Barridoff Galleries will hold the first of its biannual auctions of American and European Art on April 24, 2013. The auction will be held as always at the Institute of Contemporary at Maine College of Art, 522 Congress Street in Portland, Maine. Students work at the auction where they earn some pocket change while learning about a part of the art world not commonly taught. Barridoff makes a percentage donation to the school after each auction. Owner and CEO of Barridoff, Rob Elowitch, says that the atmosphere is wonderfully "artful" and raises the auction to a cultural level as well as the obvious commercial one.

The April auction will offer an unusually large number of important paintings that have not been offered publicly, if ever, since they were first sold. These include a fine watercolor by Fairfield Porter and a superb large drawing by George Grosz, both from the collection of a highly respected Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard, Amherst, and Bowdoin, now retired. Schmalz bought the Porter from the artist when Porter was in residence at Amherst College and the Grosz from Swetzoff Gallery in Boston in 1959. The title page of the catalogue will feature a large pastel by Colin Campbell Cooper: a view of the U.S. Capitol with a Model T (introduced to the public in 1908, the same year as the painting) passing by the central steps where crowds are entering the building. It is at once romantic and realistic, a nostalgic view today. The auction catalogue cover will illustrate Anthony Thieme's "In the Bahamas," which later became one of the artist's most successful prints. "It may be the finest Thieme image we have ever seen," says Elowitch.

The Galleries will continue to accept fine consignments for this auction until March 29, 2013.

About Barridoff Galleries:

Barridoff Galleries was established in 1978 and has since established itself as a leading auction house of fine American and European art from Old Masters to contemporary. It holds two auction each year in April and October.