Art Review: Winter Show, a Second Look

This is my second story on the Winter Show, the art fair running this week at what used to be Barneys at 660 Madison Avenue. Last week I wrote about works for sale from the Gilded Age, the era in America of gigantic fortunes and a bold, new aesthetic confidence. We’re in a new Gilded Age today, not in taste, sadly, since most of the new gazillionaires don’t seem to have good taste. They seem to flock to trophies like the Andy Warhol Marilyn, expected to hit $250 million at Christie’s in May.

“C’mon, man,” to borrow the most profound thing we’ll ever hear from a certain empty suit in the Oval Office. Stick with the Winter Show, you plutocrats, for quality at, mostly, reasonable prices. With 80 dealers, all connoisseurs, there’s something for everyone who’s discerning. If, oligarchs, magnates, and high-tech fat cats, you admit you know nothing, then the dealers there, among the very best, are good teachers.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

This is my second story on the Winter Show, the art fair running this week at what used to be Barneys at 660 Madison Avenue. Last week I wrote about works for sale from the Gilded Age, the era in America of gigantic fortunes and a bold, new aesthetic confidence. We’re in a new Gilded Age today, not in taste, sadly, since most of the new gazillionaires don’t seem to have good taste. They seem to flock to trophies like the Andy Warhol Marilyn, expected to hit $250 million at Christie’s in May.

“C’mon, man,” to borrow the most profound thing we’ll ever hear from a certain empty suit in the Oval Office. Stick with the Winter Show, you plutocrats, for quality at, mostly, reasonable prices. With 80 dealers, all connoisseurs, there’s something for everyone who’s discerning. If, oligarchs, magnates, and high-tech fat cats, you admit you know nothing, then the dealers there, among the very best, are good teachers.