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Hirschl & Adler Galleries

American and European paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculpture, 18th century to the present.

Alternate Text 41 East 57th Street, Floor 9
New York , NY 10022
United States

phone 212-535-8810


Highlight

Portrait of General David Forman

Charles Willson Peale depicted leaders of his day, including heroes of the American Revolution.

The most successful portraitist working in Philadelphia during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, Charles Willson Peale depicted the leading lights of his day, including heroes of the American Revolution and members of the colonial aristocracy. Known for his egalitarian outlook, Peale also painted likenesses of his friends and neighbors, portraying his subjects, whatever their position in society, in a candid realist style. An energetic man with a strong work ethic and a visionary desire to contribute to the cultural and intellectual fabric of the nation, he also established the country’s first public art gallery and its first museum of natural history. Peale’s unique role in the annals of American art also stems from the fact that he founded a dynasty of talented painters––portrait, figure, and still-life specialists––who carried on his aesthetic principles and his values.

Peale painted likenesses of many military and political figures associated with the War of Independence, among them General David Forman (1745–1797), a man “of great energy ... great bravery, and ... utter fearlessness” who is said to have been the most “influential” person in Monmouth County, New Jersey, during the Revolution. He began his military career in 1775 as a lieutenant colonel in a New Jersey regiment known as Heard’s Brigade, in which he later attained the rank of colonel. By late November 1776––its local government now destabilized by the war––Monmouth County had become an unruly place. Concerned about the increasing number of Tory raiders who were taking up arms, Washington asked Forman to act as a recruiting agent for the army and to apprise him of the positions of British troops. Most importantly, he appointed Forman head of a regiment organized to apprehend “all such persons as from good Information appear to be concerned in any Plot or Design against the liberty or safety of the United States." 

Forman’s actions at the Battle of Monmouth, during which he and General Philemon Dickinson led the Jersey militia, doing everything “in their power to retard Clinton’s advance,” including demolishing bridges and cutting off the enemy’s access to water by filling up wells––secured George Washington's enduring trust and admiration. 

SELECTED ARTWORKS

A Strike

Tennis: Allegory of Love

Le Banc, Gerberoy

Portrait of a Gentleman

Portrait of Robert Nathaniel Dett

Secrétaire à Abbatant

The Stephen Van Rensselaer IV Set of Sixteen Neo-Classical Dining Chairs en Gondole

Eagle

Pair “Old Paris” Vases with Scenes from the War of 1812, and French Harbor Scenes

Pair Footed Fruit Coolers

Set of Table Glassware

The Cranberry Pickers

DESCRIPTION

Hirschl & Adler Galleries was founded in 1952 by Norman S. Hirschl and Abraham M. Adler. In 1967 Stuart P. Feld joined the firm as a partner, and since 1982 has served as its President. Originally housed in the Marguery Hotel on Park Avenue, the gallery moved to a townhouse on East 67th Street in 1958, and in 1977 relocated to a handsome landmark townhouse at 21 East 70th Street. After occupying a space in the Crown Building from 2011–17, Hirschl & Adler moved to its new home in The Fuller Building at the world-renowned crossroads of Madison Avenue and 57th Street in February 2018, where the gallery continues to specialize in American and European paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculpture from the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries; American prints of all periods; and American decorative arts from 1810 to 1910. Its contemporary arm, Hirschl & Adler Modern, has developed a select group of established and emerging realist artists and also features American and European art from the Post-War period.

Each year, the gallery assembles about a dozen special exhibitions exploring historical and contemporary themes, or examining the work of individual artists, past and present. Most of these exhibitions are accompanied by scholarly catalogues and other publications. The gallery provides a wide range of services to its client base of private collectors, museums, architects, interior designers, art consultants, and other dealers. Hirschl & Adler is always interested in purchasing or receiving on consignment for sale works of art in its broad range of specialties.