The Market |
This Weekend's Events & Happenings
May 14, 2012 | Last chance to check out these events!
SIGNATURE AMERICAN & EUROPEAN ART-DALLAS
Design District Annex
Auction Dates: May 15th at 10 am CT
Lot Viewing: HIGHLIGHTS ONLY
April 19-21, 2012 Heritage Auctions - Beverly Hills
9478 West Olympic Blvd., 1st Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
HIGHLIGHTS ONLY
April 27-29, 2012 Ukrainian Institute of America at The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion
2 East 79th Street
New York, NY 10075
FULL PREVIEW
May 11-15, 2012 Dallas, TX
Consignment deadline: March 13
For more information go to http://fineart.ha.com/common/auction/catalog.php?SaleNo=5096
(LAST DAY) FASHION A-Z: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM AT FIT
Museum at FIT
May 18
For more information please go to http://fitnyc.edu/3452.asp
50th SHENANDOAH ANTIQUES EXPO
Fishersville, VA
May 18 - May 20
Fabulous buying! 300+ dealers on the field, in barns and exhibition halls. Early Buying Friday 10-5, Admission $10. Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 10-4. Admission $5. Best shoppin…» More
The Market |
Talking Antiques
May 9, 2012 | Nine leaders in the field discuss the changing antiques and fine arts market.
Jane Nylander, preservationist
The past speaks to Jane Nylander. She has been translating its messages for decades as curator at Old Sturbridge Village, director of Strawbery Banke, and former president of Historic New England.
Are we currently losing ground in our commitment to preserve and conserve our material culture? I certainly hope not. We may be seeing the editing and refinement of major collections, but we also see considerable expansion in terms of what is considered worthy of preservation and conservation. Collections now reflect a broader range of complex cultures as well as multiple hierarchies and longer time lines. Things in poor condition that lack interpretive potential, historical significance, or strong provenance may be, indeed should be, discarded while objects having rich meaning are added. Discovery is always entertaining. Thoughtful evaluation is more challenging. Preservation requires discipline.
In the marketplace there is less and less interest in the very ordinary pieces that were popular for home furnishing throughout much of the twentieth century, but more recent objects have gained in popularity or been re-purposed. How can we not be entertained by Steampunk? Does it destroy or enhance the value of its components?
Do you think the increasing presence of the digital, which by its nature eliminates the physical and the tangible, plays a role in making the antique less valuable? In some cases perhaps so, but digitization greatly expands the number of people who can enjoy and learn about specific objects and kinds of objects. It may provide a quick contact for some, but for others, it may open the door to richer and deeper exploration of the physical reality. It may stimulate pursuit of the "real thing."
You have always maintained that our cultural values are bound up in the materials of the past (our foodways, fabrics, shelter, and so forth). Is it not also possible that one part of the American cultural value system is equally invested in kicking over the traces of the past? Or are there always unpredictable oscillations in the relative prestige of past and present? Isn't it possible that people may cherish the past without being bound by it? For me tradition and historical consciousness are essential parts of the present. Knowledge of material culture enriches the understanding of historical experience. Over my fifty-year career, I have seen levels of interest in various types of things come and go. As time goes by, new groups of people rediscover things that have gone out of favor. They study them from new perspectives and gain new and different understanding. They apply new methods of conservation and preservation. They share information using new technologies and display techniques.
Perhaps you could be seen as a kind of life coach who is uniquely able to reassure people and institutions that being interested in the past will not consign them to the dustbin of history, that the antique is, in fact, a winner having survived the test of time. Is that how you see yourself? I hope so. Can we agree that an interest in the past can greatly enrich one's life by enhancing our ability to see and enjoy the beautiful, to strengthen significant values, and to identify with things and ideas that characterize common human experience in all ages? All too often I see people who do not recognize the elements of beauty or proportion, who see no value in durable goods or values, who thoughtlessly discard things that are useful and/or beautiful. It makes me very sad; they miss out on considerable pleasure and they often waste their money.
I noticed that you are on Facebook (though not by any means one of its oversharers). Do you think that Facebook, which is about the cultivation of communities, could revive and sustain a community whose priorities lie in the material culture? Let's change "lie in" to "include"- then, yes. As you've noticed I haven't made time for Facebook. I find it provides a fascinating insight into the lives of my grandchildren, but I am still busy studying aspects of New England history and trying to help people understand ways to interpret museum collections and exhibitions. I do worry that the short phrasing, abbreviations, etc. required by text messages will further erode people's ability to communicate richly and deeply in writing. Perhaps the academic thesis, the exhibition label, and the catalogue essay will be replaced by something short and sweet, but I wonder if it will provide the depth of understanding provided in recent times by really good writing, which, as you know, takes practice.
Jane Nylander. Bachrach photograph; Castle in the Clouds, Moultonborough, NewHampshire. Originally known as Lucknow, the house built for Tom and Olive Plant in 1913-1914 is currently undergoing restoration for the Castle Preservation Society. Jane and Richard Nylander serve as advisors. Photograph by John W. Hession, New Millennium Studios.
From the editor's desk |
Editor's Letter, May/June 2012
May 9, 2012 | Starting out in the intoxicating decade of the 1920s, Antiques began by running against the rhythm of its times, celebrating tradition in a decade fueled by the Americanization of the avant garde and the arrival of mass culture in radio, music, and film. The 1920s also witnessed the founding of several other magazines more specifically attuned to the spirit of the age such as The Reader's Digest, Time, and The New Yorker. None of this was lost on our first editor, the Bostonian Homer Eaton Keyes, who confessed that it was probably foolhardy to "totter forth into such an age" with a magazine about antiques. I'm not sure if those early issues "tottered," but the magazine soon found its feet and moved them in step if not with the times then with a more expansive national spirit of the sort you find in Walt Whitman-the kind of spirit that is most American when it runs against the American grain, which is what we still do by emphasizing the presentness of the past.
We are a nati…» More
Seen and Heard by Laura Beach |
Antiques Week in Philadelphia: 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show
May 9, 2012 |
Barn Star Productions' 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show got off to a brisk start in its original Center City location on Friday, April 27, as dozens of collectors stormed the gates in search of eighteenth through early twentieth century fare.
Organized by Rhinebeck, N.Y. promoter Frank Gaglio, the show is a magnet for Americana buyers, including exhibitors from the nearby Philadelphia Antiques Show, a shuttle stop away at the Convention Center.
"Attendance was on par with last year, which was great considering that we had new dates," said Gaglio. Next year both shows will open on Friday, April 12.
Early Friday morning, Pennsylvania dealers Pat and Rich Garthoeffner sold to a colleague from Texas, Connecticut dealers Kocian DePasqua handed over an early trade sign to prominent collectors from New Jersey, and Main Line dealer Diana Bittel swooped in to claim a weathered wooden sea serpent, probably a ship's relic, from Maine dealers Thomas Jewett and Charles Berdan…» More
Seen and Heard by Laura Beach |
Antiques Week in Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Antiques Show
May 9, 2012 | From its redesigned catalogue to its sleek new stands, the Philadelphia Antiques Show looked younger than its 51 years when it opened on Friday, April 27, for a five-day run.
Organized as a benefit for Penn Medicine, the show is one of the oldest and most traditional in the country with a reputation for top-flight American, English, and Chinese works of art, both fine and decorative.
Not everyone welcomed this year's move from Navy Pier to the Convention Center. But one look at this handsome new installation with its low lighting, sophisticated palette and large, airy stands had even the most jaded show goers convinced.
There was plenty to look at but, really, you had to be there. Not to be missed?
Arader Galleries' stunning, 1754 engraving of the Philadelphia harbor and skyline from the Jersey Shore by George Heap and Nicholas Scull, $585,000. It is one of a handful of known examples of this print;
A spectacular sheet iron and copper Angel Gabriel weathervane, …» More
Pickle Dish, American China Manufactory (Bonnin and Morris), Philadelphia, 1771-72. Soft-paste porcelain with lead glaze; height 4 3/16, width 4 1/2
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