Shop Talk: Adventures in American Art

Betty Krulik, Debra Force, Richard Rossello, Lou Salerno, Bernard Goldberg, Katherine Degn, Howard Godel, Eric Baumgartner Art

Dealers describe exciting episodes and exhilarating occasions from their time in the trade.

A Look at the Life of “Blind Tom” Wiggins

Editorial Staff Exhibitions

The once famous career of the musical prodigy Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, born a slave and raised to entertain audiences here and abroad with uncanny feats of musical mastery, tainted virtually everyone who touched it. Wiggins’s owners exploited him and profited hugely from his earnings (his concerts and sheet music yielded an astonishing $20,000 in 1879); critics and reporters wrote …