Shaping the Future of Culture
Since 1996, Initiatives in Arts and Culture (IAC) has united global audiences through a shared reverence for the Fine, Decorative, and Visual Arts.
Founded and led by Lisa Koenigsberg under the auspices of Initiatives in Art and Culture (IAC), this landmark forum brings together collectors, curators, dealers, academics, and artists.
It is a rare space where scholarship, curatorial vision, and the market converge – not merely to observe, but to challenge and rethink what American Art is, and to whom it belongs.
Rather than treating American Art as a static narrative, the conference embraces a landscape that is expansive, complex, and evolving.
The inquiry spans painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, and textiles, always examining the vital contexts of culture, history, identity, and power.
Guided by a cross-disciplinary vision IAC illuminates the intersection of fabrication and connoisseurship, championing cultural patrimony and preservation through curated conferences, publications, and exhibitions.
At the heart of IAC exploration lies a dedicated focus on American Art, the Arts & Crafts Movement, the artistry of the framle, and the timeless allure of precious substances.
Core Pillars
Fabrication & Connoisseurship:
– Bridging the mastery of creation with the art of discerning eye.
– Patrimony & Preservation: Safeguarding our collective heritage to shape tomorrow’s cultural landscape.
– Diverse Disciplines: Bringing unique voices together across American Art, historic framing, and precious materials.
– Three Decades of Defining American Art
For thirty years, the American Art Conference has served as the definitive gathering for those who shape, study, and sustain the field.
A Convergence of Authority and Influence
The conference’s enduring relevance is rooted in the caliber of its participants: individuals whose work commands genuine impact.
Over three decades, it has united preeminent voices across the cultural spectrum:
– Institutional Leadership: Renowned curators from premier institutions, including:
• Thayer Tolles, Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Smanatha Friedman, Museum of Modern Art
• Ethan Lasser, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Nonnie Gadsden, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Eleanor Jones Harvey, Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Sarah Kelly Oehler, Art Institute of Chicago
• Barbara Haskell, Whitney Museum of American Art
– Academic Visionaries: Scholars who have defined the discipline, such as:
• Richard Guy Wilson, University of Virginia
• Wanda M. Corn, Stanford University
• Anne McCauley, Princeton University
• Jennifer Roberts, Harvard University
• Laura Katzman, James Madison University
And curators who are actively shaping the conversation now:
• Farris Wahbeh, Whitney Museum of American Art
• Rebecca Shaykin, The Jewish Museum
• Amanda C. Burdan, Brandywine Museum of Art
• Dakota Hoska, National Gallery of Art
• Robert Cozzolino, Independent Minneapolis based curator
– Contemporary Catalysts: Curators and thinkers actively reshaping today’s dialogue, including:
• Farris Wahbeh, Whitney Museum of American Art
• Rebecca Shaykin, The Jewish Museum
• Amanda C. Burdan, Brandywine Museum of Art
• Dakota Hoska, National Gallery of Art
• Robert Cozzolino, independent Minneapolis -based curator
– Cultural Pioneers: Distinguished collectors and cultural leaders like Jan and Marica Vilcek, Jim Dicke II, and Glenn Lowry along with artists Stephen Hannock, Angela Fraleigh, Leslie Dill, and scholars including Debra Briker Balkan, Jacqueline Francis, Adrienne Childs, and Barbara Novak.
Rooted in the Living Market
Deeply connected to New York City, the conference operates in tandem with the pulse of the global art market. Through strategic partnerships with leaders like Heritage Auctions, and programming that extends into major mtuseums and private collections, the event is intentionally synchronized with the city’s premier fairs and auctions.
It remains anchored in what is happening in the field now, rather than just what is written about it.
Thirty years in, the American Art Conference continues to eschew the safe path. By confronting the urgent questions of the discipline and uniting the right minds to address them, it does not simply look back at the past – it actively illuminates who will shape the future of American Art.
In parallel to those events, The American Art Fair celebrates its nineteenth year from May 16th to May 19th, 2026, showcasing landscapes, portraits, still lifes, illustrations, and sculptures inside Manhattan’s historic Bohemian National Hall.
As the premier fair dedicated exclusively to 18th – through 21st – century American Art, the event features over 400 museum-quality pieces presented by 18 leading galleries and specialists.
Visitors to the landmarked Renaissance Revival building on the Upper East Side can view exceptional pieces from major figures such as John Singer Sargent, Thomas Hart Benton, William Merritt Chase, and Andrew Wyeth, offering a comprehensive look at the evolution of the national identity through Fine Art.
A special visitor from Connecticut was Sandra Germain, from Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers.
Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers is New England’s premier Fine Art Auction House, located in Milford, Connecticut. Established in 1997 by Gene and Mary Anne Shannon, the firm has built an international reputation for integrity, high sell-through rates, and exceptional expertise in the middle art market, competing directly with major New York City auction houses.
The auction house focuses on 19th – and early 20th -century American and European art, while also handling impressionism, modern, and contemporary works. They host two hallmark cataloged fine art auctions each year (spring and fall), alongside regular online discovery sales.
Sandra Germain, the daughter of the founders, joined the firm in 1998 and has been driving its modern success since taking over principal leadership in 2014.
The American Art Fair galleries include:
Robert Simon Fine Art
Located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan just steps from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Simon Fine Art specializes in the appraisal, research, and sale of European Master paintings and sculpture, with a primary emphasis on the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Established by art historian Dr. Robert B. Simon in 1997, the gallery is highly regarded for its deep commitment to academic scholarship and connoisseurship, frequently leading to notable art-historical discoveries.
Beyond its core European focus, the gallery actively expands collector interest into Spanish Colonial art and works by historical female Old Masters, while occasionally hosting contemporary exhibitions that dialog with classical, from-life traditions.
On view at Questroyal Fine Art.
Questroyal Fine Art
Questroyal Fine Art is an established art gallery located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that specializes in important nineteenth and twentieth-century American paintings.
The gallery is particularly renowned for its extensive inventory of works from the Hudson River School, as well as American Impressionism, Modernism, and Western art.
With a focus on scholarship and connoisseurship, it serves private collectors and major museums nationwide, providing an intimate, scholarly environment for evaluating historic American masterpieces.
Adelson Gallery
Adelson Galleries, located on the fourth floor of Midtown Manhattan’s landmark Fuller Building, is an esteemed family-run gallery dedicated to Fine Art from the nineteenth century to the present.
Founded by Warren Adelson in 1965, the gallery has built a distinguished reputation over more than five decades for its expertise in American Impressionism, Realism, and Modernism, actively placing critical works into premier private and public museum collections.
Adelson Galleries is internationally recognized for its serious commitment to art history and scholarship, notably spearheading the definitive catalogue raisonné research for iconic American masters John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt.
Today, the gallery operates by appointment in New York while seamlessly collaborating with its sister location in Palm Beach to showcase both historically significant masterpieces and a select stable of contemporary living artists.
Helicline Fine Art
Helicline Fine Art is a private, by appointment gallery located in New York City that specializes in 20th-century American and European modernist paintings, sculptures, and works on paper.
Founded in 2008 by passionate collectors Keith Sherman and Roy Goldberg, the gallery has built a reputation for its expertise in American Scene, Social Realism, regionalism, abstraction, and “Works Progress Administration”.
WPA, was created by American President Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. It provided jobs to millions of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression by funding public infrastructure and arts programs: the period between 1935 and 1943.
Its name is inspired by the iconic curved ramp that connected the Trylon and Perisphere at the 1939 New York World’s Fair – reflecting the gallery’s core mission to serve as a bridge connecting people with art.
Helicline Fine Art functions as both a dealership and a market consultancy, frequently showcasing major collections and rare historic pieces at prestigious events like The American Art Fair and Salon Art + Design.
Initiatives in Arts and Culture (IAC)
Thursday May 14th, 5:15pm – 6:30 pm
Private reception and Preview of the American Art Sale at:
Heritage Auctions
445 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022
(between East 56th street and 57th)
212 486 3500
Friday MAY 15th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
The American Art Fair’s
Invitation – Only Gala Preview at
Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73rd Street
New York, NY 10021
SHANNON’S Fine Art Auctioneers
Sandra Germain
203 877 1711
sandra@shannons.com
Robert Simon Fine Art
212 288 9712
22 East 80th Street
New York, NY 10075
Questroyal Fine Art
903 Park Avenue
Third Floor
New York, NY 10075
212 744 3586
Adelson Gallery
The Fuller Building
595 Madison Avenue
4th floor
New York, NY 10022
212 439 6800
Helicline Fine Art
1 (212) 204-8833
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