The Rural We: Jane Eckert
The Litchefield County-based contemporary art gallerist is moving her business to the MASS MoCA campus next month.
Early next month, Jane Eckert, owner of Eckert Fine Art Gallery + Consulting will be moving her gallery from Kent, Conn. to the MASS MoCA campus in Williamstown, Mass. That’s big news for those acquainted with the contemporary art gallerist, who has represented and sold works by many renowned artists. She’s also placed important artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Henry Moore, Niki De Saint Phalle and others with museums and collectors. Her first gallery was in Naples, Florida from 1995-2008. After that, she brought her business to our region and moved between Kent and Millerton. Relocating to the Berkshires was something she’d contemplated for years. When the space became available at MASS MoCA, the time was right.
I’m originally from Indiana. My ex-husband, Henry Eckert, was an artist and worked for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, so I would get to see the Whistlers, Turners, Sargents and others in the archives. I was an elementary education major, but I got my arts education seeing the real thing. We had a business in Indiana featuring 19th and 20th-century artists. Once we got to know Robert Rauschenberg, we went into the contemporary art world, which is where I’ve stayed.
At my gallery in Naples, business was great up until around 9/11. There are amazing galleries there, and I had clients from all over the world. When we decided it was time to leave, we came here because we’ve had a home in this area since 1999 and I’ve always loved it here.
The hardest thing for me to give up my Kent location is the connection to New York. But with everything that’s happened this year, I decided this was the time to make my move. I was chair of the Director’s Advisory Council at MASS MoCA, so I’ve had a great friendship with [former director] Joe Thompson. I know a lot of people there and I’m excited to be part of that cultural corridor. I’m also currently chair of the President’s Circle at Hancock Shaker Village, another tie to the Berkshires.
When I open, I will still feature Eric Forstmann (I sell his work all over the world) as well as works by artists affiliated with MASS MoCA: Sol LeWitt, James Turrell, Don Gummer. I will continue to find people with some connection to the museum when I can.
The business is doing well right now. It’s partially because of people coming in to the gallery, but I do a lot of business online — I just sold a Forstmann online. People are staying in their homes, not traveling, and would like to have something nice on their wall to look at. For a time I considered, do I even need a brick and mortar space? But I love meeting people who collect the art, and the relationships and friendships that come from it. Hopefully, in spring or early summer we will have a great big opening.
