September 26, 2026
The Independent 20th Century exhibition takes place for the first time this year at The Breuer from September 24th to 27th. Visitors will have an opportunity to see works created between 1900 and 2000 by both familiar and overlooked artists. The fair comes at a time when the emergence of artificial intelligence potentially provides an alternative image making process that marks a turning point. Now, at least in theory, anyone that can describe an image in their mind’s eye can prompt an AI bot to deliver it almost instantly. And, while this opens a door of possibility for many people who’ve never had the confidence to pick up a paintbrush, it also promises to deliver a virtually limitless supply of “slop” that lacks the soul or humanity that’s so evident in these works at the Independent. One can only imagine how much more precious these drawings, prints, and paintings will feel as machine-made images vastly outnumber these handmade ones.
(L) Friday Night at Independent 20th Century; (R) by Harold Stevenson
Behind each of the hundreds of works on display here there’s a story. It could be a story of struggle, of love, of obsession, of loss, exile or of collaboration to cite just a few possibilities. But the artist’s humanity and their life up to the moment they put the finishing touch on their work comes through loud and clear. Even if you’ve never met these artists, it’s impossible to look at these works and not feel a sense of the person who made them, the time and effort they put into creating them, and, in some cases, how the piece stands in the context of their other work as well as the time and place that it was produced.
(L) General Idea; (R) Picasso.
B.J. Newton was a West Coast artist who painted primarily while incarcerated in Folsom Prison during the 1960s and 70s and who worked as a short-order cook in between sentences. According to the FRAENKEL Gallery catalog, he described himself as an “habitual criminal” although only short terms for vagrancy and alcohol related offenses are mentioned. The fantastical images he created caught the attention of artists and SF Art Institute Director Phillip Linhares on the outside by way of the prison store. While B.J.’s paintings stand solidly on their own two feet as examples of Art for Art’s sake, a letter he wrote to the Director in 1971 expressed hope that they could be worth real money someday, and maybe even part of his even bigger plans “along with literature and records with photographs.” Even while locked up the artist envisioned a better future for himself and his creations. B.J. passed in 1994.
B.J. Newton: (L-R) Untitled 1976; One Sow, One Reap 1969; Untitled 1976.
Untitled (Fishermen and Mermaids) 1921
Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts presented an enormous 13×9 foot painting created by husband and wife artists Marguerite Thompson Zorach and William Zorach. It’s a stunning work of art whose massive scale commands attention. That it was created by two people in collaboration is just amazing given the coherence of the finished project. There was apparently another one hanging behind it, but only this one was on view Friday night. They met while studying art in Paris and got married in New York City.
William’s Self Portrait (1912) and Marguerite’s Café du Provence (1911)
Esphyr Slobodkina: Dreams, 1992
Esphyr Slobodkina was born in Russia and moved to New York City when she was 20 years old. She ‘helped pave the way for the acceptance of abstract art in the United States,’ according to her bio. “Frankly, I never gave a damn what people thought,” she wrote in 1984. “As a result of that I always painted, sculpted, made collages…and all at the same or approximately the same time.” Source: Rosenberg & Co.
Independent 20th Century
Sotheby’s New York
The Breuer
945 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
Dates
September 24–27, 2026
Hours
Thursday, September 24, 2026 | 11 AM – 5 PM (By Invitation), 5 PM – 7 PM (Vernissage)
Friday, September 25, 2026 | 11 AM – 7 PM
Saturday, September 26, 2026 | 11 AM – 7 PM
Sunday, September 27, 2026 | 12 PM – 6 PM
