The recent design sale at Phillips de Pury & Company confirmed the lasting interest in major French and Italian designers of the Twentieth Century.
Copley Fine Art Auctions' inaugural antique sporting art and waterfowl auction on July 27 was led by an exceptional Frank W. Benson oil on canvas that achieved $747,500.
It took no time at all for a world record to be set at the July 30 Willis Henry Shaker sale. Early in the sale, a Mount Lebanon Shaker workstand sold for a whopping $491,400.
Weather always affects the Hildene Antiques Show in July in Vermont. This year the weather remained clear of rain until the last hour of the show when sprinkles did fall for about ten minutes.
"Truly spectacular" was the opening comment from promoter John DeSimone of Goosefare Promotions in reference to the 26th Annual Camden-Rockport Historical Society Antiques Show.
"The phrase fresh to the market applies," said auctioneer Robert Brunk in regard to the impressive and extensive collections that Bob Timberlake had consigned for a two-day sale at Brunk Auctions July 15-16.
A ten-panel Mexican School biombo (folding screen) from a prominent Washington, D.C. estate was the highlight of Sloans & Kenyon's recent $1.76 million estate catalog auction.
Bidders at Morphy's $1.4 million summer sale dropped their money into banks, both mechanical and still banks, at the recent event that featured over 200 varieties.
The Columbia County Council on the Arts will present "The Wild Show," opening on Saturday, August 5, with a reception from 5 to 7 pm, open to the public. The show will be on view through September 16.
Visitors to the Speed Art Museum have long been fascinated by the museum's Rembrandt, "Portrait of a Woman," whose identity has remained unknown. Now, the museum would like to introduce the world to Marretje Cornelisdr van Grotewal.
The Frick Collection has made two significant additions to its holdings including the purchase of a masterpiece both of sculpture and clockmaking, "The Dance of Time: Three Nymphs Supporting a Clock by Lepaute."
The Musee de Louvre in Paris has borrowed the painting "A Studio Reception, Paris" by Thomas Prichard Rossiter, from the Albany Institute of History and Art for display in its exhibition "American Artists and the Louvre."
Recently the Allentown Art Museum acquired a group of 43 artworks, including a 20-by-24-inch painting by Edward Moran, and a 20-by-53-inch painting by Gifford Beal that relates to Allentown's history.
This small town faces the thrice yearly weeks of Brimfield Antiques Market with an equanimity gathered over the more than 25 years the antiques shows have been in operation.
A Nineteenth Century painting by an African American landscapist and a pair of Twentieth Century Japanese screens have been added to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection.
NEWBURY, MASS. - Stretching two and a half miles between Newbury and Newburyport, High Street is famous for its stately parade of Federal houses, artifacts of an era when the seafaring communities north of Boston were commercial powers.
BRIDGTON, MAINE - It was at home in Indiana around 1985, after admiring the fancifully painted walls of another exhibitor's booth, that Julie Lindberg first began thinking about Rufus Porter, the visionary artist and inventor who, before his death in 1884, completed more than 150 murals in houses and taverns throughout New England.
A chance visit to the Hancock Shaker Village 30 years ago this summer set in motion the gathering of an enviable collection of Shaker articles, a portion of which is now on exhibit.
"This was my American dream sale. I've come close before, but this was the first time I broke a million on a single lot," said Northeast Auction's Ron Bourgeault, whose August 4-6 Americana sale tallied $11.7 million.
An Eighteenth Century Old Testament in Hebrew was the top lot at the printed books and manuscripts sale that took place at Kestenbaum & Co. on June 20.
Longtime New York antiques dealer George Walowen died at his Walker Valley home on July 5 of a heart attack. He was 82.
Green Valley Auctions conducted its semi-annual Antiques and Americana auction of nearly 2,000 lots over three sessions on June 23-24.
The two-day sale of items from the private collection of Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, on June 13 and 14 at Christie's realized $25,104,742.
The summer auction season at Jackson's International got off to a sizzling start at its recent auction of American and European fine art and antiques.
The largest collaborative fine-arts project in Maine's history, "Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine" is an innovative series of exhibitions, education programs and a symposium about all aspects of Maine printmaking.
The Erie Art Museum presents "Charting A Century of Change: French Nineteenth Century Drawings and Sculpture from the Collection of Herbert and Carol Diamond," on view through September 24.
Despite a lighter than usual crowd, the antiques circus known as Rhinebeck Summer Magic cast a glow over the Dutchess County Fairgrounds for the eighth time on July 22.
The Long Beach Museum of Art will present "Portraits of a People: Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century," an exhibition of images made of, and in some cases by, African Americans, opening August 25.
"Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris," on view at the National Gallery of Art through October 15, is the first American retrospective of the painter in 20 years.
Paul Davis produced his elegant Rockport Antiques Show, July 21-22, for the fourth summer, highlighting collections from dealers offering many of the finest antiques from early America with some European and Asian additions.
Textile collector Murad Megalli of Istanbul has donated a collection of 148 Central Asian ikats to The Textile Museum including numerous men's and women's ikat coats, pants, and hangings.
A seemingly refreshed crowd of people flocked to the opening of the Cape Cod Antiques Antique Dealers Association Antiques Show and the crowd was one of the largest recorded.
Living in Style: Homes, Gardens and Interiors, a new concept show originally planned for September 16 and 17 in Wilton, Conn., has been postponed.
For the ABCs of buying and selling American folk art, look no further than the Raymond and Susan Egan collection, which realized $5,952,000 in a single-owner sale at Northeast Auctions on August 5.
"The auction has fewer lots than usual," commented Gary Guyette, in regard to Guyette and Schmidt's North American Decoys auction last month, "but it grossed more than we usually bring in from a much larger auction," he said.
The third and final in the series of waterfowl auctions to take place during the last week of July was Decoys Unlimited annual Summer Decoy and Americana sale.
Eldred's kicked off its annual summer schedule of auctions last month with a sale of Marine and Oriental Export Art that was well attended with a large and lively crowd.
Testing the waters in the antique decoy auction game recently, Stephen O'Brien Jr, and and his new company, Copley Fine Art Auctions, was the first of the auction houses to get the ball rolling for the annual series of decoy/waterfowl auctions.
The Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center have partnered to present the first major exhibition in more than two decades to explore Henri Matisse's sculptural works next year.
On view to September 3, "Raphael At The Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece" highlights the "Colonna Altarpiece," the only such monumental work by Raphael in America.
This past winter, Old York Historical Society's curator Mary Harding logged thousands of miles traveling through four New England states to select work for "Road Trip," the current exhibition on view through September 10.
Wassily Kandinsky's 1931 painting, "Coulant," was the star at Aguttes Auction House's recent auction, when it came just shy of the 2.5 million euro mark, achieving an impressive $2,481,848.
Called the social event of the year on the island of Nantucket, the August Antiques Show was once again a hotbed of activity as the show opened its doors with a gala preview party on Thursday, August 3.
Central Maine recently lost one of its most colorful antique dealers. David Lee Jewell, of Turner Avenue, died of a heart attack at the age of 72 on July 27.
Stephen H. Garner, III, an antiques dealer in Yarmouth Port, Mass. died unexpectedly on August 19 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. He was 52.
Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Sterling, a former antiques dealer who for many years lived in Hawaii, died of cancer at her home in Puhahou on July 18. She was 90.
Antiques amid the formal gardens of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society proved an irresistible draw for buyers and sellers at the Antiques at Elm Bank show last month.
After 25 years and 200 auctions, Kenneth W. Van Blarcom continues to run sales that draw knowledgeable dealers and collectors from all over.
Sale previewers stood around a Mount Lebanon Shaker workstand like acolytes at an altar at the Willis Henry Shaker sale last month where it sped to a world record $491,400.
Two small illustrations by the artist many consider to be the father of American illustration, Howard Pyle sold for a combined $103,000 at Cyr Auction Company.
A wonderful selection of Nantucket baskets and a select grouping of marine paintings once again highlighted the popular midsummer Americana auction conducted by Rafael Osona.
Eagles flew at Northeast Auction's annual Marine and China Trade sale, which realized $7.65 million in Portsmouth, N.H. this past Saturday and Sunday, August 19 and 20.
"It was a small show, but the gate was good and there was some good buying," John Bruno of Flamingo Promotions said after his one-day Granite State Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair.
From tight hose and doublets to codpieces to the wasp-waisted frock coat that preceded the modern suit, the history of men's fashion is more innovative and less conservative than is generally known.
Danish silversmith Georg Jensen and his group of designers who helped establish one of the world's most important silverwares firms, will be the subject of "Georg Jensen Silversmiths," at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in November.
"Factory Work: Warhol, Wyeth and Basquiat," on exhibition September 9-November 19 at the Brandywine River Museum, explores the collaborations between Pop artist Andy Warhol and realist Jamie Wyeth (b 1946), and between Warhol and New York graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988).
Showcasing 125 baskets, "Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection," on view at the Mint Museum of Craft & Design September 9-December 31, honors tribal groups from the United States, Canada and northern Mexico.
"Longevity" seemed to be the theme at last month's Birchwood Manor Antiques Show, which is celebrating its 100th edition.
More than 50 antiques dealers were both surprised and pleased with results for the Green Mountain Antiques Show. After 100 years of its whereabouts unknown to the art world, James McNeill Whistler’s marine oil “Violet and Blue: Among the Rollers” is headed to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the fifth largest fine arts museum in the United States. A capacity crowd of nearly 1,000 buyers of western art filled the Grand Ballroom of the Reno Hilton Resort and Casino for the 20th Annual Coeur d’Alene Art Auction. Tallying $11.7 million over three days, Northeast Auction’s August 4–6 Americana sale was a personal best for auctioneer Ron Bourgeault, who sold his first lot for more than a million dollars.
Freeman’s diversification in the art market was demonstrated recently with buyers of Modern and Contemporary works driving the top three results. Louis Jean Francois Lagrenée’s (1725–1805) “Venus Bathing” provided the highlight of the 400th Art and Antiques Auction conducted this summer by Nagel Auktionen. Now in its 13th year, Mid*Week in Manchester dealers noted robust sales, a strong gate and buyers surely enjoyed the new air conditioned tent. Intense widespread interest generated record prices at Jackson’s International’s postcard, photography, coin and ephemera auction, which took place on August 1 and 2. Strong sales amid an active day marked Barn Star Productions tenth annual Bedford Pickers Market. Proving size doesn't matter, the compact Riverside Antiques Show did a brisk business and maintained a similar opening gate as last year.
The Start of Manchester Antiques Show August 8-9 was a great success for its dealers, visitors and promoter, Flamingo Promotions. Antiques Week in New Hampshire got off to a running start at 8 am on Tuesday, August 8, when Nan Gurley opened the gate to early buyers at her Americana Celebration Antiques Show. Eager buyers ran, jogged, walked fast and moseyed along toward the show.
After undergoing a $2.5 million restoration that took more than a year, the Florence Griswold House reopened this summer. Devoted stalwarts willingly travel across the country by the thou-sands to get first peek at the wares inside New Hampshire Antiques Show, "New England's Premier Summer Show." A full range of prints by artists working in the Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine region in the 1920s and 1930s will be displayed at the Tides Institute and Museum of Art, opening September 8. For the past decade, Providence has been the site of a radical underground art scene, giving rise to a multifaceted, unbridled aesthetic that is as distinct as it is influential. The Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) is presenting two new compelling and meaningful shows from September 2 to October 22. From September 7 to 13, Sotheby’s is presenting the first exhibition of the Hippopotamus Service, probably the single most important commissioned service of the last 100 years. In will be on view in Sotheby’s second floor galleries. |
