Lively and crowded, the opening night of the revamped LA Art Show: Modern & Contemporary and The Los Angeles Fine Art Show: Historic & Traditional proved a popular success. Running side-by-side with the IFPDA Fine Print Fair and a Vintage Posters section, over 10,000 diverse artworks are offered in the vast West Halls A and B of the LA Convention Center. The show runs through Sunday, January 29.

Red dots sprouted up quickly for California impressionists in the booth of George Stern Fine Arts and for contemporary realism from Arcadia Gallery, and throughout the floor.

Buzz swirled around the super-sized sculptures of swimmers by Carole Feuerman offered by exhibitor Timothy Yarger of Beverly Hills. Visitors particluarly lingered around her "Monumental Brooke with Beach Ball," touching and photographing the realistic-looking, but massively oversized oil-on-resin figural piece, priced at $300,000.

Preceding the artist's retrospective at the Tate Modern in 2012, new exhibitor Paul Stolper Gallery of London showed signature Damien Hirst pieces, from butterfly images to gold skull sculptures, priced at about $52,000.

Among the modern masters, a graphic Alexander Calder gouache from 1972 was offered by Vincent Vallarino and McCormick Gallery ($110,000).

An exquisitely-rendered portrait titled "A Winter's Walk," by French artist James Jacques Joseph Tissot, depicting the artist's love and muse, Kathleen Newton, was a stand-out from M.S. Rau Antiques. Another highlight was a "Renaissance room" within the New Orleans gallery's large booth which was anchored by a vibrant devotional triptych attributed to Jan Mertens the Younger of Antwerp.

Redfern Gallery brought a piece of New England to the fair with a 40-by-62-inch oil by impressionist Abbott Fuller Graves titled "In the Garden" ($175,000) and Stevens Fine Art of Phoenix showed a quintessential Vermont scene by Aldro Hibbard ($27,500).

The China Pavilion opened with the unveiling of the Qing Dynasty reading room of Jiang Bin, along with a bold display of genre paintings and portraits of Buddhists.

For more information, visit laartshow.