We have grouped a promiscuous array of things in this issue under the broad umbrella of “folk art”: schoolgirl drawings, trench art, manufactured advertising signs, as well as objects more conventionally agreed upon as “folky,” such as carved walking sticks and weather vanes. While it is common to worry about the vagueness of the term folk art, I am inclined …
Those wishing to escape crowds this summer need not avoid Europe. With minimum planning, you can view some of the most spectacular but still privately owned properties and collections in Great Britain and France. Exhibitions in Arles and Barcelona explore intercultural exchange with profundity and elegance. Secrets of Great BritainSavvy travelers to Great Britain can visit nearly six thousand objects …
A recent visit to www.myfamilysilver.com shows that this new website, which launched in May, offers a smart business model for antiques dealers: instead of charging a commission from sales there are monthly membership and listing fees. Founded by Martyn Downer, a former head of jewelry at Sotheby’s in London and director of Corfield Morris Fine Art and Antique Advisers, and …
Today marks the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s infamous Kitchen Debate at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow. Their clash of ideologies played out among a series of show rooms—including a model kitchen by General Electric—and was broadcast worldwide, quickly becoming a seminal moment in the history of the Cold War. We asked …
* The sale of Aboriginal art at Sotheby’s Melbourne on July 20 totaled over 2.5 million AUD. The top lot was Corroboree by William Barak that sold for 504,000 AUD (estimate 180,000-250,000 AUD). Other top sales—also painted works—included an untitled work by Shorty Lungkata Jungurrayi sold for 168,000 AUD (estimate 90,000-120,000 AUD), Awelye by Emily Kame Kngwarreye that sold for …
The current exhibition With a Little Help From Our Friends pays homage to the donors of several recent gifts to the New Orleans Museum of Art. On view through October 18, the show includes more than fifty objects. Highlights include: glass from the collections of Jack M. Sawyer, and John W. Lolley; a collection of American pressed-glass presented by Florence …
It’s a far from sleepy summer in the antiques business, as a series of expansions, mergers, and, in one unfortunate case, essentially a bankruptcy shake and shape the field in both Europe and New York. In London yesterday, stalwart Partridge Fine Art, founded in 1902, was placed under the control of administrators (the British equivalent of receivership) due to outstanding …
London salerooms buzz through July with a frezy of activity. A more leisurely pace governs the rest of Europe at a string of exhibitions: Robert Adam landscapes in Edinburgh, medieval and Renaissance beauty in Paris, intercultural exchange in Vienna, and Böttger stoneware in Dresden. London sales When salerooms in the United States and on the Continent turn silent, London auction …
Something weird happened to Jeff Bridgman and his business in 2008—in fact, two weird things. In the midst of a global economic collapse, he had his best year ever, and in December, he made a large sale to a Democrat. “To the best of my knowledge, it was the first time I’d ever made a major sale to a Democrat,” …
The eminent American sculptor of domestic and feminine subjects, Bessie Potter Vonnoh, is the subject of a retrospective exhibition—long overdue—on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum through September 6. Featuring some thirty-five pieces of her small sculpture and garden statuary from 1895 to 1930, most in bronze but a handful in terra cotta, as well as portraits of the artist …