Antiques PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Antiques PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Winter Antiques Show Celebrates its 55th Year With Five New Exhibitors and a Loan Exhibition from The Corning Museum Of Glass

The Winter Antiques Show celebrates its 55th year as America’s most prestigious antiques show, providing museums, established collectors, dealers, design professionals and first-time buyers with opportunities to see and purchase exceptional pieces showcased by 75 exhibitors. This year, new specialists in 20th century Scandinavian furniture, American and European 20th century decorative arts, Americana, photography and porcelain join this fully vetted show, which is held January 23 to February 1, 2009. For 2009, the Winter Antiques Show announces a new dateline of 1969 for objects exhibited and sold at the Show. This new dateline responds to changing tastes in collecting and the trend towards greater eclecticism in interior design. From ancient Roman glass through mid-century modern chairs, every object exhibited at the Winter Antiques Show is vetted for quality and authenticity. 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.

James R. Houghton, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a lifelong patron of the arts and a scion of the founder of Corning Incorporated (known until 1989 as Corning Glass Works), is the Winter Antiques Show’s Honorary Chairman for 2009. Bank of America continues as the Show’s Proud Sponsor for 2009. Brian Brille, Bank of America’s Head of Americas Corporate & Investment Banking, and Mrs. Leslie Brille are Co-Chairs of the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 22nd. “Bank of America is proud to sponsor the 55th annual Winter Antiques Show,” said Mr. Brille. “The support of this event, and in turn, East Side House Settlement, is part of our commitment to strengthen the communities we serve.”

The popular Young Collectors’ Night will be held Thursday, January 29th and is sponsored by Elie Tahari.

The 2009 loan exhibition is from The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass. More than fifty exceptional works will be displayed in The Fragile Art: Extraordinary Objects from The Corning Museum of Glass. The exhibition features works spanning four continents, more than three millennia, and the full range of artistic ingenuity and technical innovation in glass. Highlights include an ancient Roman serving dish cover in the form of a fish, a glass allegory depicting Marie Antoinette lamenting the demise of the aristocracy during the French Revolution, a covered tumbler that is one of the earliest known dated pieces of American glass, and a 1930s illuminated glass radiator. The loan exhibition, designed by Vignelli Associates, is sponsored by Chubb Personal Insurance for a 13th consecutive year. Many of the exhibitors in this year’s Show, including Alexander Gallery, Geoffrey Diner Gallery, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Macklowe Gallery, Safani, and James Robinson are featuring glass in their booths to complement the loan exhibition.

New Exhibitors:

— Antik: New York based Antik specializes in early 20th century works by
artists and architects designing at the forefront of the modernist
movement in Scandinavia. Antik focuses on the studio ceramics from this
period, exemplified by such masters as Berndt Friberg (Gustavsberg) and
Axel Salto (Royal Copenhagen), whose work will be featured in this
year’s Show. Antik also will exhibit handcrafted furniture from
architects of the Danish Cabinetmaker Guild and the Swedish
Functionalist movement.
— Cohen & Cohen: Established in London in 1973 as an expert in Chinese
export porcelain, Cohen & Cohen now holds one of the finest
inventories of its kind in the world. Cohen & Cohen’s booth will
feature key pieces from its catalogue Tiptoe Through the Tulipieres and
a group of porcelain birds from the renowned James E. Sowell Collection.
— Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts: Specializing in American art from 1900 to
1950 including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative
arts, Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts will show Arts and Crafts furniture by
Gustav Stickley and complementary paintings and works on paper by Edward
Steichen, Arthur Wesley Dow, and Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Stickley
highlights include an exceptionally rare 1904 chandelier with a mica
shade, a 1905 drop-leaf desk, and a 1902 tea table with Grueby tiles.
Also featured will be a rare, early (1907) Tonalist painting, Moonlit
Landscape by Steichen.
— Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs: Focusing on 19th and early 20th
century photographs, and in particular, works before 1860, Kraus will
recreate the interior of Alfred Stieglitz’s and Edward Steichen’s
“291” gallery. Inspired by the ideas of the Arts and Crafts
and Symbolist movements in Europe, the booth will feature Pictoralist
photography by Steichen, Stieglitz, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Hill and
Adamson, among others. The installation includes recreations of the
lighting figures and burlap walls that match the color scheme of the
original gallery.
— Nathan Liverant and Son: The owner, Arthur Liverant, is a third
generation antiques dealer, son of Zeke and grandson of Nathan, who
founded the business more than 80 years ago. Nathan Liverant and Son has
been actively dealing in 18th and 19th century American furniture,
paintings, silver, glass, and related accessories since 1920. In
addition to a large inventory of antiques, the firm focuses on fine
examples of Connecticut and New England furniture made prior to 1840.
Selected Highlights:

— Knidian Aphrodite. 2nd-1st centuries BC. Hellenistic. Marble.One of the
most famous sculptures of the ancient world, the Knidian Aphrodite was
copied throughout antiquity and is a cornerstone in the history of
classical art. The sculptor of the original, Praxiteles (360-330 BC),
was known as “a maker of gods and men”, and his Knidian
Aphrodite was so famous in antiquity that Pliny describes it as a
tourist attraction (Natural History 36.20-21): “first and foremost
is the Venus that many have sailed to Knidos to see.” Rupert Wace
Ancient Art Limited.
— Betrayal of Christ. 15th century. Nottingham, England. Alabaster relief
with remnants of original paint and gilding. An export trade in English
carved alabaster appears to have been established in northern Europe by
the middle of the 14th century. Some 2,000 medieval English alabaster
carvings can be seen all over Europe, most of which were exported during
the second half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th
century. Daniel Katz Limited.
— Queen Anne flat top high chest of drawers. 1760-1780. Wethersfield
School, possibly Middletown, Connecticut. Cherry. The cabinetmaker that
constructed this chest of drawers chose a standard Wethersfield School
design. He added his own touch by compressing the scrolled apron and
making an exciting activated space. There are only a few examples of
case furniture that share this distinctive designed apron. Nathan
Liverant and Son.
— Dressing table. Circa 1820-1840. Maine. Pine with the original
polychrome finish in red, green and black accented by gilded stenciled
decoration and original brass pulls and rosettes. This piece is most
likely by the same decorator as one featured on the cover of American
Painted Furniture 1660-1880 by Dean Fales. Olde Hope Antiques.
— The Timer, by Thomas Eakins. Circa 1898. Oil on canvas mounted on board.
Inscribed Souvenir (lower left) and Clarence W. Cramner from his friend
Thomas Eakins (lower right). This study for Between Rounds in the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, depicts Charles Cramner, the sporting editor
of the Philadelphia Ledger and the man responsible for introducing
Eakins to prize fighting. Cramner helped Eakins to get fighters to model
for his famous pictures of boxing matches. The venue for these boxing
matches, the Arena, was just across from the Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts. Thomas Colville Fine Art.
— Bird in the Nest and Salamander paperweights, by The Cristallerie de
Pantin. Circa 1870s. France. Hand-blown glass. Pantin’s “Bird in
the Nest”, purchased in 1923 for twenty-five francs, was thankfully
overlooked by Nazi looters when Paris was invaded during World War II.
The owner lost his art collection but narrowly escaped with his life and
his beloved “Bird in the Nest”. When the paperweight came up
for sale in the late 1980s, it brought a world record price. The
“Salamander” paperweight complements a similar piece that is
on display in the Corning Museum of Glass loan exhibition. Alexander
Gallery.
— The Little Round Mirror, by Edward Steichen. 1902. Gum over platinum
print. Photography achieved serious attention from the fine arts
community in the early 20th century, thanks in large part to the efforts
of Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen, who engineered the Photo
Secessionist movement. Steichen’s masterful nude exemplifies the high
quality craftsmanship that he and Stieglitz endorsed in the first decade
of the 20th century. Using a combination of printing processes that
required a high-degree of hand manipulation, Steichen creates a
mysterious nude that is reminiscent of the work of Whistler or the
Symbolist movement. The present print is one of only three known master
prints of this iconic image. Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs.
— Night Scene – New York City (Night), by Edward Potthast. Circa 1912. Oil
on canvas. Edward Henry Potthast began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio,
making a name for himself as both a lithographer and skilled painter.
After spending time in Germany and France, Potthast returned to the
U.S., eventually settling in New York City. In this painting Potthast
composed popular subject matter while imbuing at least part of his
picture with the Impressionism that he learned in Europe. It has been
suggested that the painting depicts a view of Central Park West from the
western edge of Central Park. Gerald Peters Gallery.
— Sandhamn suite of furniture, by Axel Einar Hjorth of Nordiska
Kompianiet. 1929. Sweden. Carved and darkened pine. Swedish Architect
Axel Einar Hjorth (1888-1954) was the director of the interiors
department of Nordiska Kompianiet, the prestigious Stockholm department
store, from 1926-1938. This suite is named for Sandhamn, a vacation
island off the coast of Sweden where the furniture was commissioned for
country houses. It consists of a table and eight chairs, a pair of
lounge chairs, and a daybed. Antik.
— Always a highlight of the Show is the historically inspired booth of
portrait miniature dealer Elle Shushan. This year, Shushan’s portrait
miniatures will be set in a re-creation of Josephine’s boudoir at
Malmaison. Napoleon and Josephine purchased the chateau in Versailles in
1799. After their divorce in 1809, Malmaison remained Josephine’s home
until her death in 1814. Ralph Harvard’s design for the booth was
inspired by Francois Gerard’s painting of Josephine that still hangs at
Malmaison.
A full list of captions and images is available in the image gallery at: http://www.winterantiquesshow.com/press/.

The 55th annual Winter Antiques Show will be held from January 23-February 1, 2009 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 22nd or the Young Collectors’ Night on Thursday, January 29th, 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 catalogue.

About East Side House Settlement

East Side House was established in 1891. In 1963, it relocated to the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx, within the nation’s poorest congressional district. Operating from 17 locations, East Side House programs focus on education and technology as the keys to economic and civic opportunities. Programs include Early Childhood and After-School programs and the Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School (a national model featured in Business Week magazine), 90% of whose graduates attend college. A new initiative, Bronx Haven High School, guides over-aged, under-credited students on the road to employment and college. The Winter Antiques Show, created by the charity in 1955, is owned and produced by East Side House and provides over 30% of its philanthropic budget. The Show is the only major one in New York from which all net proceeds-ticket sales, catalogue revenues and corporate sponsorships-benefit a charity. Visit eastsidehouse.org to learn more.

About The Corning Museum of Glass

The Corning Museum of Glass is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass from all periods and cultures, ranging from ancient Egyptian and Renaissance Venetian masterpieces to contemporary works by such masters as Dale Chihuly and Josiah McElheny. The Museum’s interactive scientific and technological installations tell the story of historic advancements and contemporary innovations in glass technology. Live glassblowing demonstrations and state-of-the-art glassmaking studios bring the material to life. An Artist-in-Residence program annually gives six artists the opportunity to expand their work and to master new techniques. The Museum also houses the Rakow Research Library, the world’s foremost library on the history of glassmaking, and publishes annually scholarly publications including New Glass Review and Journal of Glass Studies. Located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, the Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed only January 1, Thanksgiving Day, December 24, and 25. For more information visit www.cmog.org.