About studio mgh
Significant 20th-century American art, rediscovered and thoughtfully placed.
At San Francisco Fall Show with Jack Scott's "One" (1980) p/c: Erin Gilchrist Brown
Studio MGH is an art dealership focused on rediscovered 20th-century American artwork — work that has often lived quietly in estates and private collections, sometimes for decades, before being truly seen again. I'm Michele Hembree, the founder of Studio MGH, and for more than twenty years I've worked as a buyer, seller, researcher, and curator. My practice centers on identifying significant yet overlooked bodies of work and carefully reintroducing them to the contemporary art market, with care for both their history and their future.
My background includes over a decade of volunteer work with the Oakland Museum of California through its Women's Board, where I collaborated closely with curators and educators. That experience shaped my research-driven approach and deepened my focus on American modern and mid-century art, with a particular interest in women artists. Over the years, I've also built strong partnerships with designers, galleries, and trade professionals — including collaborations with Henry Saywell (London), Guy Regal NYC, and others — that have allowed me to place work in beautifully designed spaces and connect with collectors who care about both aesthetics and provenance.
I founded Studio MGH in 2015 (formerly MGH Discovered Art) to bring these rediscoveries into view and place them with collectors, designers, and institutions who understand that context is everything My work is relationship-driven, paced, and personal — built around preserving artistic legacies and finding the right home for the work, for the long term.
Studio MGH is based in Texas, with longstanding ties to San Francisco and New York. I work with clients nationwide, and studio visits are available by appointment.
What we DO
We work with collectors, families, designers, and institutions to place work where it belongs.
Estate Representation
We represent artist estates and place significant bodies of work with collectors, designers, and institutions who value both aesthetic quality and historical importance.
Art Collection Guidance
Inherited a collection or outgrown your space? We provide step-by-step guidance to help you understand what you have and explore your options with clarity and confidence.
Private Sales
We place works directly with collectors and designers, facilitating meaningful transactions that prioritize fit, context, and long-term value over quick turnover.
Design Trade Services
We work closely with interior designers and architects to source historically significant artwork for residential and commercial projects, offering trade pricing and white-glove service.
How we work
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Every work comes with provenance, condition details, and historical context. No surprises.
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We document, research, and contextualize. The work deserves more than a price tag.
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We take the long view. We build relationships and place work where it will be valued for decades.
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Collections don't need to be rushed. We move at your pace, not ours.
Artists we represent
Studio MGH works with a focused group of rediscovered 20th-century American artists — some long overlooked, some simply never seen. We document, represent, and place these collections with the care they always deserved.
Jack Scott
Monumental charcoal drawings on raw canvas, unseen since the 1980s. Featured in Artforum, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the LA Times. NEA Fellowship recipient.
Bill Shields
Large-scale abstract oil paintings and intimate pastel landscapes by a celebrated American illustrator whose clients included the New York Stock Exchange, Neiman Marcus, and NASA — with work featured in Architectural Digest.
Sylvia Rutkoff
Mid-century figurative and abstract paintings, rediscovered and placed in collections across the country. A trailblazer of her generation.
Myril Adler
Eight decades of work across painting, printmaking, and mixed media — by one of American art's great teachers.