When the word “International” slips into the title of one of the Wendy Management shows, then things beyond the routine begin to happen. Management reaches out far and wide for exhibitors, bringing in dealers not just from the United States but as distant as Belgium, Argentina, Portugal, Canada, England, France and Italy. Alternating white and black strips of cloth cover the greater part of the upper structure of the Seventh Regiment Armory, lighting is increased and a black carpet hides the entire floor of the armory. The results, a classy and very interesting antiques show.
“We really put effort into this show and this year we have added 16 new dealers to our roster of 53 exhibitors. Objects range from ancient pieces right up to the Twentieth Century and there seems to be a good measure of Art Deco things this time,” Diane Wendy said.
The show opened Thursday, April 14, with a gala benefit party for the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House to which more than 800 tickets were sold. Those who purchased the higher end tickets were invited to a dinner that was served right in the armory at tables set up in the aisles of the show. Twenty-eight design firms participated, each taking a table and dressing it for an elaborate feast. Different themes were employed, with sparkling glassware, towering bowls of goldfish, large hats made from flowers, tall floral arrangements, bright cloths and napkins, and striking dinnerware. Among the firms participating were Albert Hadley Incorporated, David Scvott Interiors, FRETTE, F. Schumacher, Nina Griscom, Michael Graves, Sully & Sully, Sherrill Canet Interiors and Tiffany & Co.
“The people in charge of the preview dinner did a great job, and we were sold out,” Meg Wendy said of the opening. “Everything went smoothly, the move in of the dealers and the preview, and the exhibitors did a grand job in presentation,” she said. Bunny Williams and John Rosselli served as honorary chairs of the opening night.
The choice of Bernard Baruch Steinitz of Paris was the obvious one to fill the space at the very front of the show. For not only did he display a tall statue at the entrance to the booth, one which could be seen upon entering through the large doors of the armory, he set up two drawing rooms and filled them with fine French furnishings including tea tables, demilune tables, a lady’s writing desk and upholstered pieces. Large paintings, sculpture and mirrors decorated the walls, while lighting was provided by hanging chandeliers, wall sconces and table lamps.
To the left of the entrance Guy Regal Ltd, New York City, filled a large booth with furniture, decorative accessories and fine art from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century. Included among the furniture offered was a neoclassical inlaid painted and parcel-gilt console table, Piedmontese, circa 1770, with faux marble top above a serpentine shaped frieze. A French dining table of lemonwood and oak measured 663/4 by 117 inches, 293/4 inches high.
Two Zero C Applied Art Ltd, London, showed an impressive pair of silk upholstered armchairs by Maurice Dufrene, French, circa 1925, and a pair of appliqués by Fontanarte, Italy, circa 1940, had frosted shades with pickled glass in nickeled frames.
Clocks were wall-mounted, displayed on pedestals, and enclosed behind glass in the booth of Gavin Douglas Fine Antiques, Ltd, London. Shown in working order, this display of timepieces was like a magnet, drawing people into the booth to study the intricate design of many of the clock faces and cases. Among the examples were a French ormolu and porcelain mantel clock dating from the late Nineteenth Century and in the style of Louis XVI. It measured 20 inches high and 13 inches wide. A Louis XV style Bleu du Roi porcelain and ormolu Apollo lyre clock, with eight-day bell strike, dated circa 1890 and was 19 inches tall. A superb French Consulate period ormolu “Trophies of War” clock was by Emperor Napoleon’s bronzier, Claude Galle, circa 1805, and measuring 161/2 by 9 inches.
English and Continental furniture of the Nineteenth Century,along with many decorated objects of art, filled the display ofLondon exhibitor Adrian Alan. Certain to draw attention was a pairof 12-inch globes by I. Addison, English, both terrestrial andcelestial, circa 1830. The pair was displayed on a rareAnglo-Ceylonese specimen wood circular table, Ceylon, circa 1835.Another table of note was a Victorian center table in the manner ofRobert Blake, English, circa 1860. This piece was of walnut, withmarquetry and gilt bronze mountings.
The Twentieth Century was well represented in the display of Andrew Hollingsworth of Chicago by a circa 1940 leather wing back easy chair by Fritz Henningsen, Denmark. Of the same period was another leather chair, mahogany legs, by Mogens Voltelen, Copenhagen. Also from Denmark was a lady’s writing desk with front drawers and back bookshelves in Brazilian rosewood with brass feet and hardware, Pontipiddan, circa 1950.
“Lazy Days,” depicting a young boy asleep with his dogs, by British artist Margaret H. Collyer, was a captivating oil on canvas in the booth of Haynes Fine Art of Broadway, Britian’s largest provincial dealer in Sixteenth through the Twenty-First Century paintings. One wall of the booth was devoted to the work of Tony Karpinski, born 1935, showing African animals in the wild. Included were leopards, zebras, cheetah cub and other animals, many of them near or in rivers.
Odyssey Fine Arts, Ltd, of London covered the walls with framed watercolors and prints including a set of ten mid Eighteenth Century engravings of fish by Mark Catesby, circa 1750, original hand coloring. They were taken from the Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands.
Measuring about 71/2 feet tall, cast iron figures of the Four Seasons on bases formed a square at the front of the booth of M.S. Rau Antiques of New Orleans and shown against a side wall of the booth was a sideboard by John and Thomas Seymour made for Richard Derby. The piece measured 361/4 by 711/4 by 26 inches, constructed of mahogany, crotch birch and curly maple, and was branded twice “RC Derby.” The sideboard originally came out of a Neal Auction, October 2000.
Marion Harris of New York City, one of the regulars at the Wendy shows, filled her booth with all kinds of things or, as she says, “objects of all ages, where art meets nature and classic meets quirky.” Living up to this definition were a number of architectural staircase models, a case of glass eyes, several turtle shells, a star fish among an assortment of sea shells, ostrich eggs of various sizes, artist’s models, a sampling of treen objects and a selection of child’s chairs.
A dressing table by Paul Dupre Lafon (1900-1971) in Macassar ebony, two drawers with dark red handles by Hermes, was in the booth of Galerie Jacques de Vos of New York City. The top of the bale was of beige marble and it rested on rectangular feet with four bronze sabots. Among the pieces of sculpture offered was “La Foule” by Jean Lambert-Rucki (1888-1967), dark brown patinated bronze, measuring 40 by 26 by 151/2 inches.
The London firm of Nicolaus Boston Antiques had a very large display of Majolica and Aesthetic Movement pottery including a Minton centerpiece of maidens supporting a large sea shell between them. The work was by Albert Carrier Bellouse, circa 1875, and it was exhibited at both the Paris Exhibition in 1878 and the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876.
A large portion of the front of the booth of Europa, Summerland, Calif., was taken for the display of a pair of Sicilian doors with surrounds, painted in monochromatic garlands and faux marble, dating from the first quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Furniture included a credenza in bold baroque style, walnut with bronze pulls, dating circa 1620 and from Rome.
British dealers Derek and Tina Rayment, Cheshire, deal in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century English and French antique barometers and hung a selection of about 50 in their booth at the show. Among the stick barometers was one of satinwood, dial signed “James Long Royal Exchange, London,” circa 1860, with ebony stringing and the original mercury tube. Also offered was a Louis XVI giltwood oval French barometer, circa 1786, with a signed dial.
“We have a total of about 150 pieces presently in stock and about one third was shipped over here by air for this show and for one we are doing in Chicago,” Derek said. He said the mercury tubes are taken out of the barometers for shipment and travel as hazardous cargo. They are then reassembled at the site of the show. “We put them all back together ourselves and any barometers we sell are delivered and set up by us,” he added. “It took 48 crates to get the barometers over here for these shows, while at home when we do a show it all fits into the back of a Saab,” Derek said.
Ophir Gallery from Englewood, N.J., had a very colorful booth resulting from a large collection of Tiffany Studio lamps. Also offered was a Tiffany Studio fireplace surround and a work by French sculptor Francois Raul Larche (1860-1912), Les Violettes, 241/2 inches high.
A pair of late Eighteenth Century Italian demilune side tables, circa 1790, with tops of mahogany and partridge wood, fan decoration, was in the booth of Charles Saunders Antiques of London. A commode, probably Scandinavian and dating from the early Nineteenth Century, was Continental, painted serpentine front, with a light blue painted surface on top. An American wing chair, circa 1942, by Rosalind Rossier, was covered in black leather upholstery and the stretchers and legs were of pearwood.
Richard Rumi & Co., Inc, with locations in Toronto, Connecticut and New York, showed a large collection of English and Continental furniture including an early Nineteenth Century brass-mounted Continental marble topped mahogany console table, plinth base, carved giltwood capitols and feet, circa 1825. Also from the same period was an Austrian Empire settee in mahogany with three carved dolphin and lyre splats, cushioned seat, paw feet, measuring 791/2 inches wide.
It took 11 large cases to display the selection of silverbrought across the ocean by London dealer Marks, with more exhibitspace on a large banquet table in the middle of the booth. Amongthe pieces offered was the Chesterfield Cup, Goodwood, 1868, aVictorian silver two-handled bowl by Hancock, Son & Co.,London. A pair of seven-light silver candelabra, Hunt &Roskell, London, 1846-1852, was shown on the table, and a Russiansilver wine cistern by Carl Bojanowski, St Petersburg, dated 1861.
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge, Inc, New York City, showed a collection of seven woodwork pictures depicting various English tall ships at sea. An Italian console in mahogany, Lucca, Tuscany, circa 1820-30, had a white marble top and carved acanthus leaf feet, while one of the small choice items in the booth was an English glass portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson by William Tassie, dated 1804.
Many interesting and amusing pieces of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century pieces of sculpture were shown by Galerie Pierre M. Dumonteil of Paris. Gathering smiles from show visitors was a large bronze ram, signed Candide Foundry, by Jean-Marie Fiori. By the same artist was a polychromed carved alabaster eagle head, a large beautiful and unique piece.
This show ran for six days, April 15-20, and attendance was decent, according to Diana Wendy, who felt some stayed away because of the warm weekend and the large drop in the stock market. “Over 50 percent of the dealers had excellent shows, and all have indicated they will return next year,” she said.
The New York International Art & Antiques Show will preview in 2006 on April 20 and continue through April 26. Mark your calendars.
