The book’s illustrations capture the non-materialistic nature of reality while speaking to the elusive quality of happiness. The gentle prose brings the reader hope and reassurance within a comforting and unexpected perspective.

The text is drawn from Graston’s private writings, which she once thought would never be shared with the world. Brimming with optimism that speaks to the spirit rather than the intellect, the book inspires reverie and a peaceful mind. Though intended for adults, it will also appeal to the many fans of her last book, “In Every Moon There Is a Face,” which was ForeWord magazine’s choice for best children’s picture book of 2003.  “Do You Remember?” similarly creates a serene retreat for the reader in a loud and often unhappy world.

“This book is a meditation for anyone who has longed to be enchanted by life once again,” says Graston. “I want my work to be a much-needed alternative to the harshness of the pop culture, a respite for adults seeking ideas, meaning and something of substance in life.”

“DO YOU REMEMBER?: Whispers From a Spiritual World” is available for sale online at Amazon.com.

Perhaps the most unexpected Picasso of all was contemporary painter Louis Boudreault’s painting of Picasso as an eleven year old boy. The artist is known for portraits of famous people as children.

Picasso "Profil de Femme" 1953, Unique painted terracotta ceramic

In a departure from previous years, the gallery will present a “show within a show,” UNEXPECTED PICASSO, highlighting the artist’s exploration of media other than paint.

Jane Kahan was one of the first galleries in America to specialize in the ceramics that Picasso created at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris in the South of France from 1947 until his death.  UNEXPECTED PICASSO will feature some of the rarest of these editions, plus numerous unique pieces handpainted by the artist. In addition the gallery will exhibit several rare and important Picasso tapestries, a medium rarely seen outside of museums.

Rounding out the presentation will be rare examples of the jewelry Picasso developed from the designs of his ceramics, and top examples of  “linocuts” — prints that were created from matrixes that the artist carved into sheets of linoleum.  These are among the most graphic and highly prized of the artist’s works on paper.

The benefit preview party for the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center will be on Thursday, October 20.

For hours and complete details, please follow this link INTERNATIONAL FINE ART & ANTIQUE DEALERS SHOW.

René Magritte (Belgian 1898 - 1967) "Le Printemps" Aubusson tapestry

Last year marked the premiere of this Haughton International Fair in a custom-built pavilion in Kensington Gardens across from the Royal Albert Hall not far from the site of the legendary Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851.

“It is always a pleasure to participate in a Haughton Fair,” remarked Jane Kahan.  “We were delighted to be able to see some of our old clients who live in the U.K. and to meet new ones.  London is an extremely sophisticated marketplace and its collectors are some of the most discriminating and knowledgeable in the world, so it was even more of a pleasure to be able to introduce them to modern tapestries, which many of them had never before seen.”

This year a special first night party will benefit CFAB, which protects the rights of Children and Families Across Borders.

If you plan to be in London in June, passes may be available.  Please contact the gallery for details.

Cauquil-Prince, a Belgian-born weaver who died in 2005, created tapestries with many famous artists, but it was her collaborations with Marc Chagall that were the high points of her career, both professionally and personally.  After Chagall’s death in 1984 she continued to interpret his work in the medium of tapestry in the same spirit as when he was alive.  She did so with the blessing of Chagall’s family to whom she remained close.

Yvette Cauquil-Prince’s tapestries of Chagall, Picasso, Max Ernst, Klee, Leger, Matta and others have been exhibited in museums throughout the world.

In 1973 the Jewish Museum Milwaukee commissioned Chagall to create a tapestry.  The resulting monumental work, Jeremiah, executed by Yvette Cauquil-Prince, was the first Chagall tapestry in America.

Charles Mathes began his career at Rodgers & Hammerstein, where he ran the organization that licensed the performance rights to classic American musicals to theatre companies throughout the world.  Since 1993 he has been Director of the Jane Kahan Gallery.  He is a long-time member of the Appraisers Association of America and the author of seven books including Treasures of American Museums and a series of art and antique-related mystery novels.

Jane Kahan is privileged to be able to exhibit these  tapestries, some for the first time publicly.  Lenders to the exhibition include the artist Clifford Ross, Gloria Ross’s son, the Wells Fargo Art Collection, Judy Frances Zankel, Earl Davis who worked with Gloria Ross to create tapestries of Stuart Davis’s work, the Bernard Museum of Judaica Congregation Emanuel of the City of New York, Peter and Aileen Godsick, the Kenneth Nolan archives and others.

A rare Jean Dubuffet fine art carpet is featured in the exhibition GLORIA F. ROSS: Rebirth of Modern Tapestry, Febuary 15 – March 25, 2011 at Jane Kahan Fine Art.

“Tapis No. 2” was a collaboration that brought together some of the leading forces in the 20^th century art, design, and decorative worlds: Jean Dubuffet, the modern artist; Gloria Ross, the tapestry éditeur; Pace Gallery, and the Edward Fields carpet company.

Dubuffet, Jean "Tapis No. 2"

Jean Dubuffet played an essential role in the postwar literary and artistic avant-garde art scene, both in his native France and worldwide.  With works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Centre Pompidou, among many others, Dubuffet is considered a master of the modern art world with his vast, eclectic oeuvre and rebellious approach to art.  He believed in taking art off of the canvas, and experimented in virtually every medium.  Major retrospectives of Dubuffet’s works have been held at numerous major museums, including the Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art in New York, London’s Tate Gallery, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Dubuffet worked in “cycles,” exploring a style, theme, or image extensively until moving on to his next source of inspiration. “Tapis No. 2” was produced during his “Hourloupe” period, one of his longest cycles, spanning over 12 years.  It is characterized by the use of the emotionless colors of red, white, and blue, punctuated with black lines.  It embodies many of Dubuffet’s strongest ideals about art: his concern with two-dimensionality, a sense of commonality and the mundane, and the creation of work that derives from the subconscious, free from cluttered thoughts and oppressive cultural or societal ideals that can impede artistic expression.

Rare Dubuffet Carpet - Gloria F. Ross

Gloria Ross, the second collaborator on this rare and monumental piece, was instrumental in the revival of Aubusson tapestry making.  She brought together famous artists and Aubusson weavers, and under her guidance hundreds of modern master tapestries came to fruition.  In a few exceptional cases, Ross also collaborated with artists and carpet makers to create modern works in that medium; Dubuffet is the most well known among that small group of artists who created carpets with Ross.

“Tapis No. 2” was made by the Edward Fields company, carpet makers who are perhaps the most well-known in the design industry.   Established in 1935, Fields has garnered an outstanding reputation for fine craftsmanship, quality, and beauty.   They are synonymous with both the decorative and the artistic, combining a craftsman-like sensibility in the tufting process with an artistic eye for splendor and uniqueness.  Edward Fields carpets appear in many important sites, including the White House and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House.

The carpet was published by Pace Editions in New York.  Pace was Dubuffet’s art dealer and one of the foremost contemporary galleries of the 20^th Century.  Another carpet from this edition was part of the IBM corporation art collection.

GLORIA F. ROSS: REBIRTH OF MODERN TAPESTRY will run at Jane Kahan Fine Art, 330 East 59th St., from 15 February through 25 March 2011.  Special hours for this show are Tuesday through Friday 10 am – 5 pm.  Jane Kahan Fine Art is otherwise open by appointment only.  Jane Kahan main gallery is at 922 Madison Avenue (73rd Street).

The show is being mounted to celebrate the publication of the book, Gloria F. Ross and Modern Tapestry, by textile scholar, Ann Lane Hedlund (Yale University Press ISBN 978-0-300-16635-4).

A vernissage for the show and reception for Dr. Hedlund will take place February 11, 2011 from 4:00 – 8:00 pm, at which time Ann will sign copies of her book.

Gloria F. Ross’s career stretched from the 1970s to the 1990s, during which time she brought together the top weavers in the world with American artists to reinvent the centuries-old art of tapestry in a contemporary form.  Among those whose art she worked with were her sister Helen Frankenthaler, Romare Bearden, Stuart Davis, Frank Stella, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson and others (28 in all)

Ann Hedlund is curator of ethnology at the Arizona State Museum and professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, Tucson. She directs the University’s Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Program.  Her book is being distributed by Yale University Press. Grace Glueck, who was an art reporter, editor and critic for the New York Times for more than three decades, wrote the introduction.