“Spirit”, 2002, watercolor, 12”-10”. From the “Meditations” series. 

“Vanishing Spirit”, 2002, watercolor, 12”-10”. .

Sam Salz, Marc Chagall's dealer.

"The Art Dealer Sam Salz"("Kunsthandler"), a photo by August Sander from his series on professions during the 1920s Weimar period in Germany. This photo was taken of my father in front of his gallery in Cologne where he sold Chagall, Arp and Braque. Two Chagalls he sold, "Birthday" and "Over Vitebsk", eventually were bought by the Museum of Modern Art in New York where they are still in the collection. The then mayor and later chancelor Konrad Adenauer attended one of the gallery's openings. For showing and selling modern art, my father got on the list of the rising Nazi party. He then left for Paris. Here is a link to "Birthday" on the MoMA website: http://www.moma.org/collection/provenance/provenance_object.php?object_id=79360

"The Asparagus", by Edouard Manet, Musee D'Orsay, 16.5"-21.5", oil on canvas, gift of Sam Salz. My father was a poor painter in Paris before he had a gallery in Germany and later became a famous art dealer in America. He was in awe of the paintings in the Louvre then and did not forget that later on when he had this Manet which was hanging in his bedroom. I used to laugh at it's simplicity when I was a child. His response was:"Don't laugh! It's a masterpiece!". He gave the painting to the Musee D'Orsay in 1959. Here is a link to the painting on the Musee D'Orsay's website:

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting.html?no_cache=1&zoom=1&tx_damzoom_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=99996

Two portraits of Sam Salz by Ensor and Vuillard.

"Portrait of Sam Salz", by James Ensor, 1929, opaque watercolor on paper, 10"-12", the Philadelphia Museum of Art. James Ensor was a Belgian painter who's paintings were sometimes of masks and sculls. They were often deliberate political commentaries and many times disturbing in their black humor. My father Sam Salz was one of Ensor's dealers and a good friend who set up some of his later still lifes with sea shells. Above is a portrait by Ensor which is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art which owns paintings that were once in the collections of Louis Stern and Henry McIlhenny who both bought from Sam Salz. Ensor dedicated it to him: "For Salz, the ace of art past, present and future".

 "Portrait of Sam Salz" by Edouard Vuillard, 1939, pastel and gouache, 20"-13.5". Sam Salz was Vuillard's principal American dealer. He also knew and sold the paintings of Pierre Bonnard whom he visited at his studio in Le Cannet in the South of France. My father left Paris for America in the early thirties but returned to it in 1937. In 1939 he introduced Vuillard to the actor Edward G. Robinson. Both he and Robinson then had their portraits painted at different locations. My father's portrait was done in Vuillard's studio. He gave Vuillard an art book which is on the table to the right. This was in contrast to the Robinson family portrait done at the Plaza Athenee Hotel. My father first introduced Vuillard to Robinson as "A famous movie actor from America". Vuillard did not recognize him and added "I never go to the movies". Soon after, Hitler and the Nazis marched into Paris. Vuillard was stuck but my father and Robinson along with his wife and son made it out on time with their portraits. My father's father Moshe Salz and his two sisters were not so lucky. They were shot by the Nazis near their town of Radomysl, Poland in 1941. This painting is posted in commemoration of the thirty year anniversary of Sam Salz's death on March 22, 1981. My parents Sam and Marina Salz also donated a Vuillard painting ("Dinnertime") to the Museum of Modern Art in 1961. Here is a link to the painting: http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A6194&page_number=2&template_id=1&sort_order=1