Light snow moving in about midnight, on the periphery, the weatherman tells us, of a much bigger storm moving northeast, with temps below freezing. They say the weekend will really show us some snow. We’ll see …
Last night at the Park Avenue Armory, the annual Winter Show opened with a benefit preview. The show runs through January 27th, a week from Sunday. This year is its 65th Anniversary Sapphire Jubilee. We’ve covered this for at least 20 of them. The show is an annual benefit for East Side House Settlement – a community-based organization which serves the Bronx and northern Manhattan, making a big difference in the lives around them.
This year’s 2019 edition features 68 of the world’s leading experts in the fine and decorative arts. It maintains the highest standards of quality in the art market. Each object is vetted for authenticity, date, and condition by a committee of 150 experts from the United States and Europe.
This year’s Loan Exhibition, Collecting Nantucket, Connecting the World was organized by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is the first thing you see when you enter the Wade Thompson Memorial Drill Hall. Because of my fond experiences visiting Nantucket (NYSD readers will recall this past summer’s beautiful flora JH and I photographed), I went to this collection first. What immediately caught my eye was the model sailing ship, and on the plaque next to it, a dramatic story we’d never think of in this day and age.
I’m neither a connoisseur nor a collector. You don’t have to be to take it all in. It’s another aspect of humanity that will give you a breather from the day-to-day. For me it’s always about beauty and the artist’s ingenuity that catches you. My knowledge is based entirely on familiarity and the effect things have on seeing and discovering. This years’ Winter Show delivers, and the pleasure is all yours. This exhibition seemed especially spectacular to my eyes.
Gilbert Stuart
Gift of the Friends of Nantucket
My original intention attending these “shows” is to catch the audience, social activity, and report on that. This year the objects and art kept distracting me. If you’ve never been, it’ll sweep you away, and the time will fly. If the weather this weekend is going to be inclement as they say, this is a great place to pacify your starving aesthetics in the world of cold and grey.
I intended to stay for a half hour max but after almost two I had to tear myself away. The vibe in the room matched it. The floral arrangements were striking and entirely compatible with the art and the antiques and the objets. You’re forced to stop and look; it takes you away.
A bonus during the event is a series of lectures and panel discussions will take place throughout the coming week right up to a week from Sunday, January 27th. To get the full schedule visit https://thewintershow.org/events/
The Winter Show maintains the highest standards of quality in the art market, and each object is vetted for authenticity, date, and condition by a committee of 150 experts from the United States and Europe. Returning for a 23rd year, the Show’s Presenting Sponsor is Chubb.
Daily Admission:
Friday, January 18–Sunday, January 27, 2019
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 12 PM to 8 PM
Sunday and Thursday: 12 PM to 6 PM
Tuesday: 12 PM to 4:30 PM
Two Dogs at the Window
Alexander Gallery, New York, NY
Aviary Installation for a New York Townhouse, ca. 1927
Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, LLC, New York, NY
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY
Charles Ede, London, England
Inscribed (translated from Italian): “In her eyes, her snout, her fur,
wherever you look at her
She looks just like her good parent
Everyone immediately recognizes her,
the worthy daughter
She is the Di Bello, the lovely Pearl. The Year 1779.”
Robert Simon Fine Art, New York, NY
In 1661, Louis XIV requested from Charles LeBrun, to paint the subject of his choice provided that it be drawn from history of Alexander the Great. It is not surprising that the young Sun King should show an interest in Alexander who had conquered the world by the age of thirty. Louis XIV saw himself as the present day Alexander. LeBrun painted five paintings, now in the Louvre, the three battle scenes were so large (over 45 feet long), they had to be divided into three separate panels thus making a total of 11 subjects. The present tapestry is the left part of The Defeat of Porus.
Menconi + Schoelkopf Fine Art, New York, NY
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, NY
Rockefeller Discovering the Rivera Murals, 1931
Thomas Colville Fine Art, New York, NY
Galerie St. Etienne, New York, NY
Jonathan Boos, New York, NY
Adelson Galleries, New York, NY
Stephen Score, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
Porter is known to have painted inside five homes on a street in Westwood, MA.
Provenance: I bought the mural from the original family in 1982, removed it from the home, sold it to a collector and installed it in their home in Massachusetts. The collector is moving to an apartment and the mural was removed again — assisted by the same people who removed it from the original house to bring to my booth at the Winter Antiques Show. Linda Lefko is publishing an article about this discovery because the Porter scholars have not known about the whereabouts of the mural since I removed it form the house in Westwood, Massachusetts.
Stephen Score, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
Photographs by DPC
