April 18, 2016
Wally Findlay Galleries has acquired the David Findlay Jr Gallery (DFJG). The galleries will operate together at 724 5th Avenue as Findlay Galleries, a return to the original name used by the Findlay family from 1870 – 1965. The transaction closed on April 1, 2016; terms were not immediately disclosed.
This acquisition gives Wally Findlay Galleries expanded exposure in the market for American art, particularly the post-war period, by bringing the rich experience, collection, and stable of artists of David Findlay Jr Gallery into its operations. Artists and estates represented include: Gaston Lachaise, Steve Wheeler, Herman Maril, John Opper, John Grillo, and Chuang Che. The acquisition also reunites two branches of the same historic Findlay Galleries, divided in the 1960s.
Beginning in 1870, Findlay Galleries made a name for itself bringing to market American artists including Frederic Remington, George Caleb Bingham and Charles Russell. Since the turn of the 20th Century, under the stewardship of Wally Findlay, the focus has been on Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, School of Rouen painters, School of Parispainters including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Gustave Loiseau, Jean Dufy, Marc Chagall, and the Findlay School of painters including Le Pho, André Hambourg, Vu Cao Dam, Nicola Simbari, Constantin Kluge, and Gaston Sébire.
In the 1930s, David Findlay (Wally’s younger brother) opened a related gallery in New York focusing on American painters while his older brother Wally retained the original family business in Chicago. The two galleries operated under the same name, Findlay Galleries. In 1965, the galleries changed names, reflecting their respective individual owners, to Wally F Galleries and David Findlay Gallery. The representation of American Art would continue with David Findlay Jr Gallery in 1982.
James R. Borynack, Chairman and CEO of Wally Findlay Galleries International commented, “Increasingly, collectors are acquiring across genres. To address this, galleries often expand by adding artists to their collection and the word ‘Modern’ to their name. This acquisition allows us to grow in a smarter way, adding not just American artistic talent and an existing collection, but also the scholarship, experience, and reputation of David Findlay Jr Gallery.”
Lee Findlay Potter, daughter of David B. Findlay, Jr. and descendent of family patriarch William Wadsworth Findlay, added, “This acquisition consolidates and renews the legacy of the Findlay family and our dedication to connoisseurship and sterling customer service. I look forward to expanding our programming with a deeper and broader exploration of the important American artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries.”
About Wally Findlay Galleries
Wally Findlay Galleries is one of the foremost authorities on the French School of Rouen, French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern Masters. The gallery also represents a stable of global contemporary artists in locations in New York City, Palm Beach, Florida, and affiliates worldwide.
Over the years, Wally Findlay Galleries has showcased many different genres, from French Impressionism, to Fauvism, to Post-impressionism and the School of Paris. During the 1960s and 1970s, Wally Findlay Galleries expanded across the U.S. and internationally, representing European masters while it developed a deep roster of contemporary artists with international recognition.
In 1998 Wally Findlay Galleries International, Inc, was acquired by James R. Borynack, a longtime Findlay executive, whose commitment to the Findlay artists as well as his relentless pursuit of veritable European contemporary artists, has expanded the galleries’ prestige and following.
Today, in addition to offering a strong collection of period works, the gallery represents a group of distinguished contemporary artists, both European and American.
About David Findlay Jr Gallery
David B. Findlay, Jr. established his eponymous gallery in 1982 after working with his father, David Findlay, for ten years. Distinguished by its prescient eye for quality, consistent aesthetic and exploratory spirit, the gallery specializes in premier American paintings and sculpture from the American 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries.
In 1988, Lee Findlay Potter joined her father in operating the gallery and together they produced critically-acclaimed exhibits. In the following decades, Potter Findlay has identified profound mid-century trends, forged relationships with the artists who embodied them, and curated forward-looking exhibits that would receive critical acclaim.
Following David B. Findlay Jr’s passing in 2015, Findlay Potter continued the respected work of her father, and will continue it under the new combined brand.