The Armory Show has been open for only a few hours, but Champagne bottles are popping with impressive regularity, red dots denoting sales are appearing next to works, and gargantuan croissants are being snapped up at the outpost of Breads Bakery. The Modern section on Pier 92, which is devoted primarily to 20th century art, is a touch quieter than Pier 94, but by late afternoon it was filling up fast. Below, a quick tour through the section, which is rich this year with work by Milton Avery, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Romare Bearden, and more.
Zero artists are always popular in Modern section, but after the Guggenheim's recent survey of the group, they are out in full force. At Moeller Fine Art, Otto Piene's Light Ballet, 1969.
A grand slam at New York's Michael Rosenfeld Gallery—four paintings by the great Bob Thompson, who died when he was only 28.
Breads Bakery has almost impossibly rich chocolate babka, decadent triple chocolate-chip cookies, buoyant croissants. It's heaven there.
Pistoletto is out in force today. Here's a set of them at London's Repetto gallery.
Philadelphia's Fleisher/Ollman Gallery has some very impressive James Castles, including rare colored pieces.
Vivian Horan Fine Art's booth ably proves that if you used colored pedestals and say, paint a wall, an extremely crowded booth can still look fairly fresh.
Clockwise from right: a 1971 Romare Bearden, Grace Hartigan, and Werner Drewes.
Prints and gouaches by Bridget Riley from 1986 to 1995 at London's Sims Reed gallery.
Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, and a hint of a Calder at Armand Bartos Fine Art.
The only thing better than a Bob Thompson is a double-sided Bob Thompson. This is from 1963, titled The Expulsion—note the rather frightening, shadowy figure who appears to wield a large weapon—and is at Detroit's David Klein Gallery.
The self-taught Chinese artist Guo Fengyi, whose work was a highlight of the 2013 Carnegie, stars at Andrew Edlin's booth. Pure electricity.
Deb's bar.
At DC Moore, an extroverted portrait of Bill White by Alice Neel from 1971, and two Milton Averys off in the distance. Fans of Neels earlier, sparer work will find that too, tucked away in a corner.
Edward Hopper, Girlie Show, circa 1941, at DC Moore.
Hirschl & Adler has Stuart Davis's 1956–58 black-and-white variation on his painting Pochade. (The full color version is at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.)
Humble little stunners by Frank Walter at Hirschl & Adler.
Hackett Mill also has this handsome trio of Howard Hodgkin paintings.
San Francisco's Hackett Mill has a number of fine Bay Area figurative painting (including a nice assortment of David Parks), but don't miss this winsome Milton Avery in the corner. White Hen (1954), it's called.
Ricco Maresca, of New York, has a wall of Bill Traylor drawings and two of Martín Ramírez. Spend some time there.
A 1969 hatstand by Allen Jones at Stockholm's Wetterling Gallery. This edition is the AP.
Futurist Giacomo Balla does cats and dogs in this proto-Op piece from around 1920.
A boatload of Calder at Barcelona's Mayoral Galeria d'Art, including this 1969 stabile, The Red Base.
Frank Stella's Double Concentric Squares, 1973, at New York's Simon Capstick-Dale Fine Art.
Giorgio Morandi, Natura morta, 1956, at Bologna's Galleria d'Arte Maggiore.
Another Breads Bakery at the far end of the pier.
A suite of Marsden Hartleys at Driscoll Babcock Galleries.
Pop prints at Susan Sheehan Gallery's elegant booth.
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