Friday, August 06, 1999

Tall Stacks poster hot collectible

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BY OWEN FINDSEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

'Morning Arrival' is Frank McElwain's fourth print for Tall Stacks. | ZOOM |

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        The official portrait of Tall Stacks '99, unveiled Thursday afternoon, is destined to become a collector's piece if history repeats itself.

        This is the fourth in the series of prints by artist Frank McElwain. This one is different than the first three because it focuses on the boats and doesn't show the riverfront, now crowded with construction cranes.

        The portrait depicts steamboats crowded onto the river and shrouded in mist. The Suspension Bridge hovers in the background. It is early morning at Tall Stacks, in a scene called “Morning Arrival.”

        The first two prints in the Tall Stacks series have been sold out, available only in the resale market where the price goes up.

        “The first Tall Stacks print, from 1988, is the most valuable. Because it is sold out, and people who bought it love it and don't want to give it up,” says Phyllis Weston, gallery director at Closson's Gallery. “So the prints seldom come back on the market.”

        Mr. McElwain says that prints from 1988 can sell for as much as $1,500.

        “People are just dying to see the new print,” Ms. Weston says. “We have a long waiting list.

        Collector Gregory Keller of Edgewood has been waiting.

        “I was in the gallery when the prints arrived, so I got the first crack at it,” Mr. Keller says. “The last one was a night scene and this is a morning scene, so they make a good pair.”

        The new prints, in an edition limited to 500 copies, sell for $250 each. A special remarque edition of 25 sells for $500.

        “It is the remarque that sells out first, and that's the one that collectors want most,” Ms. Weston says. A remarque is a small image that the artist draws on the border of the print. This personal touch adds value to the print.

        “Tall Stacks is a big event in Cincinnati, and Frank's paintings are a memory of the event,” Ms. Weston says. “People are very attached to them, and once they have one, they often want the rest.”

        There are still a few Tall Stacks '95 prints available at the original price of $300. The 1992 Tall Stacks print is sold out, so it is also in the secondary market, with collectors waiting until somebody wants to sell one.

        Wildlife artist John Ruthven, whose limited-edition prints are among the most collectible in the nation, explains the appeal of the Tall Stacks series to collectors.

        “When a print is sold out and no more are available, the collector has to pay a premium price for any prints that come on the market,” Mr. Ruthven says. “When the print is based on a popular event, like the Tall Stacks series, (the premium) can be a considerable amount.”

        One of Mr. McElwain's fans, Mr. Ruthven had gotten a sneak preview of the new portrait before it was unveiled. His reaction: “Wow!”

        “Frank (McElwain) is a terrific artist,” Mr. Ruthven says. “I particularly love his historic paintings of old Cincinnati.”

        Mr. McElwain, 57, lives in Walnut Hills with his wife, Diane, also a painter. He paints Cincinnati subjects, romantic realist paintings and commissioned works such as the Tall Stacks series. His paintings sell for $2,000 to $12,000. Commissioned works can cost up to $30,000. His works, both paintings and prints, hang in corporate offices all across the city.

        Making the new print different from the previous ones is a challenge, Mr. McElwain says. “This time, it is not so much a river scene as it is a portrait of the boats,” said Mr. McElwain. His other three Tall Stacks portraits feature the Cincinnati skyline in the background. “With all the construction that's going on at the riverfront,” Mr. McElwain said, “I thought I would concentrate on the boats.”

        There are 19 riverboats in the picture, the number that will come to Cincinnati Oct. 13-17 for Tall Stacks '99. “It's not easy to get 19 boats in one picture without it looking crowded, but by raising my viewpoint to an aerial view, I sort of stacked the boats, with the ones in the background sort of diffused by the mist.

        “A lot of the boats are new to Tall Stacks this year, so I had to do a lot of research,” Mr. McElwain says. “It takes about a month to do the research and the preliminary drawings and 11 or 12 weeks to do the oil painting.”

        With the Tall Stacks painting complete, Mr. McElwain is now working on paintings for an exhibit at Closson'sin October, 2000. “I'm going to do the inclines and the street cars. I'm setting the pictures at about 1900. There probably won't be any steamboats in the show.”

SEEING AND BUYING
        • The Tall Stacks paintings and prints are commissioned by Fifth Third Bank. The original paintings can be seen in the second floor lobby of the bank's Fountain Square offices.

        • The prints can be purchased for $250 at A&J Art Gallery, Brownings of Wyoming, Fabulous Frames, Gallerie 22, Row House Gallery and Closson's. Image size is 16 by 24 inches. Framing is additional.

        • Closson's has exclusive rights to the $500 remarqued prints. Mr. McElwain will sign and remarque prints at the downtown store 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 21. Prints can also be ordered by calling Tall Stacks at 721-0104.

       

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