Co-Producers Tony Fusco and Robert Four are pleased to announce the Seventeenth Annual Boston International Fine Art Show (BIFAS), to take place Thursday - Sunday, November 21-24, 2013 at The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for The Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston's hip and historic South End. Both traditional and contemporary galleries from the United States, Canada and Europe will offer more than 3,000 original works of art. The show opens with the Gala Preview on Thursday, November 21 from 5:30 to 8:30pm to benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children-Boston. Weekend hours are Friday 1pm-8pm, Saturday 11am-8pm and Sunday 11am-5pm.  Tickets are $15, under 12 free. Special guest speakers and panels take place throughout the weekend.  For information, visit www.FineArtBoston.com or call 617-363-0405.

The only show of its kind in New England, BIFAS has no restrictions on the type of work that may be shown.  Works on offer range from fine original prints priced at a few hundred dollars to museum-quality masterpiece paintings priced in the millions.  The show enjoys a stunning mix of both blue chip traditional works and today's outstanding contemporary artists. Last year, close to 3,000 people attended the show, which saw very strong sales.

The Gala Preview will benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children-Boston - one of the world’s leading centers for treating children with severe burns, orthopaedic conditions or those who need reconstructive surgery for scars or cleft lip and palate within a compassionate, family-centered and collaborative care environment, regardless of a patient or family’s ability to pay.  Tickets to the Gala Preview are $250 and may be purchased by calling 617-371-4746 or by email at bos-development@shrinenet.org

"We are thrilled to be announcing our seventeenth year," notes Tony Fusco.  "As always we will offer our special programs throughout the weekend, which encourages many people to come back to the show day after day and discover renewed interests and new passions.  We will have some very special announcements to make this year in terms of our programming that will enhance our reputation as a destination show for collectors."

The Gala Preview, bolstered by the show’s Honorary Committee, has blossomed in to one of Boston’s premier social and cultural events. In addition to Governor Deval L. Patrick, the Honorary Committee has attracted the participation of numerous museum directors including Brian T. Allen, Director, Addison Gallery of American Art; Katherine French, Director, Danforth Museum; Dennis Kois, Director, DeCordova Museum; Thomas Lentz, Director, Harvard Art Museums; Nancy Netzer, Director, McMullen Museum of Art; Malcolm Rogers, Director, MFA Boston; Matthias Waschek, Worcester Art Museum; and a number of well-known Boston area museum curators.

"We couldn’t be more thrilled with the support that the show has received from the museum community in New England," notes Fusco. "It has meant a lot in attracting collectors and in making the show a destination for art patrons who also travel here to see the new wing at the Museum of Fine Arts, the new addition at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art on the waterfront."

In 2011 at The Cyclorama, Fusco & Four also re-launched The Ellis Boston Antiques Show, and the company's spring show: "AD20/21:Art & Design of the 20th & 21st Centuries" recently celebrated its 6th anniversary.

The Cyclorama provides the ideal venue for all three shows.  A large circular rotunda and adjacent salons encourage visitors to both linger and wander.  The historic structure is located in the heart of the BCA complex, which boasts four theatres, a gallery, the Boston Ballet School, 50 artist studios and other facilities.  There are more than a dozen "hot" restaurants and nightspots within a five-minute walk, making it a focal point for cultural life in the city.

It is fitting that the shows take place at The Cyclorama, which was built in 1884 for the express purpose of housing a huge circular painting - The Battle of Gettysburg - 400 feet in circumference and 50 feet high, executed by French artist Paul Philippoteaux.  Cyclorama paintings were enormously popular in the 19th-century.  It is estimated that from 1884 until it was withdrawn in 1892, more than 200,000 people viewed Philippoteaux' s huge canvas.  Following a  $12 million restoration started in 2005 by Olin Conservation of Great Falls, Virginia, the painting was installed in the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center in Gettysburg, where it reopened in September 2008.

“Our shows have grown up with the evolution of the Boston Center for the Arts, the art market in Boston and the changing demographics of the South End, Back Bay, Downtown and other neighborhoods of Boston,” Fusco comments.  “We couldn’t be more pleased to be launching the 17th year of BIFAS." 

For information and Exhibitor Registration for all three Boston shows, visit www.BostonArtFairs.com or call 617-363-0405.