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M A A S TR I C HT 20 20

I N T R ODU C T I O N

We are delighted to be making our Maastricht debut. It has been four years since the founding of Gallery 19C.
We began with a website (www.gallery19c.com) and a handful of 19th century paintings. In September 2018,
we opened our Los Angeles gallery on 229 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. We transformed a raw empty space
into a gallery with soaring high ceilings, individual wall moldings, a contemporary interpretation of a parquet floor
and a huge Barrisol ambient light fixture, a 21st century equivalent of the skylights so often found in artist’s studios
in the 19th century. Our goal was to show that traditional art can look new again – to sweep things clean and discover
the 19th century anew.

Why the 19th century? Simply stated, it is our passion. It was one of the richest 100 years in the history of Western
art, a century characterized by a myriad of diverse Schools, artists, styles and subjects. It was a moment of
unprecedented artistic creativity and innovation competing with a system deeply rooted in traditional instruction.
Our goal is to celebrate the innovators as well as the traditionalists. The eminent art historian Robert Rosenblum,
who by the way was a huge fan of all things 19th century, said of the period: “many forgotten artists are beginning
to look fresh and pertinent. This is not only a question of our never having troubled to look at them before, but also
of the way in which some of them may suddenly enter into an unexpected dialogue with loftier and more famous
artists…” (Robert Rosenblum, “Fernand Pelez, or The Other Side of the Post-Impressionist Coin,” in The Ape of Nature,
Studies in Honor of H.W. Janson, New York, 1981, p. 707).

To celebrate Maastricht 2020, we have put together a catalogue that highlights six of the paintings you will see
on the walls of stand 384, all chosen for their diversity of artist, subject, style or rarity. We have also included a
comprehensive checklist of everything we will be bringing to the fair. The photograph illustrated opposite is a view of
the Pont Neuf taken by the French photographer, Adolphe Braun around 1860. Paris was so important to the history
of 19th century art. It was where the best art schools were located and as such was a mecca for artists everywhere –
a destination for those painters seeking tradition as well as for those seduced by something modern.

We look forward to seeing you in Maastricht, at our LA Gallery or browsing our website. As Stendhal wrote in 1824,
“we are on the brink of a revolution in the fine arts.” Let’s start by looking back and discovering all things new again
and in 2020, this just might turn out to be the start of a new revolution in collecting.

Eric Weider Polly Sartori

Photograph by Adolphe Braun, View of Le Pont Neuf, ca. 1860
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