20 | 21 Art  25 March 2020

The Visionary Eye of Allan Stone
Allan Stone; Allan Stone Gallery, New York, c. 1975. Images courtesy of the Allan Stone Collection


Founded in 1960 by art dealer Allan Stone (1932–2006), the New York gallery known today as Allan Stone Projects has been admired for over half a century. Celebrated for its eclectic approach and early advocacy of pivotal artists of the 20th century, Allan Stone Gallery was a leading authority on Abstract Expressionism, the New York dealer for Wayne Thiebaud for over forty years, and showed the works of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Joseph Cornell, John Graham and John Chamberlain. Stone also promoted the work of a younger generation of artists that were in conversation with other artists in his collection, working in the mediums of assemblage, collage and new modes of abstraction. In addition to modern masterworks and contemporary art, Allan Stone also collected and exhibited international folk art, Americana and important decorative arts and industrial design.

Richard Sheehan 1953–2006

Richard Sheehan’s paintings have been described as possessing a “painterly realism” and are often compared to the works of Bay Area artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, James Weeks, and Wayne Thiebaud. Sheehan painted en plein air and focused on capturing the specific temporal and geographic impressions of a place. His work depicts abstracted segments of urban sprawl: bridges, tunnels, overpasses and other remnants of industrialization. Instead of creating sweeing panoramic vistas out of these landscapes, he cropped the image, creating tight and dynamic compositions. The paintings are highly architectural in form, isolated, and specific to the American landscape.

Sheehan was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1953, where he lived and worked for most of his life. He received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 1975, and his MFA from Yale University in 1977. He has shown widely across the United States. He also taught at Yale University, Harvard University, and Brandeis University. He died in Boston in 2006.

Auction Results Richard Sheehan

RICHARD SHEEHAN, Freeport Bridge, Late Afternoon | ragoarts.com

Richard Sheehan

Freeport Bridge, Late Afternoon
estimate: $2,000–3,000
result: $3,750

RICHARD SHEEHAN, Red Support | ragoarts.com

Richard Sheehan

Red Support
estimate: $1,500–2,500
result: $2,000

RICHARD SHEEHAN, Late Afternoon #3 | ragoarts.com

Richard Sheehan

Late Afternoon #3
estimate: $1,500–2,500
result: $1,875

RICHARD SHEEHAN, Late Afternoon Neponset | ragoarts.com

Richard Sheehan

Late Afternoon Neponset
estimate: $1,500–2,000