A MERGING OF MODERNISM AND FINE ART

By Pamela Price

The Palm Springs Convention Center reverberated with a mélange of art, retro and futuristic plus everything in between during Modernism   Week, February 15-19, an event attracting visitors from near and far.   Louis Galper with his friends visiting from San Diego said he was spending at least four days in Palm Springs to make this a ‘marathon art weekend.’

Eighty-five premier national and international dealers    featuring all design movements of the 20th century    were   exhibited at the Modernism Show and Sale   while   at    the Convention Center’s   adjacent space, Art Palm Springs brought 84 art galleries together for the event’s   7th edition, according to  Donna Davies, Vice President of Art

Group Urban Exposures.

Catching the attention of a steady flow of jewelry fans at The Modernism Show was a retrospective exhibition of rare William de Lillo and Robert F. Clark jewelry and sculpture not previously curated for display ever before according to Carlos King of Gallery 24 Jewelry in Palm Springs.  He pulled out all the stops with the dramatic collection of dazzling necklaces and bracelets.  Mr. King said the designers had “many celebrity status clients and delivered jewelry in the     Palm Springs area to Liberace, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Barbara Sinatra, and Mrs. Bob Hope, often staying with the Hopes at their Southridge residence in Palm Springs.   Just steps away the Vintage Poster, specializing in original vintage European advertising posters and Poster Passion, specializing in reproductions of antique posters lured   art fans   nonstop with signs from TWA and

Air France side by side with recruitment posters for the Navy, Air Force and   Marines.  Moving on to the Art Palm Springs exhibition, just steps away revealed an international gathering of artists, alongside desert art galleries.

The Jorge Mendez Gallery in Palm Springs Uptown Design District displayed collectible works by emerging and selected artists.   The Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery from Cordoba, Argentina was a show stopper with several canine-inspired mosaic sculptures by Natasha Dikareva turning the heads of dog lovers in their tracks.

Around the corner book, lovers lingered over the remarkably detailed paintings of bookshelves displaying classic “coffee table” books and more ranging from designers and artists from    Dior to David Hockney.

The Host Committee for this year’s Art Palm Springs featured Harold Matzner, Arlene Schnitzer, Jordan Schnitzer, Steven Biller, Michael Childers   Richard Kip Serafin,  and  Palm Springs  Mayor  Robert Moon.    Among the Cultural Partners were   Desert X,  Modernism Week and the Beatrice Woods  Center for the Arts.

A diverse, dramatic array of art, accent pieces, and jewelry spanned both the Modernism and Art Palm Springs exhibits.  “There was something for everyone’s taste,” said Timmy Woods of Los Angeles who is a perennial fan of both shows.

Pamela Price serves on the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission