Los Angeles Art Show

Arader Galleries is happy to announce that we are participating in the 14th annual Los Angeles Art show! This year the event is moving to a new venue, the Los Angeles Convention Center. Hope you will stop by to see our extraordinary collection of antique prints and original paintings!

The Los Angeles Art Show
Los Angeles Convention Center
West Hall A, 1201 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Opening Night Gala V.I.P. Preview: Wednesday January 21, 6 pm
Opening Night Gala: Wednesday January 21, 7-10:30pm
General Show Hours:
Thursday: January 22, 11am-8pm
Friday: January 23, 11am- 8pm
Saturday: January 24, 11am-8pm Sunday: January 25, 11am- 5pm

For the Love of the Hunt

Ask any hunter about his first or last hunt and I’m sure he will have a lively story to tell. As the 2008 hunting season nears an end, what better way than to inspire story telling and prolong the sensation of the hunt than through a picture? A.B. Frost’s Shooting Pictures bring to life the stories of hunters past and present as well as memorializing the great tradition. A must see for any hunting enthusiast but also for anyone interested in the history of weaponry, these chromolithographs examine how hunting was represented in art during the nineteenth-century.

A.B. Frost’s hand signed Shooting Pictures are atmospheric hunting scenes which capture the pleasurable and exhilarating suspense right before the kill—the sensation which keeps every hunter addicted. Yet several notable artists have managed to capture as much which is why the real significance of Frost’s prints lies in his ability to transcend other themes. Namely, the glorification of the American hunting tradition, the experience of the great outdoors, the special father-son hunting dynamic, and the valued relationship between the huntsman and his dog.

We encourage you to experience the majesty of Frost’s Shooting Pictures in person for several reasons. At first Frost’s prints appear merely as an impressive set of hunting scenes, but further inspection reveals the justification behind Frost’s epithet as the greatest American sporting artist. Frost’s use of light aligns with the hunter’s mentality, creating a remarkable and tangible sensation for the observer. Indeed, the early morning light suggests an alert and patient huntsman in contrast to the low light of a hazy afternoon which evokes an anxious yet committed hunter. Frost uses landscape, in addition to light, to transcend temperament. The water scenes evoke a higher sense of concentration as the observer compensates with the hunter for the rockiness of the water, while the wood scenes make the observer conscience of his/her weight as he/she can imagine the noise of leaves crushing beneath the hunter’s boots. Lastly, Frost’s minimal compositions allow slight variations to greatly impact the ambiance. In Rabbit Shooting, for example, the presence of the special father and son bond derives from the isolated atmosphere—hinting at the long hours spent bonding outdoors together. Furthermore, Frost’s decision to place the father in the forefront and facing towards his son, distinguishes him as a role model/instructor. Similarly, Autumn Goose Shooting reflects the important function dogs play in hunting as Frost places them in the central foreground, leading the hunter to fruition.

Again, we are pleased to offer Frost’s extraordinary Shooting Pictures at Arader Galleries. The prints, currently available for purchase, are also illustrated in our Hunt Catalog. Please do not hesitate to call 415.788.5115 or email aradersf@aradergalleries.com to request a copy. Hope to see you soon!

Magnificent hand-colored lithographs of Hawaii and its Native Peoples by Louis Choris

Idoles des Iles Sandwich

Danse des hommes dans les iles Sandwich

Porte d'Hanarourou

Louis (or Ludovik) Choris, a Russian of German extraction, showed a talent for natural history illustration at a remarkably early age, and initially won high praise for his pictorial work on Biberstein's journey to the Caucasus in 1813. His most celebrated publications, however, were the Voyage Pittoresque Autour du Monde and the Vues et Paysages des Regions Equinoxiales. In both of these magnificent works, Choris provided important pictorial representations of the people, landscape, and artifacts of the still-mysterious islands of the Pacific, California, Alaska, the northwest coast of America, and other far-off lands.

Choris had first-hand knowledge of these places, having been the official artist accompanying the Russian expedition around the world led by Otto von Kotzebue, the primary object of which was the search for a Northwest Passage. The voyage took place in 1815-1818 aboard the “Rurik,” which entered the Pacific via the Horn and eventually returned to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena. Choris had been invited by the St. Petersburg Academy to accompany Kotzbue, and the two published works which resulted represent a fine cross-section of the places that the expedition visited, specifically including such locales as, Brazil, Chile, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii, Kamchatka, the Philippines, the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena. These works have great American interest because of their early accounts of California, The Hawaiian Islands, the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Aleutians, St. Lawrence Island, and Kotzebue Island in Alaska. .

Louis Choris visited Hawaii in 1816 and illustrated his observations during a critical period in Hawaiian history, just prior to the death of Kamehameha I and the fall of the kapu system. Choris witnessed the Islands just prior to the ensuing chaos from the collapse of the old political and social system. The three weeks that the Russian ship, “Rurik” spent in Hawaiian Waters produced incredible illustrations by Choris, and provide invaluable insight into the people, places and cultural practices of Hawaii. Choris is said to have "painted nature as he found it. The essence of his art is truth; a fresh, vigorous view of life, and originality in portrayal." Thus Choris’ 1822 publication is not only considered to be one of the most beautiful relating to travel, but one of the most accurate.

Please inquire regarding other extraordinary original lithographs from this publication. Arader galleries can be reached by phone at 415.788.5115 or online at www.aradersf.com.