“Mandolin.” John Davies (American, born Scotland 1901-1965). Mezzotint in sepia. Edition 9/20.

History in the Streets

JG Fine Art is the culmination of several years of collecting, studying, and enjoying fine prints. I was first introduced to print collecting through my father, Barry Hayman, whose own beginnings in the antiques and art trade go back to the 1970s. Together we have developed an extensive and diverse collection of art which ranges from the best of “official” art history to work by hands entirely unknown.

Our business is a kind of “history in the streets.” We strive to take seriously the emotional, philosophical, and historical significance of prints, in addition to their value as images of simple enjoyment and decoration.

And we are in good company in emphasizing the print medium. Jillian Lerner, in her social history of illustrators in July Monarchy France, quotes Baudelaire, who maintained that

“the leaves of the ‘vast dictionary of modern life’ would not be found in academic paintings and museum collections but in ‘the libraries, the portfolios of collectors and in the windows of the meanest of print shops.” (Graphic Culture, 2018, McGill-Queen’s University Press, p. 43).

If we had a brick-and-mortar, it would no doubt be that “meanest of print shops”!

But despite our focus on prints, we also have a large selection of paintings, antiques, and historical ephemera. The majority of our collection is still not represented online, though we are working on it. Please reach out with any inquiries you have, and we will do our best to find what you’re looking for.

-Jacob Hayman