Forum Gallery is pleased to return to The American Art Fair where visitors will once again be welcomed at the elegant, landmarked Bohemian National Hall on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

At the height of his pivotal early period of creative experimentation in 1917, Max Weber (1881-1961) painted The Sisters which Weber described as “an expression of withheld emotion or ecstasy.” For the fair, Forum Gallery will present this rare painting, included in MoMA’s 1930 retrospective for Weber, alongside an emotive figurative work by Raphael Soyer (1899-1987) that feels as fresh today as it was when first exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, in 1949.

Figuration leaps into space in the masterful and playful, Acrobatic Performers, 1942, by Chaim Gross (1902-1991), known for elevating direct wood carving to an artform in the 1930s. The totemic composition of figures in the midst of their aerial performance is a lively expression of one of the Artist’s best-loved subjects and is an extraordinary example of Chaim Gross’s skillful and expressive carving.

Ben Shahn (1898-1969) and Bernard Perlin (1918-2014) are remembered for their art protesting injustice and prejudice. Both served during World War II working for the Office of War Information (OWI) and were profoundly affected by their wartime experiences in ways that endured throughout their lifetimes. For The American Art Fair, we present Shahn’s striking interpretation of Satan, Branches of Water or Desire, created when Archibald MacLeish asked him to design a mask for his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play, J.B.. The work was later included in three traveling retrospectives for the Artist. In addition, we present two rare works by Perlin expressing wartime events that he witnessed and the artist’s later social concerns.

Narrative paintings on view by Philip Evergood (1901-1973) and Jack Levine (1915-2010) created in the first half of the Twentieth Century are reflective of each Artist’s socially progressive interests, illuminating concerns of this tumultuous period in global history. Three works by Winfred Rembert (1945-2021), whose medium was painted tooled leather, are powerful expressions borne of a history of social injustice and racial oppression experienced firsthand by the Artist whose young life in the Jim Crow south was indelibly scorched by its impacts and prejudices.

In 1919, Hugo Robus (1885-1964) created a bold, experimental painting on a musical theme utilizing the bright prismatic colors and fragmented space characteristic of Cubism, Futurism and Synchromism. We present The Horn Shop alongside abstractions by visionary American modernists including an early still life from 1915 by William Meyerowitz (1887-1981) in which the Artist oscillates between representation and the influence of Cubism to great effect; a boldly rhythmic work on paper by Stuart Davis (1892-1964); and a wildly gestural expression by Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989).

We look forward to seeing you at The American Art Fair!