{"id":498745,"date":"2026-10-17T02:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T02:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498745\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T02:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T02:18:28","slug":"san-franciscos-lost-art-salon-finds-forgotten-20th-century-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498745\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco\u2019s Lost Art Salon finds forgotten 20th century artists\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lost Art Salon<\/a> is in a lost corner of the city, tucked under the knuckle of freeways where 101 meets the Mission. Up three flights of red metal corrugated steps, an unimagined world awaits: a gallery of near-vanished, recently rediscovered 20th-century artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have taken a little bit of extra effort to get here,\u201d said Rob Delamater, who co-owns the business with friend Gaetan Caron. \u201cThey\u2019re coming for an experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The experience that unfolds is wholly unlike purchasing art from the often sterile, white walls of a gallery \u2014 an environment which, as Delamater points out, does not mirror people\u2019s homes. Visitors to the Lost Art Salon come into a space that feels like a living room, complete with a fireplace and comfortable furniture.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

It can be difficult to put into words what kind of art one likes, Delamater said, especially as a new collector. But the no pressure vibe and cozy set-up allows people to imagine art hanging in their own home. This weekend and next the public will be able to do so at special collectors events.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt really appeals to people to be in a more residential environment that\u2019s more relaxed,\u201d Delamater said. The artworks in the entry are framed and ready to purchase \u2014 and full collections in storage rooms up the stairs and in the back await for additional exploration of individual artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CustomThe framing shop. Photo by Julie Zigoris<\/p>\n

The Lost Art Salon has a full-service framing shop on site using both vintage and new frames.<\/p>\n

But people aren\u2019t only picking out a piece of work when they come to the Lost Art Salon; they\u2019re also purchasing a story. Along with every artwork there\u2019s an incredible narrative of an artist nearly lost but then saved, whether it\u2019s a long-closeted queer artist whose oeuvre was saved by his partner\u2019s will decades after he died or a former Gulag prisoner who found his way to Washington, D.C. in the 1950s to work for the CIA. By buying a work and displaying it, customers are continuing the business\u2019s mission of restoring lost legacies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the pandemic when Lost Art Salon couldn\u2019t open their doors to the public, Delamater doubled down on the storytelling on social media. The effort paid off; it\u2019s where the majority of people find the business today, along with word of mouth and repeat customers. Despite operating for 22 years, even many within the art world have no knowledge of its existence. \u201cIt can be hard to find us,\u201d Delamater said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The origin story<\/p>\n

It all began over two decades ago. While working in the hotel design business, Delamater realized he knew where to source antiques and decorative items for properties, but affordable-yet-original artworks were an entirely different matter. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know where to go when decorating my own apartment,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He and Caron were discussing the problem when they had the proverbial lightbulb moment: What happens to the historical collections of more affordable artists? \u201cWe gave ourselves a year to hunt and see what we could find,\u201d he said. The first piece they purchased was a single work by an artist named Clyde F. Seavey, an illustrator who worked on the artist team at Patterson & Sullivan<\/a> and made a living as a commercial artist for magazines like The American Weekly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lost Art Salon had its first show at a flower shop on 16th Street in the Mission, then another at a fine furnishing shop in the neighborhood. They began doing popups all over the city, and the momentum kept building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet when Delamater and Caron realized the breadth of Seavey\u2019s and other lost artists\u2019 catalogs, they shifted from acquiring single pieces to entire collections. \u201cWhat if really our mission was not just to represent lost pieces, but lost artists,\u201d Delamater said. \u201cAnd be a part of reviving their legacy and finding a contemporary audience for their work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That, in turn, became the litmus test for acquiring new collections \u2014 it must be a body of work that will resonate with audiences today and that they will want to live with, since customers at the Lost Art Salon are not high-end investors but people looking for work to decorate with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Delamater and Caron today purchase entire catalogs ranging from 75 to as many as 500 pieces. This isn\u2019t work by hobbyists or amateurs; the co-owners are selective \u2014 choosing around 15 collections a year after having two a day presented to them \u2014 and many of their artists have work held in museums and books devoted to them. Yet they never made it all the way to the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLike most people in creative disciplines, after some decades go by, if you haven\u2019t achieved that blue chip kind of high ranking status, your legacy and your work can be forgotten,\u201d Delamater said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similar to Delamater, Caron came from the corporate world to the Lost Art Salon; he had a background working in the search engine landscape of the late 90s and early 2000s. Both practicing artists, the two friends wanted to start a business together, but they never thought about opening a gallery to show their own work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter about seven years of us making art on the side and showing it in other places, we realized we already have a gallery,\u201d Delamater said. Work by him and Caron are for sale on one of the walls of the main showroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ALost Art Salon co-owner Rob Delamater Photo by Julie Zigoris<\/p>\n

The business has been expanding, taking over an upper space they used to sublet. Soon, after a tenant next door moves out, they will have the entire third floor \u2014 four rooms in total. While running out of room could be a concern someday, running out of art is not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like asking if the ocean is going to stop bringing up seashells,\u201d Delamater said. \u201cThey will just keep coming to the shore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The why<\/p>\n

The small business recently had a full-circle moment when Delamater and Caron were visiting a collection in New York that had been part of the former American Gallery on the Upper East Side. The former co-owner, who closed the gallery after her husband died young, had the artworks in storage since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the excitement for us was the art itself, but it was also like it was a mirror of our own story \u2014 two artists starting a gallery together,\u201d Delamater said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to revive their legacy, and it will be one of our exhibits next year.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to the co-owners, the Lost Art Salon employs a staff of seven. In their 22 years of business, they had their busiest day this past April for their New Collector Saturdays event, which is taking place again on two weekends in October<\/a>. Online, several pieces a week sell all over the country, Delamater said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Self-portraits of Lost Art Salon artists hang in the framing area to remind staff of the \u201cwhy\u201d behind what they\u2019re doing. \u201cThese are real stories,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of these artists have become my teachers,\u201d he said. Delamater devotes specific days of the week to his own art practice, when he often finds himself trying out new techniques or ideas inspired by one of the many artists hanging in his gallery, creatives who have become his \u201cuniversity.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In that, by rediscovering lost artists the team is engaged in a larger project of the 21st century: Expanding the cannon. \u201cI\u2019ve had the experience of feeling the spirits of all of the artists,\u201d he said. \u201cLike they\u2019re all out communing with me when I\u2019ve been alone in the space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A former student of Evangelical Christianity \u2014 where he and Caron met in 1987 on a year-long study program \u2014 today Rob is on a different kind of mission. He has long since abandoned Evangelicalism, but he is seeking meaning and spreading it, one art-filled living room at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lost Art Salon is in a lost corner of the city, tucked under the knuckle of freeways…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-498745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}