The Magazine Antiques

Current & Coming | By Cynthia Drayton

Query: Edwin Scott Bennett

February 3, 2010  |  An "artist turned photographer of artists," Edwin Scott Bennett (1847-1915) is the subject of a forthcoming article.

Edwin Scott Bennett lived and worked in New York in the late nineteenth century. Bennett initially studied landscape painting under William De Haas and figure painting under William Morgan, and then later took up photography. He took photographs of prominent American painters and sculptors including George Inness, John George Brown, Eastman Johnson, William Merritt Chase, Daniel Chester French, John Henry Twachtman, and Childe Hassam. During the early to mid-1890s, Bennett exhibited many of his photographs of artists at the annual exhibitions of the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York. Later in that decade, he took photographs to accompany many articles by the American writer Theodore Dreiser. At the time of his death, Bennett lived at 51 West 10th Street, the Tenth Street Studio building, where many artists whose photographs had been taken by him had maintained studios over the years.
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Current & Coming | By Cynthia Drayton

Query: Cured, Fermented and Smoked Foods

February 1, 2010  |  The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, the annual conference on food history, is seeking papers on the topic "Cured, Fermented and Smoked Foods," to be held at Saint Antony's College in Oxford, England, on July 9 - 11, 2010. For further information on the conference visit the Web site, www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk.

From antiquity to modern times, mankind has developed methods for preserving food, often out of necessity but also for taste alone. Suggested topics are the story behind cured, fermented, or smoked products; examine the chemical actions of curing; or investigate the health benefits and risks of food preservation. If accepted, a final paper of no more than 5,000 words will be due on May 1st.
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Current & Coming | By Carolyn Kelly

Portrait miniatures from the Met debut at the Winter Antiques Show

January 28, 2010  |  American art aficionados packed into the Tiffany Room at the Park Avenue Armory last night as part of a series of special lectures hosted by the Winter Antiques Show to listen in as Carrie Rebora Barratt, associate director for collections and administration and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Lori Zabar, an independent scholar and researcher, spoke on the subject of their new book—the Metropolitan's collection of nearly 600 American portrait miniatures. The history of these most intimate objects from the earliest days of the nation's founding up through the early 20th century was surveyed, and a number of surprises revealed.

Barratt spoke about how, with the aid of conservators, miniature cases were carefully opened to examine their contents. Most contained waxed playing cards cut as supports for the ivory, while some also held descriptions written on paper, and others exposed painting on the reverse side of the portrait. She also proudly showed the only two examples of American lover's eyes from the collection—tiny (less than a half-inch in diameter) miniatures depicting a single eye or pair of eyes that were meant to be worn on the inside of a coat near one's heart. While the form had been immensely popular in England, very few were made by artists in America, and to date the Met has more than any other museum. Though a number of artists included in the book are well-known—Peale, Copley, and Ramage—Barratt reminded the audience that many who have never been heard of were also immensely talented.
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Current & Coming | By Staff

Opening night at the 56th Annual Winter Antiques Show

January 25, 2010  |  Many of New York's most recognizable art patrons and designers came out on Thursday night to toast the 56th annual Winter Antiques Show (at the Park Avenue Armory through Sunday, January 31). The opening night party, the upcoming young collector's night, and general admission to the show, all benefit the East Side House Settlement, which has offered education and outreach programs for families in the South Bronx and Manhattan's East Side since 1891. To learn more about the Winter Antiques Show's involvement with the East Side Settlement House click here, and have a look at our slideshow of this year's opening party to catch some familiar faces.

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