contribution to the arts would have been indisputable simply for his tutelage of many renowned artists including Redmond.

Even before graduating from the Academy of Design, Redmond began to receive critical acclaim, winning the W. E. Brown Medal of Excellence and a scholarship to continue his studies in Paris. In 1893, he crossed the Pacific and enrolled at the Académie Julian, one of France's most prestigious art schools. Here, under the professorship of such luminaries as Benjamin Constant and Jean Paul Laurenz, Redmond meticulously honed his craft.

By the early 1890s, Redmond was focusing almost exclusively on exterior landscape compositions in the Tonalist style, and in 1895 his canvas, Matin d'Hiver, was accepted into the exclusive Paris Art Salon. In 1898, Redmond returned to California and settled in Los Angeles. After years of study, he was finally ready to embark on his journey as a professional artist. Perhaps in response to his new state in life, Grenville Richard Seymour Redmond decided that a nom de pinceau was in order – and thus he dropped the foremost e in favor of an a, did away with his middle names altogether, and became simply Granville Redmond.

Granville Redmond's early professional career in Southern California is characterized by subtle Tonalist compositions, often landscapes and seascapes of Laguna Beach, Catalina Island, and San Pedro. These early works exhibit quiet, almost solemn undertones. Additionally, Redmond completed a number of nocturnes during this time, tenebrous pastorals reminiscent of the work coming from his artistic motherland, San Francisco.

When Redmond met Charlie Chaplain in Los Angeles, the two quickly became fast friends, trading techniques in pantomime and other non-verbal cues – one educated through a lifetime of silent observation, the other through a career on the silver screen. They got along so handsomely that not only did Chaplain invite Redmond to star in three of his feature films, but the actor also independently financed a studio for the artist on his film lot.

In 1899, Granville married Carrie Ann Jean, herself a graduate from the Illinois School for the Deaf. Over the next several years, they would have three children together. By that time, Redmond was already garnering favorable criticism as a talented and thoughtful colorist in the LA art scene.

But the artist was soon to explore a whole new method of composition, and in 1908 he packed up his family and moved north to Monterey, where his typically moody Tonalist landscapes began to change, becoming more expansive, idyllic, and colorful.

Two years later, the Redmond family moved again, this time to San Mateo, where Granville firmly rooted himself in the San Francisco art establishment. He took the critical world by storm with his sweeping visions of California landscapes, hillsides on fire with golden poppies and violet lupine. The demand for his work exploded.

For the next 25 years, Redmond travelled the California coast – one of the few Early Californian artists to do so – capturing its quintessential light and color. His work matured, becoming more Impressionistic, even Pointillist, as he grew to become one of the West Coast's foremost California Impressionists. He drew comparisons to France's greatest masters – Monet, Matisse, Pisarro – and though collectors had an insatiable appetite for his vivid wildflower canvases, the artist never gave up his passion for his quiet, Tonalist compositions. For the rest of his life, he would continue to paint his beloved, brooding nocturnes; subtle, grey pastorals; tenebrous, solitary coastals – even as the demand for his Impressionistic landscapes continued to skyrocket.

Granville Redmond
"Moonlit Pond"
SOLD

Today, Granville Redmond is remembered as a master of both California Impressionism and California Tonalism. His work continues to be bought and sold around the world, publicly and privately, and every retrospective of seminal Californian art bears his name. 

Granville Redmond

"Grazing"

SOLD

His work is held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco's de Young Museum, the Stanford University Museum, the California School of the Deaf – to name but a few.

Granville Redmond died on May 24, 1935 in Los Angeles. He was 63 years old.

Explore "California Winter" by Guy Rose with Gallery Director, Whitney Ganz

Enjoy our video, presented by William A. Karges Fine Art Los Angeles Gallery Director, Whitney Ganz, as he discusses "California Winter" by prominent Early California Impressionist artist Guy Rose.