July, 2007
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
Contacts: For J. Russell Jinishian Gallery, Inc. For The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum: Fred Polhemus Danielle Chapman 802/598-8301 Special Events Coordinator sportingartnews@gmail.com 949/675-8915 www.jrusselljinishiangallery.com Danielle@nhnm.org
Newport Harbor Nautical Museum to host special showing of original high-end sporting art by two of America’s leading outdoor artists.
Newport Beach, CA… The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum and the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery of Fairfield, Connecticut have teamed up to present The Art of Angling – An Exhibition and Sale featuring the works of two modern masters: Stanley Meltzoff (1917-2006) and Flick Ford (b. 1954).
The month-long exhibition will open August 9th and feature a variety of book-signings and special events celebrating California’s 100+ years of salt-water angling history.
This is a rare opportunity to see first-hand these extraordinary paintings by the very finest practitioners of this exacting art. Angling and sporting enthusiasts should not pass up this event.
As an added attraction, Mr. Ford has agreed to attend the opening reception on August 9th. Beginning at 6PM, he will discuss his original paintings and be available to sign FISH: 77 Great Fish of North America, a stunningly illustrated, award-winning book of never-before-published watercolor portraits with accompanying text by Dean Travis Clarke, a literary master of sport fishing. A treasure for anglers and non-anglers alike, FISH is a veritable feast for the eyes, demonstrating a passionate appreciation of our game fish and wildlife heritage. Ford captures the perfection of each fish at the moment it was pulled from the water. His stunningly detailed paintings, highly reminiscent of 19th century avian works by John J. Audubon, tell a tale at once celebratory and cautionary as man’s impact on the natural world continues to mount.
Mr. Meltzoff’s Widow, Diane Pogrant, will be on hand a few weeks later on August 26th to discuss her late-husband’s work and the much-anticipated Illusions of a Fish Painter, a sweeping book designed and written by Mr. Meltzoff himself. The book celebrates his remarkable life, featuring not only his underwater art but also a captivating look back on his legendary career in illustration and fine art. Ms. Pogrant is currently working with Robert Weiner (publisher to Steven King, among others) in putting the finishing touches on the book. Additionally, the exhibition will provide a chance to meet and hear Author/Historian/Angler Mike Rivkin present on his most recent book - Angling And War: The Collision of Big-Game Fishing and WWII. During the 1930's, big-game fishing emerged from obscurity to become the new passion of American sportsmen. By decade's end, the capture of gigantic fish on the flimsiest of tackle had become the stuff of front-page news. This is the fascinating and untold story of how the newly emerging sport of big-game fishing was plunged headlong into the defining event of the 20th century: World War II. That big-game fishing was severely impacted by the war is no surprise, but the contributions of the angling community to the Allied war effort were equally vast. Through two years of research, Mr. Rivkin has compiled a wealth of knowledge on this subject and will be on hand, Saturday, August 11 from 2-5 to sign books and present on this fascinating and rarely-explored topic. Mr. Rivkin has spent a lifetime pursuing his passion for angling and its historic aspects, as a veteran big-game angler and long-time IGFA Representative. He currently serves as the sitting President of the venerable Tuna Club of Santa Catalina Island. He shares his love and knowledge of the subject with fellow anglers and sportsmen in his two titles: Big Game Fishing Headquarters: A History Of The IGFA (IGFA Press, 2005) and this just-released book Angling And War: The Collision of Big-Game Fishing and WWII (Silverfish Press, 2007) Both books have received brilliant reviews and are chock full of fascinating facts on the important role angling has played in our society throughout the decades. Together or separately, they make a great gift and read for any angler.
Where: Newport Harbor Nautical Museum 600 East Bay Avenue – in the Balboa Fun Zone Newport Beach, CA
When: Opening Reception with Flick Ford discussing his original art and signing of FISH: 77 Great Fish of North America – Thursday, August 9 – Starting at 6:00 pm
Author Mike Rivkin presentation & book signing on just-released - Angling And War: The Collision of Big-Game Fishing and WWII - Saturday, August 11, 2-5
Stanley Meltzoff’s widow, Diane Pogrant, to discuss Mr. Meltzoff’s work and present on upcoming book, Illusions of a Fish Painter August 26, 11 – 3
About The Artists – Stanley Meltzoff & Flick Ford
The year 2006 included a sad milestone in the sporting art world with the passing of Stanley Meltzoff, the illustration artist widely recognized as the first and preeminent painter of salt water fish in their natural environment. To say the water was in Stanley Meltzoff’s blood is an understatement. He began diving off the New Jersey coast in 1922, spear fishing in 1946, and painting game fish in a remarkably lifelike manner in 1965. Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to seeing billfish in the water during a Master’s tournament in Palm Beach. From then on, he regularly dove with all of the major game fish in waters throughout the world. Mr. Meltzoff created masterful paintings of these encounters for such publications as Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Saturday Evening Post, Life and Field & Stream, to name just a few. Over the many decades that spanned his career, he traveled the globe in search of many species of fish that he studied, photographed and interacted with in their natural environment. He then put his masterful brushwork on canvas to create images that have simply never been equaled. During his lifetime, Mr. Meltzoff received numerous awards for his exceptional images of ocean life below the surface and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. His contribution to sporting art and, in particular, game fish art, is immeasurable and helped elevate the subject matter to the highest level of art. Flick Ford fell in love with fishing at age five. His father, an accomplished fly-fisherman and talented commercial artist/copywriter, instilled in him a deep respect for nature and nurtured his early creativity. Born in 1954 in Atlanta, Flick was raised in Westchester County, New York. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Flick fished the Adirondacks, New England, Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia and the woodland lakes of Quebec, while pursuing two other loves: music (as lead singer in a garage rock band) and art. He took formal watercolor classes in the 1960s; figure drawing and graphic design classes from 1973 to 1976 and then studied art at Evergreen State College in Washington State. Flick moved to New York City in 1978 and dove into the audio/visual scene including indie film, video, underground publishing, cartooning, illustration, and music. He performed in the East Village with several bands and continues to write, play harmonica and sing lead vocals for The Crazy Pages, a group he helped form in 1988. Ford left New York in 1993, heading for the Hudson Highlands where he quickly became obsessed with fishing the NYC watershed. As he returned to many of the brook trout places where he had previously fished in parts of the Adirondacks and Vermont, the effects of over twenty years of pollution, over-development and acid rain became painfully apparent. “I felt I should start to keep a record of the fish I caught and decided to do it in watercolor paintings. I just want to catch and paint these fish, and show how they appear to me in all their iridescent beauty.” Today, Ford makes his home in Putnam County, New York. He fishes more than 100 days a year and ties his own flies. He catches and then selects nearly every fish he paints for its taxonomic detail and richness. After landing a fish, Ford quickly gets a digital photo before the colors fade, carefully measuring it in all dimensions and sketching details for further accuracy. His proprietary technique of successive washes with masking friskets and painstakingly-detailed dry brush work make these fish truly come to life on paper.
About the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery, Inc. Specializing in 19th, 20th and 21st Century Marine and Sporting Art from Europe and America. The J. Russell Jinishian Gallery (www.jrusselljinishiangallery.com) specializes in fine Contemporary and Antique Marine and Sporting Art from Europe and America. J. Russell Jinishian, Director, is recognized as the nation's leading authority on contemporary marine art. Mr. Jinishian is the former Director of the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport Museum. Under his leadership, well known personages Walter Cronkite, William F. Buckley Jr., George Plimpton, America's Cup Sailor Gary Jobson and many others served as jurors for the prestigious International Exhibitions of Marine Art held each year. Through close contacts with the world's top marine artists developed over the past 20 years, the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery is proud to be able to offer discriminating collectors unparalleled access to the very best marine and sporting art available in the market at any time. On hand is an extensive inventory of over 250 paintings, drawings, scrimshaw, and ship models in a wide variety of subjects, styles and price ranges. The Gallery offers changing exhibitions and opportunities to meet the artists through lecture programs.
The J. Russell Jinishian Gallery is located in the Greenwich Workshop Gallery Building, Upper Level, 1657 Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06824 For more information about the gallery, visit us on the web at www.jrusselljinishiangallery.com, telephone us at 203.259.8753 or email us at mailto:rjinishian@optonline.net. |