The Winter Antiques Show celebrates its 56th year with a special focus on 18th and early 19th century American furniture, 20th century fine and decorative arts, and Chinese furniture. The loan exhibition for 2010 celebrates Historic New England, the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation, with thirty-six historically and architecturally significant properties. Colonial to Modern: A Century of Collecting at Historic New England features objects from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including furniture, paintings by academic and provincial artists, ceramics made in New England and abroad, and personal accessories from diamond brooches to silk brocade shoes. The emphasis is on superb objects with great stories, such as the Quincy family's Boston-made Japanned high chest, tour de force of 18th century furniture, which belonged to one of New England's most influential families. The exhibition is sponsored by Chubb Personal Insurance, which has sponsored the loan exhibition for fourteen consecutive years.
Jeff Daly, who recently retired as senior design advisor to the director at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and now heads his own design firm, will design the loan exhibition.
2010 new exhibitors include:
Liz O'Brien: Liz O'Brien, from New York, specializes in American and European decorative arts of the 20th century, with a focus on classical forms, rich and unusual materials and superior, studio-quality production. O'Brien is known for her scholarly approach to modern design and has championed the work of influential designers such as Samuel Marx, Line Vautrin and Jansen. At this year's Show, she will exhibit one-of-a-kind examples by English tastemaker Syrie Maugham, designer Frances Elkins and artist Max Kuehne.
Lost City Arts: Established in New York City in 1982, Lost City Arts is recognized internationally as one of the premiere sources of 20th century decorative and fine arts, with a strong client base among architects, filmmakers, and interior designers. At his first Show, Lost City Arts owner James Elkind features the work of sculptor Harry Bertoia, including two seminal works: a Bush form that stands over six feet tall, circa 1968, and a monumental Dandelion that was originally exhibited in the Eastman Kodak Pavilion at the 1964 New York City World's Fair.
Maison Gerard: Founded by Gerard Widdershoven in 1974 and co-owned by Benoist F. Drut, New York-based Maison Gerard focuses on French Art Deco furniture, lighting and objects d'art. The owners concentrate on designers from this period, including E. J. Ruhlmann, J. M. Frank and Jules Leleu. For its first appearance at the Show, the gallery presents a pair of mirrored panels, designed by Jean Dupas, from the SS Normandy. Launched in 1935, the ship was the "ambassador" of France created by the nation's best artists and craftsman to represent the country. This is the last pair of a series of panels acquired by the dealers from Grey Art Gallery at New York University.
Nicholas Grindley Works of Art: Nicholas Grindley has concentrated on Chinese art, with a particular interest in furniture and works of art related to scholar's taste, since 1976. For his first year at the Show, he will bring a selection of Chinese furniture and scholars' objects including a group of table rocks from the Ian and Susan Wilson collection, which was previously exhibited at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco in 1991 and the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. Mr. Grindley is based in London and Beijing and counts museums and private collectors worldwide among his clients.
Peter Petrou Works of Art: London-based Peter Petrou makes his Show debut. Among the works he will offer is an iconic 1930s bent plywood armchair by Gerald Summers and an exquisite Spanish 17th century portrait figure of a penitent donor, together with ethnographic artifacts and unusual Eastern works of art.
C. L. Prickett: In its forty-ninth year and third generation of operation, C.L. Prickett specializes in the finest examples of 18th and early 19th century American furniture. Their areas of focus include Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Federal furniture and clocks. Based just outside Philadelphia, owners Clarence, Craig and Todd Prickett return to the Winter Antiques Show after a more than 15-year absence.
Selected highlights include:
Sarcophagus. Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, Thebes (Deir el-Bahari?), 21st Dynasty. Circa 1000 B.C. Wood with extensive gesso and polychrome. This impressive Egyptian mummy case from around 1000 B.C. belonged to a chantress at the Temple of Amun in Thebes. Among the finest of its kind still in private hands, the mummy case is remarkable for its superb condition and the fine quality of the lavishly painted images, which illustrate sacred texts from the Book of the Dead. -Safani
Vessel in the form of the Prince of Flowers. Aztec. Circa 15th-16th century. Redware. This vessel, most likely made for royals given its fine workmanship, was used as a pulke (tequila) holder. Among its unusual features are press molds representing various gods in the Aztec pantheon. Its shape suggests the bulb or root of an agave plant. -Throckmorton Fine Art, Inc.
Portrait of Watteau, by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Plaster. This is a fascinating portrait of the painter Jean-Antoine Watteau, made by Carpeaux as a plaster model for a monument he was creating for the artist at their shared hometown of Valenciennes in Northern France. This beautifully animated and vividly expressive plaster bust was discovered in the collection of the Swedish sculptor Christian Eriksson, who lived in Paris from 1883. -Daniel Katz Limited.
Oval Mirror with Candle Arms, Shelves, and Festoons. Circa 1800. American eastern white pine (pinus strobus), gessoed and gilded, with iron wire with plaster ornament, gilded, and iron rods, and with mirror plate. A combination of festoons, swags, rosettes, urns, and grape and grape leaf details, this mirror is an amalgam of the best of early Neo-classical English design elements masterfully woven together. The inspiration is likely English architects and designers Robert and James Adam, but the composition is decidedly different. Having been made in the United States, it uses an English vocabulary in a new ways. -Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc.
For the Squire, by Sir John Everett Millais. 1882. Oil on canvas. One of the most celebrated images of Victorian childhood, this much-exhibited painting shows Millais at the height of his powers. The Times critic described the girl as 'the lodge-keeper's child, holding out a letter for Sir John, whose awful presence (to be imagined by the spectator) is producing its due effect upon the mind and face of the little messenger. -The Fine Art Society.
Oxford, High Street & St. Mary's Church, by Henry Fox Talbot. Likely September 1843. 1902. Gum over platinum print. This exceptionally rare photograph will be on display among other works by Fox Talbot in a booth inspired by the Aureole Room at the artist's home, Lacock Abbey. -Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs
Little Girl in a Large Red Hat, by Mary Cassatt. Circa 1902-05. Oil on canvas. Around 1900, Mary Cassatt added a new type of composition to her repertory: the young girl seated alone or with a dog. Inspired by 17th century Dutch and Flemish portraits as well as English portraits of the Romantic period, Cassatt updated the genre by drawing her models from the families of local servants. Nevertheless, she instilled her sitters with a strong sense of presence and dignity. This work was once part of the famed collection of Antonio Santamarina, a cattle rancher and a leader of Argentina's Democratic Party. -Adelson Galleries
The Farwell Building Chandelier, by Tiffany Studios. Circa 1915. Glass and bronze. This "Indian Pattern" chandelier features an elaborate pattern of deep blue, mottled red, orange and yellow glass tiles. The present example is one of three similar chandeliers designed by Tiffany Studios for the entrance hall of the Farwell Building in Detroit, Michigan, designed by the Detroit architectural firm of Rogers & Bonnah and opened on March 8, 1915. By the early 1970s the Farwell building stood vacant and it was eventually donated to the Detroit Historical Society and is on the National Register of Historic Places. -Macklowe Gallery
Armchair, designed by Gerald Summers. 1934. Birch plywood. Made from a single rectangle of airplane plywood, Summers achieved with this Modernist work what his counterparts across Europe and Scandinavia had been striving for: it describes in the simplest term the ideal unity of material, production, function and form. -Peter Petrou Works of Art
Autograph Letter, signed by Audrey Hepburn. January 6, 1982. Three pages. This letter written to her father's second wife, Fidelma, exemplifies the kindness for which Hepburn was famous. -Kenneth W. Rendell Gallery
The Four Elements, by Paul Manship. 1914. Parcel-gilt bronze reliefs. The architect William Welles Bosworth commissioned Manship to design these four panels for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company building in lower Manhattan. These reliefs were inset into the façade facing Broadway, while four slightly larger versions (collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art) were mounted on the other side of the building. Although Manship had displayed his knowledge and affinity for Greek and Renaissance sculpture in his previous work, The Four Elements is a testament to the sculptor's burgeoning interest in Asian art. -Gerald Peters Gallery
Always a highlight of the Show is the booth of portrait miniature dealer Elle Shushan. This year, her space will be inspired by the dining room of the Harrison Gray Otis House, described by contemporary accounts as "the most elegant private home in America." Otis, a powerful Federalist who served as Mayor of Boston and Senator from Massachusetts, made his considerable fortune as the developer of Beacon Hill. Sally Foster Otis entertained lavishly in their dining room, adorned with yellow walls, scarlet drapes, blue wainscoting, and an Adam mantle. The Boston home, a National Historic Landmark, now meticulously restored, is the headquarters for Historic New England.
The 56th annual Winter Antiques Show will be held from January 22-31, 2010 at the Park Avenue Armory, 67th Street and Park Avenue, New York City. Show hours are from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily, except Sundays and Thursday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. To purchase tickets for the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 21st or the Young Collectors Night on Thursday, January 28th, please call (718) 292-7392 or visit the Show's website at www.winterantiquesshow.com. General admission to the Show is $20, which includes the Show's award-winning catalog. All net proceeds from sponsors, special events, and ticket sales support East Side House Settlement, a non-profit in the South Bronx providing social services to community residents.
Peter M. Brant, Chairman of Brant Publications, is the Winter Antiques Show's Honorary Chairman for 2010. Brant Publications' The Magazine Antiques is the 2010 Show sponsor. Bank of America renewed its commitment as show sponsor with its support of the Winter Antiques Show Education Fund. Sallie Krawcheck, Bank of America's President of Global Wealth & Investment Management, is the Chair of the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 21st.
