The Spring International Art And Antiques Show Makes Grand Start

NEW YORK CITY

: A feather in the cap for Wendy Management, The Spring International Art and Antiques Show was a highly successful upscale event of unprecedented quality that captured the eye of retailers, decorators and collectors from throughout the region. The show, now in only its second year, took place at the Seventh Regiment Armory over a six-day period from April 28 to May 3.

More than 50 dealers from England, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and the United States exhibited a wide range of material including antiquities, Seventeenth to Twenty-First Century European, American and Asian furniture, Oriental rugs, tapestries, rare books and autographs, clocks, silver, estate, antique and contemporary jewelry and other objets d'art.

The show got off to a grand start with a benefit cocktail party, followed by an exclusive dinner party preview on Thursday, April 27. A benefit for the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, the sold-out event was lavish with 35 different tables sumptuously decorated in themes of "time" by internationally recognized interior designers.

As the cocktail preview party wound down, dealers and regular preview attendees departed the show floor, leaving behind 350 dinner guests that were seated at elaborately designed tables. The event, chaired by Bunny Williams and John Rosselli, was termed a huge success. At a rumored price of $1,000 per seat for the dinner party, and with a portion of proceeds from sales in numerous booths donated to the charity, Lenox Hill was pleased with the evening.

A couple of noteworthy table designs included the Tiffany & Co.-sponsored table designed by Robert Rufino titled "Classical Drama in Black and White" and the Michael Graves Architect-sponsored table designed by Frank de Biasi and titled "Dinner with Dali."

The show opened to the general public on Friday morning with an enthusiastic crowd making its way onto the floor. Elaborate stands greeted viewers with a large classical bronze of Heracles battling the three-headed hound Cerberus flanking the arched entrances to the display of Parisian dealer Steinitz. Once inside the booth an enticing display of classical gilt carved furnishings, bronzes and carved marble accoutrements dazzled the eyes of shoppers.

Across the aisle, items of a different sort were also elaborately displayed by London dealers Two Zero C Applied Arts. In darkened and compacted room settings, a pair of walnut chairs with copper and pewter inlay chairs by Carol Bugatti were offered, along with a wrought iron and cane chase by J.C. Moreaux. A pair of wrought iron andirons and fire irons by Edgar Brandt were attracting attention in the booth as was a pair of Model 37 easy chairs and a Paimio table by Alvar Aalto.

Galerie Pierre M. Dumonteil offered a superb selection of figurative sculpture of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries including pieces by artists such as Georges-Lucien Guyot. A life-size bronze brown bear by Guyot, 1885-1973, cast at the Deroyaume foundry was featured in the booth, as was an animal form bronze titled "Maki" by Daniel Daviau, and a large abstract bronze titled "Large Elephant 'Akirokio'" by Jacques Owczarek.

Pre-Columbian artifacts in lively forms and colors and an assortment of Second to Sixth Century textiles were offered by Santa Fe dealer William Siegal Galleries. Highlighting the assortment of terra cotta pieces was an elaborately formed and decorated snake mask from the Calima culture of southwestern Columbia 200 BC-600 AD, and a terra cotta figural piece from the same region of a seated dignitary.

Other pieces included a ball player from the Kjalisco culture, and a seated Shaman from the Calima culture. Of particular note among the textiles was a 41-by-67-inch mantle in brilliant square colored blocks from the Nasca Culture of the South of Peru, 200-600 AD, and a cushma from the same people decorated with bright reds and yellows.

New York City dealer Guy Regal Ltd offered a stylish selection of furnishings and accessories befitting his name with a monumental Russian neoclassical brass and mahogany mirror, $45,000, hanging over a pair of Napoleon III marble inset and ebonized cabinets, circa 1850, with pietra-dura panels that were marked $85,000. Rounding out the display was a pair of J&W Cary celestial and terrestrial library globes on mahogany stands that were stickered at $98,000.

Iliad Antik, New York City, also offered an impressive selection of furnishings including an unusual neoclassical recamier in walnut veneers and fruitwood inlays with brass detailing. The attractive piece, made in Berlin circa 1800, was marked $42,000. The highlight of the booth, however, was a spectacular Art Deco credenza in walnut with exotic veneers and inlays depicting a tropical motif. With cascading fitted drawers of burled walnut, the attractive piece was getting quite a few looks with its $125,000 price tag. Accessories in the booth included a pair of Murano blown glass wall sconces in clear glass with gold flecks that were marked $12,000.

Silver was featured in a couple booths with The Silver Fund presenting a remarkable display of Georg Jensen that included two pair of highly unusual candelabra. An oversized pair of Art Deco six-light candelabra, designed by Harald Nielsen, design 751, circa 1930, was thought by dealers Rachel Prater and Richard Fiore to be unique. Another monumental pair, designed by Jensen in 1929 and produced in 1940, design 562C, was said by the dealers to be the largest ever made by the firm.

Capturing the eye of everyone that passed through the show was a Japanese silver seven-piece tea and coffee service with a two-handled tray that sat at the forefront of the booth of London dealer Marks. The elaborately chased service was profusely decorated with koi swimming about a variety of aquatic plants. Other items on the booth attracting attention included a pair of Francois Gilber designed French 12-branch candelabra by Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Odiot, Paris, circa 1870, and a pair of George III silver gilt two-handled vases with covers by William Frisbee, London, circa 1810.

Zurich dealer Brenske Gallery exhibited an exclusive selection of religious icons including two panels that depicted the beheading of St John and the incredulity of Apostle Thomas. "They are of outstanding quality," commented the dealer of the Greek panels dating from the first half of the Nineteenth Century. Another Greek panel featured the virgin Hodegetria with Stem of Jesse that had been executed in Macedonia during the second half of the Eighteenth Century.

An interesting display of portraits was presented by The Nineteenth Century Shop, Baltimore, Md., that began with a carved and painted wooden ship's figurehead of a woman in a green dress with shawl and red brooch, juxtaposed against a selection of silver gelatin photographic portraits by Marcel Sternberger that included Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo and George Bernard Shaw.

The dealers were offering Sternberger's entire photographic archive consisting of more than 300 original prints and more than 37,000 negatives. Other items of note included a 1632 version of William Shakespeare's second folio Comedies, Histories and Tragedies and a first edition signed copy of Thoreau's Walden.

Other items of note seen on the floor included a monumental wall tapestry, "The Crowning of Bethsabee," circa 1520, that was priced in excess of $1 million, according to dealer Frank Laverdin of Boccara, Paris. "The one on the back wall," he said in reference to another large tapestry, "Africa, Les Quatres Continents" by Albert Auwercx, circa 1680, "is also close in price."

Art was also popular in the show with a selection of Man Ray solarization photographs and oils by Milton Avery highlighting the booth of ProArte Gallery, Miami. Highlighting the selection was Avery's 1955 oil on canvas "Double Wave" that had been exhibited in a retrospective at the Whitney in 1962, and again exhibited there during a 1982 exhibition on the artist. Also attracting attention in the booth was Andrew Wyeth's striking 1947 watercolor titled "Flour Mill."