A QUARTER OF A CENTURY!

Going through these pictures should bring back some good memories for you, as they do me. The above was my favorite of all of Steve Mirich's paintings. Then, this still-life by Rino Gonzalez. Below, Lottie (now 92 years old), Fil Mottola's wife. Fil is slowing down, not painting too much these days, but he's close to 93 and a bit frail. Can't blame him for slowing down at that age.

CONTINUING THE STORY

Here's another picture of the Simic Family. Six of these artists are ones that I once represented, so I feel good about that. There have been a number of others over the years, as you well know. They gave Simic Galleries quite a boost in sales, a great deal of money over the long run.

None of these are Celebrity Artists, as you'll note. There are genuine artists who took the long difficult trail to make it to the top. It wasn't easy, either for them or for me. I think that Tony Casay is the only one in the Rolls Royce class though, isn't he?

We can also discuss Blanchard and Cortes at this point too. Let me go back to my files and see if I can locate some more photos.
Oh, yes, we cannot forget Larry (Vincent) Gallerison, can we? He used to be part of the group, not to the extent the others were, nor for as long, and he was always fun to be around.

Friendship? I'm still friends with all of these artists, the ones who are still around. Just talked to Lottie today, and Fil a few weeks ago. I don't forget them or ever break off my relationships with my old friends. That reminds me, I do have a poem about that as well, so I'll get it out and print it here too.

KEEPING FAITH, KEEPING FRIENDS

Here's another photo that brings back memories, the night that Nancy met Tony Bennett, and then he sang at the local country club that night. There were so mzny great things done by Simic Galleries, so many wonderful events. It was a lovely weekend for everyone involved.

As I go through my albums I find that there are some many more photos than I realized, like hundreds of them, but if I had access to your photo files, there's be thousands more. What a story they tell, and how many lives have been affected by Simic Galleries. I'll say one thing, that these people were often brought together for one of the banquets and it was a high point in their year and in their careers.

Then, I'll add in here the last verse of the poem, TOMORROW;

Yes, Tomorrow may seem like the poerfect day,
But Tomorrow's the day that may never come'
Tomorrow, the clock is ticking away.
< For Tomorrow's not certain for anyone.

FRIENDSHIPS often break up when one party perceives that the other is acting unfairly and there seems little chance of resolution of the problem. I've worked with artists for many years, merely an agreement and a handshake, one of those lasting 22 years, another 21 and another 20. It takes two people who value their friendship to make such deals work. And, at times, in spite of both trying hard, there an be misunderstandings. Good friendshipos survive such things, perhaps taking time to resolve, but eventually arriving at a resolution.

Here's that famous Simic Smile. I meant to use it on the first section of this Blog.

REMEMBERING OLD FRIENDSHIPS

Dear Mario:
Here's a picture that should bring back some memories, Bernie Schantz and Maurice Meyer, but of them and I go back much further than the friendship between us. Maurice was one of the first artists whom I represented, U.S. artists, that is, just after Clair Weidenaar, also a marine artist began to work exclusively with a gallery in Santa Fe, NM. They thought that they could handle his entire output, but their sales in a two year period were about 20% of what we had been selling on an annual basis. Clair later on wanted me to be his agent again, but by that time I had worked up a good business with Maurice's paintings and did not need another marine artist.

Bernie? I sold him the works of my artists when had owned a large gallery on LaCienega Blvd., and then later helped in begin his sales career in Hawaii, after his divorce left him at odds ends. He needed my help and called me from Hawaii twice, because he knew that I would not let an old friend down. Tomorrow? The clock is ticking away. For tomorrow's not certain for anyone. Yes, we lost him. I called and spoke with him at the hospital not too many days before he died. He had one more funny story to tell me, he said, but I simply could not make it up there to see him in time.

When Bernie represented Julian Ritter during that artist's voyage around the world, it was due to my prompting Julian to do so. There's another long story there, but I am not going into it now.

Here's another picture from the past, one of the many Annual parties to celebrate another year in the history of Simic Galleries, Miguel Parades getting his Certificate of Appreciation. He's another artist whom I brought to Simic Galleries, and one who should have had more promotion. However, he too had his problems there. He's but one of many. Now let's return to Tomorrow:

Tomorrow's sunrise you may never see,
So Today is the day that cannot wait;
This is the day to live vigorously,
Tomorrow may be...just one day too lager.

Ah yes, here's another artist, a wonderful guy, a man of his word, Gary Jenkins. I worked hard to get him for Simic Galleries, didn't I? A lot of good it did me, or him. Both Gary and his wife, Kathwren, are excellent artists and worthy of being represented by a good gallery, but we all were disappointed with the arrangement at Simic.

Somewhere I have a pictures of Bonnie and Bill Cole, which should also be a part of this narrative, but they'll have to come later. Each page, past and present, in this Blog, will change daily, so you'll have to keep reading back and forth to get the whole story. It's just that memories keep coming back and I have to add things in here and there.

It's a gorgeous California day out, so I'll try to do a little bit of exercising and while riding my bike (stationary) let my mind drift back a few years, so I can add to this letter.

www.howardsviews.com

TIME AND FRIENDSHIP

Time flies by, especially at this age, but there are no fewer hours in the day than there were fifty or sixty years ago, or a thousand years ago; it is just an illusion that time passes more quickly. It's not true, only that you become more aware of it, that's all.

When we look back at the artists we have known, loved and worked with over the years, it seems like so many of them have left us. There was that wonderful gentleman, the one who always seemed to be smiling, Alex Dzigurski. What a kind and lovely man he was, as well as a genuine artist. He was a good businessman, and also a good teacher, as evidenced by the work of his son, Alex Jr.
I remember years ago when Alex went to Vienna, Austria, to meet his sister, whom he had not seen in years, the years since he fled his homeland and Communism. He would never, never go to a communist country again. When he returned from Austria, I met him that Saturday in his home and told him I needed some more of his paintings to sell to my clients. He had nothing ready, but was stretching his own canvas that day. Four days later, when I returned to his home, he had six paintings for me, all of them beautiful seascapes, and some partially finished paintings were in his studio. He too loved America and in his chosen profession, he became another success story. I valued his friendship, and I know that you did also. It was another of those business relationships that turned into a close and dear friendship, and a strong bond between us. Again, it is like walking a tight-rope at times, but we can manage it if we try.

Above is another picture that I don't think you've ever seen, but it is a good one of you and Eugene. Remember the day we drove to Sacramento and went to his home? My relationship with Eugene began about 1959 or 1960, and went on for years, until his death. Here again was a success story that could only happen in America! In 1945, he was a Russian prisoner of the Germans in Italy, and after a period of time in Argentina, he finally made his way to the United States. Friendships? You have to work at them to keep them alive, be true to your friends, because one day they leave us, as Eugene Garin did, as Alex Dzigurski did, as Jim Fetherolf did.

Then, there is the 3rd verse in the poem, TOMORROW:

Today is the day to say softly, "I love you,"
And today is the day to generously give,
Saying, "I'm sorry" may be the right thing to do,
Or whispering gently, "I forgive."

How blessed we were with such friends, such artists, that great sense of humor that always bubbled to the surface with Jim Fetherolf, his perfect timing to pull off a gag. Friendships are blessed things, whatever you want to call them, they come from deep within each person, and I pity those who have never experienced them. Some of mine go back more than sixty years but they're...well, dying off.

BUSINESS AND FRIENDSHIP

The first part of this Blog, or letter, was written over than two years ago. I've neglected it for a long while, but God has granted me manother couple of years of life since then, and I've some additional thoughts to put down. It's going to include quite a few pictures as I go along, so be prepared for them, as they're more than nostalgic for each of us.

Of course, by now, I'm sure that you've seen the Videos. If not, let me know and I'll put them up again. They're especially marked so that only you and I can view them.

When I was writing about your start in business, it brought to mind the words in a poem, one of mine (TO SOAR WITH THE EAGLES), of course, that describe all too well your start in the art business:

True ambition is like an eagle in flight,
He challenges, he soars, with seeming delight,
The fiercer the wind, the stronger he flies,
He's the master competitor high in the skies.

That's just the first verse. You've read it before, but this will again bring it to mind. It describes you, but also a number of other people that I know. Business people, like you and me, ordinary people who started off with an idea, ambition, and the energy and will to carry it through. It's never easy, the day to day struggles, the worries, dealing with personnel, and making sales. Buying and selling; it goes on endlessly as long as one remains in business.

And business has to do with money. Business relationships often develop into strong friendships. There's always a danger when money and friendship is involved, but that's always a part of life and a part of business; it cannot be avoided. It is a narror line that friends must tread carefully, like a performer in a tight-rope balancing act, without a net strung below.

You started off your business in the same manner that I did, vastly under-capitalized. I went through all of it in those early years, starting in 1958, so I know full well what, why and how it happens. Yet, there is a certain point in every business when it begins to function in a normal manner and if handled right, it should have sufficient capital behind it to become a strong entity in its' field. That's America. That's what you've done. It is my opinion that you have influenced the art business in Carmel more than any other dealer, and you have changed the course in the lives of many artists.

Sufficient capital and you have a successful business. With sufficient capital you expand. That's also America. You know how to do it, and you never had any doubts that your plans for expansion would be successful. There's the second verse to my poem, which covers it succinctly:

He's but a speck in the sky, his wings near inert,
With the sharpest of eyes, he's always alert,
It takes vision to know when opportunity's in sight,
And the courage to move when the timing is right.

Then there are your friends. Do you outgrow them, find that in your new social strata that old friendships are no longer viable? That obligations you have no longer apply? But,at this point we come back to the second verse of the poem, TOMORROW:

For there are no certaintities along life's way,
Of happiness, friends, nor a life in good health,
You're not assured of a single day,
No matter how great your power and wealth.

Friendship? I have some lines someone else wrote on that and I'll have to find them and put them in tomorrow night's letter. In the meantime, I'll search for those pictures I mentioned above and put them in one of these days so tht you can consider them. We should sit and contemplate friendship now and then and what it means to us.

Stan Chevrin and his wife, Stephanie. Another great guy, a dealer and artist's agent who helped a good many artists along the way, traveled many longely mailes across the country marketing their work.

A FRIENDSHIP BEGINS...

How do Friendships begin? What type of chemistry is involved in a Friendship and what does it take to keep one going, like ours, for 24 years? Just what is involved in being a friend to someone, rather than just being friendly towards another person? What must one do to maintain that friendship over a long period of time, and what should they tolerate or not tolerate from a friend? Just what ingredients does it take to hold a friendship together? There are some people who complain that they don't have any friends, and that's a sad statement to make.

Me, I have many friends, some going all the way back to when I was a young man. My boyhood friends have all passed away, but these others are still going strong.

This is going to be a continuing discussion on my part, perhaps go on for a long time, then again, perhaps not. For, as you know, life is terminal...for everyone. Closing in on 80 as I am, one is well aware of it, and one does a lot of thinking about the purpose of life, their accomplishments in life, and when that day will finally be here. How will I meet it? How will I be remembered?


Above, me and Andre Andreoli, one of the most sincere and conscientious men (and artists) I have ever known. It might even be said he seemed a bit nutty at times, but artists have that time-honored privilege to be so. Three times he drove all the way down from Santa Rosa to visit me and discuss his relationship with Simic Galleries. I even have letters from him, and I always reassured him and helped patch things up.

TOMORROW
Tomorrow is always the magical day,
Yet, Tomorrow's a day that may never come.
Tomorrow might only be hours away,
But there's no guarantee for anyone.

And, there, in the first verse of my poem, it tells the story. At my age, and also at your age, things can change in the flicker of an eyelash. Whether age 10, 40, or 80, no one has a guarantee of Tomorrow. What would we be in life or do in life if we did not have friends?

You, by the way, have a rare gift, a personality that attracts people, a smile (distinctively gap-toothed) that captivates people immediately, and a self-assurance that imparts a feeling of trust to others you meet, as happened when we met in Los Angeles about 24 years ago. You walked into my gallery and I took a liking to you immediately, the beginning of a business and personal relationship that has continued o'er these years...until now. I've always followed my compass heading, true North, but what about yours?

So, give a thought to those first few dinners we had together in the Burbank area, Serbian cooking, I believe it was, and our conversations then. Of course, you weren't driving a Mercedes SUV at that time, either. It was just a dream, a vision, that would begin in Carmel a couple of months later. We became good friends, and as you know, whenever you called upon me in the name of friendship, I came to your aid. Somoe of these incidents I'll be writing about as I go along.

I think it was the summer of 1980 that we had those dinners together, but am not sure. I do, however, have a few file folders of letters that go back over the years and can check up on it, perhaps right to the day. I just like to make sure that what I write is correct, the truth.






Here's another picture that should bring back memories.



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