Photography by Gavin Ashworth | August 2009 | “It escapes the form,” Allan Katz will say, to explain why he favors one particular piece of American folk sculpture over others of its genre. What he means is that the artist or craftsman, while satisfying the needs of the client—the nineteenth-century tobacconist who wanted an Indian figure, the barber who needed …
Low key, high impact: The collection of Tim and Pam Hill
Photography by Jesse Hill | August 2009 | From one point of view, the story of Pam and Tim Hill is a by-the-book American success story. From another, it is a highly individual account of a quest for identity in the field of American art and antiques—a forty-year chronicle of a complex and evolving art world seen through the lens …
Hidden treasures
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 …
Tin, Chrome, & Steam
Designer and automotive historian Strother MacMinn once told me, “if it moves, even if it’s a vacuum cleaner going back and forth at three miles per hour, it has to follow the rules of transportation design.” For those enthusiasts who missed this year’s Concours d’Elegance in Greenwich, Connecticut, the Japan Society offers a chance to examine some of the greatest …
The End of an Era
The Grande Dame of art fairs is, reluctantly, retiring. Organizers of the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, held in London nearly every year without interruption since 1934, announced yesterday that it will close. They cited problems with the event’s longtime venue, the Grosvenor House Hotel, which last year was renovated and re-branded as a JW Marriott. But what really happened to …
Luxury and Linke in the 21st Century
François Linke’s works are up for auction with Bonhams
Early photographs: Daguerreotypes
On the creation and collection of daguerreotypes
The London Season
The start of the season this year
Spring is in the air for Charleston Antiques Week
Charleston’s architecture, gardens, and history always draw visitors, but for lovers of antiques, there’s no better week of the year to be here. Wednesday, the twelfth annual Charleston Art and Antiques Forum opened—four and a half days of lectures, tours, discussions, and visits to private collections—and Thursday evening brought the festive preview party for the Charleston International Antiques Show, a …
American studio ceramics at mid century
Adherents to the studio craft movement championed the handmade object, the idiosyncratic form, and the individual eye