50th Anniversary of l'art et l'automobile
This year will mark the 50th Anniversary of being in business (1975-2025). I have a hard time realizing but in 1975, while working for Bob Grossman in Nyack, New York selling Maseratis I exhibited automotive artwork by Paul Kane along with our contact card in the windows of clothing stores on 5th Ave. and Madison Ave. resulting in our first sales. I also rented an empty gallery for a month on Madison Avenue to exhibit some artwork by Phyllis Krim where we met an Italian collector who purchased half of our exhibit. Also in 1975 I arranged for an exhibition in Watkins Glen during the Grand Prix featuring the work of German artist Brigitta Weyer, our first client was Niki Lauda.
Encouraged by the results I wanted a more permanent location so I arranged with Luigi Chinetti Jr. and Sr. to decorate their Ferrari showroom on 58th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan. Thanks to the Chinettis we exhibited regularly with Ferraris on the floor and automotive artwork on the walls. Almost at the same time they lost their New York salesman so I began selling Ferraris while I was arranging automotive art shows in the showroom.
Chinetti's Ferrari / Showroom in New York
This continued until the Chinettis sold their business leading me to open my first gallery on 66th St. and 1st Ave. in 1981. I believe this was the first gallery in the world dedicated to automotive related art.
Jacques at his 66th St. Gallery
We sold paintings, prints, books, models, sculptures, and automobilia and a few years later needed a larger space so I opened a gallery in a large penthouse on 34th St. and Lexington Ave.
Gallery opening at 34th St. location
Following my desire to move back to the country I spent a little over a year in the Princeton / Lawrenceville area of New Jersey. Thanks to the help of my friend, client and racing teammate Pierre Honegger I developed a mail order business by producing catalogs which helped kick off our auction business.
During this time I met my wife Karen in her restaurant in New York and the two of us decided to move to Easthampton on Long Island where we opened a gallery at the Red Horse Plaza. My instinct took over again and I decided Easthampton was not country enough so we found a ranch in the Hill Country of Texas that has a barn large enough to accommodate my ever growing collection of memorabilia and I even added a few cars to the inventory. We have been at this location for the past 19 years.
Jacques, Karen & Luba at the barn / gallery on the ranch in Texas
This is a very nice life and business that has kept me enthusiastic and, although I’ve enjoyed what I’ve been doing for the last 50 years, I’ve begun thinking about passing the torch to a younger person with similar interest and passion who can take l’art et l’automobile into the modern world of the 21st century. Hopefully someone out there will get the message.
Cheers,
Jacques Vaucher
