Lanning Gallery In Sedona Arizona Presents
The Legacy of Alfred Rogoway

Alfred Rogoway - Three Graces

Sedona, AZ: Famous writer Henry Miller once said of his good friend Alfred Rogoway: "He paints as other men must dream." Sedona's Lanning Gallery is in a unique position to agree; at the end of Rogoway's life, the artist made Arizona his home and Lanning his gallery. On October 5th, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Lanning Gallery will honor the timeless Expressionist paintings of this late artist (1900-1990) in an exhibition called "Legacy."

When the artist's daughter showed gallery owner Peggy Lanning a portfolio of her father's work, Lanning owned only her first gallery - of Native American art. She knew nothing of Rogoway's long history: his early triumphs in California; his mark on the New Mexico art scene of the 1940s; his acclaim from NY's Museum of Modern Art exhibiting next to Pollack, de Kooning, Miro and Picasso. Lanning knew only what she saw in front of her and the images of Rogoway's soulful paintings were enough to send her traveling to meet the artist himself and see his original work.

Lanning returned home and founded her eponymous gallery to showcase Rogoway. The renowned, now 21-year-old, Classic and Contemporary art gallery is proud of its most unique genesis. "His work spoke for itself," Lanning recalls, "Rog's character was all there on his canvases, larger than life." She remembers the summer Rogoway stayed in Sedona, already in his late 80s the artist drove his old yellow Volkswagon Beetle to picnic lunches with her staff. "He loved women," Lanning says, "he could be very devious and none of us were safe! He loved to dance and drink and laugh." She adds, "At the shows the gallery held for Rog during his lifetime he was tremendously moved that people could remain so interested in his work."