Best Art Galleries in Boston
Whether you’re looking for a museum-quality masterpiece or just have a few blank walls to fill, these five local galleries have the goods.
A few of the pieces in the International Poster Gallery’s vast collection. / Photograph by Emily Sotomayor
For the College Kid at Heart
International Poster Gallery
460C Harrison Ave., Boston, 617-375-0076, internationalposter.com.
We’d understand if the idea of a poster store conjured semi-uncomfortable flashbacks of college dorm rooms and a little too much Bud Light. But it would be an understatement to say that the vast selection at this South End shop, recently relocated from Newbury Street, goes well beyond your standard Bob Marley fare. Stop in to peruse more than 10,000 vintage originals, from hard-to-find art deco posters to space-age Soviet masterpieces.
Must Buy: Chat Noir, Ce Soir, by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, 1896, lithograph on linen backing, $12,500.
For the Doodler
Carroll and Sons
450 Harrison Ave., Boston, 617-482-2477, carrollandsons.net.
There’s always something (or someone) new to discover at Carroll and Sons, an incubator for budding painters, photographers, and sculptors since its opening in 2008. The SoWa gallery is also the current keeper of the Boston Drawing Project, a flat-file collection of works on paper that artists—many of whom are local—have been building for nearly 20 years.
Must Buy: Adequate, by Tim McCool, 2015, acrylic-on-wood panel, $240.
A peek inside Childs Gallery. / Photograph by Emily Sotomayor
For the Collector
Childs Gallery
169 Newbury St., Boston, 617-266-1108, childsgallery.com.
Boasting one of the largest inventories of fine art in town, this Newbury Street staple earns its highest marks for works of American Impressionism, a Yankee spinoff of the French painting style dominated by bold colors and short brushstrokes. Bonus points for the gallery’s selection of early-20th-century Boston School pieces, dreamed up by period bigwigs like Salem’s Frank Weston Benson.
Must Buy: Salmon Fishing Scene, by Frank Weston Benson, 1916, ink-wash-on-paper drawing, $35,000.
For the Archivist
Museum of Fine Arts
465 Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-369-3575, mfashop.com.
Love that Georgia O’Keeffe original, but can’t stomach the multimillion-dollar price tag? For art aficionados on a budget, archival prints are the next best thing. The Museum of Fine Arts’ digital imaging specialists rely on cutting-edge technology to produce custom, high-quality replicas of classic images from artists such as O’Keeffe, Mary Cassatt, and Boston’s own Winslow Homer.
Must Buy: In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa, by Katsushika Hokusai, circa 1830, archival print, starting at $125.
