Every Picture Has a Story

By Tom Teicholz

For 30 years, Michael Schwartz has owned and operated Galerie Michael, an art gallery on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, building, in his own words, “museum-quality collections, one work at a time.” Works by Picasso, Dali, Goya and Miró adorn the walls for the current exhibition on Spanish masters.

With a staff of 24, many of whom hold fine-arts degrees and are called curators, Schwartz would be happy to sell you a work of art. But he would prefer to tell you a story first because what Schwartz really wants to do is enchant you.

I’ve known a few art dealers in my time, and much the way poker players have a tell, dealers have a “sell.” Some dealers sell status and exclusivity — as if you are joining a club; others make a more mercenary pitch, appealing to one’s sense of value, investment savvy and greed; for others, the sell is more aesthetic, with a focus on the artist’s technique, or on occasion

Read More here...

Galerie Michael Intro Video

Michael Schwartz Lectures at Bowers Museum!

This past weekend July 25, 2009 our very own Michael Schwartz lectured on "The Origins of Rembrandt's Etchings" at the Bowers Museum. (Michael Schwartz, Galerie Michael, discusses Rembrandt’s creative genius using the medium of etching as a major liberation of 17th century art. He will also examine the history of etching and how it replaced engraving.)



John Villarino's (a close friend of Galerie Michael) extensive Rembrandt Collection is currently on exhibition at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana:

Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt's Etchings
July 11 - August 23, 2009

Featuring 35 rare etchings by Rembrandt Van Rijn made between 1629 and 1654, Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt?s Etchings focuses on a subject the artist frequented in his formative years: the beggar. Rembrandt's images document and humanize the vagrant population living in 17th century Dutch society that considered these individuals repulsive and outcast. Often using biblical subjects and narratives, Rembrandt draws parallels in many of the etchings between the plight of the homeless and derelict, and figures such as Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Each etching on paper executed in a style closer to drawing than engraving portrays individualism, character and emotion of each figure rendered, beckoning the viewer's empathy and compassion.