Nancy M. Timinskas, 66, died peacefully August 19, in her hometown. Owner of Weatherbee Hill Antiques, she spent a lifetime in the antiques business. On July 20, Nancy Ann Lybolt died in Calvary Hospital in New York City after a long battle with breast cancer. A longtime supporter of the arts, she was a fashion and textiles dealer and collector. Promoter Barry M. Cohen�s fifth annual Historic Indian & World Tribal Arts show, held August 10�13, was �the best show ever,� according to several dealers who exhibited at this and other Santa Fe events in years past.
Perfect weather shone down on more than 100 dealers gathered for Maine Antiques Dealers Association’s Coastal Maine Antiques Show, a summer tradition. Heritage Auction Galleries’ latest comics signature auction, held September 8–9 in conjunction with Diamond International Galleries, posted results of $2,197,356 for 1,209 lots, with after-auction sales still ongoing and expected to push the total to even higher levels. Time was of the essence at the 3,500 lot sale at S&S Auction’s late summer sale. Not only did the auction run from 8 am to 8 pm, with no fewer than four auctioneers presiding at once, but the top lots were timepieces. A prime assortment of Americana was once again offered during the annual end of summer sale at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries on August 26 and 27. A rare William Henry Buck oil on canvas depicting a New Orleans bayou scene brought a hefty price at the Neal Auction Company’s annual Louisiana Purchase auction this past weekend, September 30. In a crowded courthouse in New Haven on September 27, US District Judge Janet Bond Arterton sentenced confessed map thief Edward Forbes Smiley III to 42 months in prison and ordered him to pay more than $1.9 million in restitution to the libraries and dealers he defrauded during a stealing spree that spanned several years. Rarely has the exceptional collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art traveled outside of its home in Washington, D.C. Making only one stop east of the Mississippi, “Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art” will be on view October 7–December 31 at the Mint Museum of Art. An American Pewter Collection: The Collection of Dr Melvyn & Bette Wolf is dedicated to the authors’ children — Larry, Martin, Mitchell and Andrea — who “grew up in a house full with pewter and never damaged a piece.” Probably the only thing that beats a day of great weather in the Adirondacks in early September is combining it with an antiques show, and that is just what happened on Saturday, the 16th.
One of the most important and influential early American modernists, Charles Sheeler (1883–1965) was an innovative visionary who excelled in a number of media. The unusual manner in which he utilized painting, drawing, photography and film as central elements in his art is the subject of this fascinating, first-of-its-kind exhibition. The show especially explores how Sheeler, equally gifted as painter and photographer, used both skills in creating iconic artworks. Professor Benjamin Attmore Hewett, 84, of Moonstone Beach Road, died April 13 in the South Kingstown Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. Beverly Bezanson Ingraham, 79, beloved wife of David Ingraham, died at her home with her loving family at her side. Robert M. Sack, the youngest of three brothers who perpetuated the legacy of their father, antiques dealer Israel Sack, died on October 2. He was 79. “It’s a great day for an antiques show,” Howard Graff, co-manager of the VADA Antiques Show said as low clouds covered the mountain tops and rain fell intermittently on Saturday, September 23. Brimfield was again filled with great finds for the third of its annual weeklong markets, September 5–10. This late summer pilgrimage by antiques dealers, collectors, decorators and homeowners was gifted with good weather for the week and the reward was great antiques found and added to inventories and collections. Now, after five years, this show has become a regular stop for Brimfield shoppers. Inside the air-conditioned comfort of the Host Hotel in Sturbridge, Nan Gurley collected more than 60 dealers to exhibit and sell on Thursday afternoon, September 7, during Brimfield week. Linda Zukas Antique Textiles and Vintage Fashions Show & Sale was once again a sellout with 150 booths and 200 dealers offering all that the show title said: the old, collectable and in most cases valuable clothing, bedding and fabric. A new Flamingo Promotions show during Brimfield week showed good promise for both customers and dealers. The Sturbridge Book and Ephemera Show, September 8–9, was held for about 30 dealers of this highly specialized category of antiques and collectables at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center. “I thought I owned the best weathervane until one this came along,” folk art collector Jerry Lauren said at Sotheby’s on October 6, moments after acquiring a J.L. Mott Indian Chief weathervane for $5.84 million ($100/150,000) including premium. The successful bidder who paid $16,940 for the exceptional red painted Indian Chief motorcycle at Robert L. Foster’s annual summer sale September 2–3 was so elated at his prize that he jumped up and down in glee. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Continental blended with Mid-century Modern furniture attracted bidders to Clarke Auction’s late summer sale that owner Ronan Clarke described as “a very steady sale with no stunning highs and no real lows either.” Almost at the very end of the recent weeklong Asian arts sale at Eldred’s, it was a Twentieth Century painting that was the top lot. Lin Fengmian’s portrait on paper of two ladies achieved $27,600. Altermann Galleries held several art auctions this summer that resulted in sales of $2,984,947. “Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan,” a visually spectacular, in-depth historical and thematic look at Japanese illustrated books, will be on view at The New York Public Library from October 20 through February 4. The Harvard University Art Museums will present “A Public Patriotic Museum: Artworks and Artifacts from the General Artemas Ward House” October 14–February 11, at the Fogg Art Museum. The exhibition is drawn from the holdings of the General Artemas Ward House, which is now a Harvard-owned museum in Shrewsbury, Mass. The Cleveland Museum of Art will present the landmark exhibition “Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí,” on view October 15–January 7. Longtime rare book dealer and Winter Show exhibitor Elizabeth Kling Trace, known to friends and colleagues as Betsy, died at her home on October 2. She was 91.
Herman Weinblatt, father of folk art dealer Victor Weinblatt and a fixture in the antiques business for more than 70 years, died on October 9 at age 92. Suzanne Slater Kristoff, owner of the Red Petticoat Antique Shop in Ridgefield. Conn. for many years and a member of Main Street Cellars in New Canaan, died on October 11. The planes rolled out of the hanger at the Princeton Airport on Wednesday, September 27, and the next day the dealers rolled in for and started setting up for the Princeton Fall Antiques and Fine Arts Show, a benefit for the Historical Society of Princeton. While major modern Mexican artists such as José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo continue to win broad acclaim for their murals and paintings, less attention has been paid to the wide-ranging impact these artists and their contemporaries had on the world of printmaking. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is presenting a special exhibition featuring the recent acquisition and first public display of French artist Jacques-Louis David’s portrait of Jean-Pierre Delahaye, 1815, along with works by 11 artists illustrating the portrait’s historical context. An early Nineteenth Century rosewood two-part secretary desk with fanciful ivory inlay of flamboyant dragons, snakes and fruit was the highlight at Fontaine?s September 1?2 sale when it sold for $31,625.
An authentic Wild West stagecoach from the mid-1800s, in original condition and possibly the largest ever built at 22 feet in length, sold for $94,400 at a Labor Day weekend sale conducted by Showtime Auction Services of Chino, Calif.
Wiederseim Associates Auctioneers conducted a large two-day auction at Griffith Hall, Ludwig’s Corner Firehouse, on September 15 and 16. An Eighteenth Century Italian violin by Antonio Stradivari played a sweet tune as it exited the auction block at Skinner’s this past Sunday, October 15, hitting a high note of $1,436,000. The Jewish Museum will present “Alex Katz Paints Ada,” a wide-ranging survey exhibition, from October 27 through March 18. Nearly 40 paintings created by the artist from 1957 to 2005, starring his wife, muse and favorite subject, Ada, will be on view. With the summer crowds all but gone, there is little left to draw the average person to Maine in mid-September. Over the weekend of September 16 and 17 is a show that is considered not only to be one of the premier Americana shows to take place in the state, but also one of the best small shows in the Northeast. For curator Joey Brackner, the story of Alabama pottery is the story of Alabama itself, the story of a pottery that reflects the prevailing cultural influences at work in the state of Alabama over the last 200 years. And while Southern pottery is often lumped together under a singular classification, Alabama has separated and identified itself with a celebration of its own unique pottery tradition in the exhibition “Alabama Folk Pottery,” now on view at the Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA). Antiques in Vermont ends the quintet of Antiques Week in Vermont shows with a flourish Nearly twice the size as its four siblings, the 75-dealer fair managed by Phyllis Carlson and Tim Stevenson was designed by dealers, for dealers. Good buying, good selling — the Bromley Mountain Antiques Show has both in spades. The fourth of five Antiques Week in Vermont fairs that coordinate advertising and show times to maximize attendance, the 29-year-old Bromley event seems to strike just the right balance between upscale and affordable. “Vermont is all about driving from place to place, stopping to look along the way,” says Tim Jefferson, owner of the Cavendish Inn, a Gothic confection of a getaway five miles from Okemo. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. The Ludlow Antiques Show, the third event in Antiques Week in Vermont’s series of five shows, is shopping the old way. The Okemo Antiques Show, which previewed on Friday afternoon, September 29, at the Okemo Mountain Resort, is going strong in its 13th year.
Aggressive bidding on rare cast iron mechanical banks from several consignors and holiday antiques from the prestigious Bob Merck collection brought $2 million to the table in Morphy Auctions’ fall sale. Even Skinner’s old Asia hand Jim Callahan was surprised when an Eighteenth Century Chinese jade carving of three rams brought $171,000 at Skinner’s October 21 Asian arts sale. The leading Specialty Auction Photographica & Film by Auction Team Breker during the World Fair of Photography (photokina), again proved the high interest in outstanding and rare cameras and photohistorical collector’s items. Cowan’s Auctions’ September 16 American Indian art auction generated $1,303,634 from 580 lots of American Indian art and artifacts. The highest selling item was an early Delaware bandolier bag for $115,000. Two paintings by Johann Berthelsen led the action at North River’s late summer sale where two New York City oils on board sold for $20,700 and $13,800. A Benjamin Franklin signed document was another star when it sold for $11,500 to a collector. The Brooklyn Museum will present the exhibition, “Tigers of Wrath: Watercolors by Walton Ford,” November 3 through January 28. In an unprecedented gathering of works from all phases of artist Brice Marden’s long career, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will be the first stop of an exhibition of more than 50 of Marden’s paintings and the same number of drawings, opening October 29 and on view through January 15. “American ABC: Childhood in Nineteenth Century America,” one of the most comprehensive exhibitions in recent decades to deal with American childhood, will be on view at the Portland Museum of Art November 2–January 7. The liquidation of a major private collection from the Rheingau containing furniture and works of art from the classical revival period enabled Nagle Auktionen’s 500th Anniversary Auction of Art and Antiques to get off to a positive start. When Germany’s great collector, Augustus the Strong, Saxon Elector and King of Poland, died in 1733, he left behind the world’s first museum of applied arts and Dresden’s royal treasury. Historic Deerfield will explore the lives and legacies of provincial soldiers forced to fight in 350 years ago in the country's early days through a three-day symposium titled “Steal Not This Horn: The Material Culture of Conflict During the French and Indian War.” Nearly 39 years ago, William I. Koch, an avid collector of everything from Renoir to Remington, walked into the Cape Cod antiques shop of Janice Hyland and Alan Granby and settled his large frame into an antique rocking chair. “We had a particularly good painting by Antonio Jacobsen. Bill sat and studied the canvas for about 15 minutes. Then, to my surprise, he said he’d like to buy the chair,” Granby recalls with a smile. Not for sale, the chair stayed in the shop, but weeks later Koch bought a circa 1860 ship’s figurehead of Jenny Lind from Hyland-Granby Antiques. |
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