Editors’ Note

Eighteen years before acquiring Findlay Galleries International, Inc., in 1998, James Borynack purchased Findlay Galleries in New York, having already been its Director and Senior Vice President. His relationship with the company began in 1972, when he was hired as a salesman after having served as a partner at De Noyer, a boutique specializing in European high-fashion imports. He has also been associated with various government-related positions, including Cultural Attaché and Ambassador for Republicans Abroad International. In addition, he served as North American President of the auction house Phillips Son & Neale. He is an alumnus of New York’s Parsons New School for Design.

Company Brief

As art dealers serving individuals, institutions, and corporate collectors, FINDLAY Galleries International, Inc. (findlaygalleries.com), was founded in 1870 in Kansas City, Missouri. With galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and affiliates in London, Paris, Berlin, and Monte Carlo, in addition to its flagship premises in Palm Beach, Florida, FINDLAY Galleries specializes in impressionism, European Modernism, l’École de Rouen, l’École de Paris, and 20th Century American Art. The gallery currently represents more than 60 contemporary artists worldwide creating more than 50 exhibitions annually within their gallery network.

FINDLAY Galleries recently relocated its New York headquarters to Midtown Manhattan. Would you provide an overview of the new space?

Having been located in elegant town houses since our opening in New York in 1964, our renewed FINDLAY Galleries has a more museum-like ambiance now with over 12,000 square feet in a contemporary horizontal setting with nine gallery rooms occupying two full floors at 724 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

How do you define the strengths of FINDLAY Galleries and what differentiates the brand?

The FINDLAY Galleries was founded in 1870 in Kansas City, Missouri and mainly represented Representational art, and viewers clearly understood what they were looking at. As the galleries grew and expanded into new markets, so did the stable of artists and schools of representation. Today, the FINDLAY Galleries represents a wider range of expertise with the acquisition of David Findlay Jr Gallery. Our authoritative capacity now includes a complete genre of American artists as well as a specialization in 20th-century American artists and estates.

What is the profile of the FINDLAY Galleries’ client, and how broad is your market?

Having the success of dealing in multiple centuries, 19th, 20th, and now 21st., our clients are multigenerational from great, great-grandparents to today’s financiers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and captains of industry. Thanks to our renowned reputation and gallery locations in London, Paris, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, and Tokyo, our market has a global scale.

Would you discuss your expansion into the Masters of American mid-century?

When the FINDLAY Galleries began operating on a more diverse scale, American art and artists were a full-time market. As early as the mid-1870s Western artists Remington and Russell were being sponsored by William Wadsworth Findlay, and as the turn of the century became industrialized, the FINDLAY Galleries had a roster of artists answering the desires of America’s new museums. Today, the American art market is 70 percent contemporary. Having the depth and sales success of representing the mid-century masters since the early 1980s, David Findlay Jr. created a gallery of exceptional quality promoting estates and artist works at the height of the New York School and after. Acquiring this gallery and reuniting a family name in art gave our renewed FINDLAY Galleries an authoritative edge over the American art market.

FINDLAY Galleries has had a presence in Europe since the 1970s. What will the impact of Brexit be on the Euro art scene?

Having been in London at the time of the unexpected vote to leave the E.U., the shock is still at hand. The Euro gallery art market remains in a flux and its future has yet to be determined. The slide for all Euro art markets is in the currency. Add on the VATs, living artist fees, secondary artist fees, and regular national and international duties, and it is a hard sell.

FINDLAY Galleries has a long and storied history. How do you balance maintaining your heritage while being current and relevant today?

Renewal. That’s why we are celebrating our 146th year as America’s second oldest art gallery in business. It has been learned and shared through the centuries that integrity, quality, service, and overall attention to clients’ wishes and desires. This should create a successful understanding of the renewal of art and the artists’ styles and the tier of their value. Period works are our specialty for which we serve the top 10 percent of the world’s patrons.

Where do you see the greatest growth opportunities for FINDLAY Galleries as you look to the future?

We continue to reach out to new buyers, collectors, corporations, and institutions. Art fairs don’t mean much for us because we have always been exceptionally located in up marketplaces. Plus, we advertise more professionally than any other gallery in business. To us, growth means sales, not more artists. That is paramount to our perseverance. Our acquisition/merger brought us nearly 2,000 new proven clients and FINDLAY Galleries brought David Findlay Jr. almost 5,600 new proven clients. That’s growth. We need to manage that into sales.•