The Scene |
Santa Fe
July 16, 2009 |
Santa Fe is a city made by hand; a place of no hard edges or sharp departures, whose centuries old past stretches indelibly into the future. Well known from the art it has inspired, the Royal City of the Holy Faith, dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, startles first-time visitors. Above the jagged crest of La Bajada to the south, it rises against the backdrop of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, blood-tinged at dusk. At seven thousand feet, the heavens draw near and the unfiltered sun bleaches the Santa Fe landscape to a desiccated palette of straw, sage, lavender, ochre, and salmon.
The city’s vibrant art trade began near its historic plaza, where the Museum of New Mexico was founded a century ago. Galleries still circle the old town square and extend from its center along San Francisco Street and Palace Avenue.
From the Plaza, it is a fifteen minute walk to Canyon Road. With its dense concentration of shops, roughly eighty at last count, this picturesque thoroughfare is the…» More
The Market |
Endnotes: April's fool
April 17, 2009 | Life with Cora Ginsburg was a perpetual trunk show. Six years after the dealer's death in 2003, her protégée, Titi Halle, is still plumbing the depths of the inventory of rare costumes, textiles, and needlework she acquired when she purchased the Cora Ginsburg gallery in New York in 1997. 
One recent rediscovery is a man's handsewn suit of heavy natural linen trimmed with wool braids, fringes, and lace. Halle believes that Ginsburg bought it in England before 1980 but no documentation survives.
"It was crudely made, roughly worn, and possibly added to over time," says Halle, who exhibited the garment at the 2009 Winter Antiques Show in New York, where it was promptly reserved by a still undisclosed museum client.
The clownlike costume is appliquéd with colorful felt hearts, diamonds, and circles, shapes suggestive of the commedia dell'arte character Harlequin. The jacket's most prominent motifs, leering devils and pipe-smoking men, remain a mystery. The pointed tasseled cap dated 1829 is initialed "T.F.," probably for Tom Fool, the simpleton who was a stock character of English folk theater. Called mummers' or guisers' plays, the dramas were performed seasonally, mainly between Christmastide and Plough Monday—in the streets, from door to door, and in local pubs.
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Sitzmaschine, model #670, Designed by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), Manufactured by J.& J. Kohn, Austria, ca. 1905.Bent beech wood, steel; height 39
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