The Philadelphia Show is coming back, live and in person! To co-opt W. C. Fields’s famous (if entirely fictitious) epitaph: on the whole, we’d rather visit the great annual Philadelphia art and antiques fair in real life than online.
This is the sixtieth iteration of the Philadelphia Show, and this year it will be held at a wonderful new venue: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has organized the event since 2018. While we always enjoyed seeing the stately array of warships at dock when the fair was held at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the great arts institution on the Fairmount really is a better location for the show. The event will be held on the PMA’s East Terrace—the plaza at the top of the so-called Rocky Steps—which offers that magnificent view down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to City Hall.
Some forty top-of-the-line dealers will be on hand, exhibiting everything from fine art and antique and modern design to folk art, Americana, silver, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, and other decorative arts. As it was at the Navy Yard, the event will be held in a tented space—a semi– al fresco venue that should help allay worries about any new Covid surprises.
The Philadelphia Show • Philadelphia Museum of Art, East Terrace • April 29 to May 1 • thephiladelphiashow.com
