Artist Gaze - John Haymson

The Plaza Hotel, NYC

I learned about John Haymson from a consignment store art sale.  I drug my husband there on the last day of the sale - Sunday.  It was our negotiated day.  Quite frankly, if he could put a restraining order on me around art, he would. I was in anxious anticipation leading up to the sale. Every day the sale was on, I felt a strong pull to just "pop in" there.

I remember that day clearly.  It was a messy, rainy day.  He didn't want to go at all.  I properly and politely chided him on reneging on his aggreement.  He very reluctantly relented.  "We're not going to be in there that long.  I want to look around and view the collection."  For some reason, he regarded those statements suspiciously.  More on that later. 

He drove me to the shop. To our surprise, the shop owner rented a separate warehouse building to display the art for sale.  I was ecstatic and he was sick. 

We went in and systematically went through every gallery type room and the jumbo main warehouse space. Art was everywhere:  covered walls, vertically stacked against the walls, and on the floor.  I didn't miss a single piece.

We were there for hours.  The funny thing was the art I saw in the first 15 minutes intrigued me the most.  I was certain that several of these pieces were from "known" artists.  My husband told me there was only one artist that interested him.  Ironically, it was the same artist I felt stood out among all others.  He turned out to be John Haymson.  We didn't know his full name because his signature isn't exactly legible.  I wrote down what I thought it was and we went home to find him on the net.

Royal Street New Orleans

It didn't take long for the Admiral of Surfing (aka husband) to find Haymson, a noted American watercolorist.  Haymson is best known for his architectural 1950-1960s era prints.  Today, they are called vintage.  His work is not expensive and can be found on art.com.   

Armed with the internet research, we went back to the consignment store to negotiate the price.  The store had four of his prints for $70 each.  We bought all four Haymson prints for $35 each.  We were quite pleased with this price.  When we got home, I started studying prints. Each work was professionally framed by an official art dealer in NYC who had an exclusive to sell Haymson's work back in the day.  We felt extra special acquiring his art for our collection.

I wrote a healthy posting on John Haymson largely because there was a lot interest about his work on the net.  In our research, there was little known about him or his work. 

Colonial Court House, Williamsburg, VA

Blairs Brick House

Paris Cafe

Central Park, NYC