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4 - THE GALLERY April 27, 2012 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly
BOSTON, MASS. — Co-producers
Tony Fusco and Robert Four have
announced that the 16th Annual
Boston International Fine Art Show
(BIFAS) will take place Thursday
through Sunday, November 15–18,
at the Cyclorama at the Boston Center
for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street,
in Boston’s South End. Both traditional
and contemporary galleries
from the United States and Europe
will offer more than 3,000 original
works of art.
The show opens with the gala preview
on Thursday, November 15,
from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Weekend
hours are Friday, 1 to 8 pm; Saturday,
11 am to 8 pm; and Sunday, 11
am-5 pm. Tickets are $15, under 12
free. Friday evening November 16
will be “New Collectors’ Night,” and
guest lectures will take place
throughout the weekend.
The only show of its kind in New
England, BIFAS has no restrictions
on the type of work that may be
shown. Works on offer range from
fine original prints priced at a few
hundred dollars to museum-quality
masterpiece paintings priced in the
millions. The show enjoys a stunning
mix of both blue chip traditional
works and today’s outstanding contemporary
artists. According to show
promoters, close to 3,000 people
attended the Boston International
Fine Art Show last year, which also
saw very strong sales.
“We are thrilled to be announcing
our 16th year,” noted Tony Fusco.
“As always we will offer our special
programs throughout the weekend,
which encourages many people to
come back to the show day after day
and discover renewed interests and
new passions. We will have some very
special announcements to make this
year in terms of our programming
that will enhance our reputation as a
destination show for collectors.”
The gala preview, bolstered by the
show’s honorary committee, has
blossomed into one of Boston’s pre-
Boston International Fine Art Show
Slated For Nov. 15–18
mier social and cultural events. In addition to Governor Deval L. Patrick and
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the honorary committee has attracted the
participation of numerous museum directors, including Brian T. Allen, director,
Addison Gallery of American Art; Katherine French, director, Danforth Museum;
Dennis Kois, director, DeCordova Museum; Thomas Lentz, director, Harvard Art
Museums; Nancy Netzer, director, McMullen Museum of Art; Malcolm Rogers,
director, MFA Boston; Matthias Waschek, Worcester Art Museum; and well-
known Boston area museum curators
Dr Elliot Bostwick-Davis, David
Dearinger, Erica Hirshler and others.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with
the support that the show has
received from the museum community
in New England,” stated Fusco.
“It has meant a lot in attracting collectors
and in making the show a destination
for art patrons who also
travel here to see the new wing at the
Museum of Fine Arts, the new addition
at the Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum and the Institute of Contemporary
Art on the waterfront.”
Last year at the Cyclorama, Fusco
& Four also relaunched “The Ellis
Boston Antiques Show,” which had
been on hiatus since 2008. The company’s
spring show, AD20/21: Art &
Design of the Twentieth and Twenty-
First Centuries recently celebrated its
fifth anniversary.
The Cyclorama provides the ideal
venue for all three shows. A large circular
rotunda and adjacent salons
encourage visitors to both linger and
wander. The historic structure is
located in the heart of the BCA complex,
which boasts four theatres, a
gallery, the Boston Ballet School, 50
artist studios and other facilities.
There are more than a dozen restaurants
and nightspots within a fiveminute
walk, making it a focal point
for cultural life in the city.
It is fitting that the shows take place
at the Cyclorama, which was built in
1884 for the express purpose of
housing a huge circular painting —
“The Battle of Gettysburg” — 400
feet in circumference and 50 feet
high, executed by French artist Paul
Philippoteaux. Cyclorama paintings
were enormously popular in the
Nineteenth Century. It is estimated
that from 1884 until it was withdrawn
in 1892, more than 200,000
people viewed Philippoteaux’s huge
canvas. Following a $12 million
restoration started in 2005 by Olin
Conservation of Great Falls, Va., the
painting was installed in the Gettysburg
Museum and Visitor Center in Gettysburg, where it reopened in September
2008.
“Our shows have grown up with the evolution of the Boston Center for the Arts,
the art market in Boston and the changing demographics of the South End, Back
Bay, Downtown and other neighborhoods of Boston,” Fusco commented.
For additional information and exhibitor registration for all three Boston shows,
visit www.BostonArtFairs.com or call 617-363-0405.
View of the 15th Annual Boston International Fine Art Show 2011. Image courtesy of
Joni Lohr.
William Vareika Fine Arts of Newport, R.I., featured two panels by John La Farge
(1835–1910) at the 2011 BIFAS. Image courtesy of Robert Four.
Marine Arts Gallery, Salem, Mass., at the 2011 BIFAS. Image Courtesy of Robert
Four.