JERSEY CITY, N.J.- Over the past four decades, prominent SoHo art dealers Louis K. Meisel and his wife, Susan, have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of collecting and have amassed upwards of 150 distinct collections containing more than 10,000 items. While their collections are comprised of objects of a most varied nature-including some of the largest and most thorough collections of antique gambling devices, player pianos, tin toys, Art Deco pottery and even beech trees-a particular emphasis has been placed on contemporary art, in particular, Photorealism, for which Louis K. Meisel coined the term in the late 1960s.
From September 18, 2011 to January 2012, the Eileen S. Kaminsky Foundation and
Mana Art Center will present highlights from the Meisels' personal art collection. Our Own Directions: Works from the Louis K. and Susan P. Meisel Collection assembles Photorealist paintings, photographs and sculpture from 1968 to the present day. The exhibition will feature the work of 38 artists including founding members of the Photorealist movement Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Charles Bell, Audrey Flack, Don Eddy, Robert Bechtle and as well as their contemporary counterparts such as Roberto Bernardi, sculptor John DeAndrea, Raphaella Spence, Bertrand Meniel and Yigal Ozeri.
The exhibition will also feature key works from the Meisels' collection of Abstract Illusionism from the mid-1970s, which fuses hard-edge and expressionistic abstract painting styles that employed the use of perspective, artificial light sources, and simulated cast shadows to achieve the trompe l'oeil illusion of 3D space on a 2D surface.
The work of 20th century Pin-up illustrators such as Gil Elvgren, George Petty and Alberto Vargas will be presented as well as a selection of paintings by Pop artist Mel Ramos, whose work serves as the collections' bridge between the American figuration of the Pin-up movement to the Photorealism of today.
"Our collecting is an intellectual pursuit," said Louis K. Meisel. "We are not part of the herd. We do not collect to gain status nor for investment... It's a life's work and recreation."
