Northeast Antiques: Feature Articles

Madison-Bouckville
Antique Show or MoMa North?

By John G. Sayers

As readers of past August issues of Northeast Antiques will recall, I love the Madison-Bouckville show, and I guess that love oozes from every word that I write. So why is Bouckville so great? Why is it a milestone in my antiquing year?

Yes, I find some things there for my collection. Yes, I meet some really nice people. Yes, the show is in a charming and historic part of the Northeast. But most of all - it’s what’s there. At times, the content of dealer displays makes the show almost a Northern New York subset of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Here’s why:

Great visual qualities

There is beauty in modern art. But they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And “modern art” is difficult - and controversial - to define, as evidenced at the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo and reportedly even at the 80-plus year-old Museum of Modern Art itself.

A Slice of American Pie - July 2010
Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the
Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg

By Randall Decoteau
All images courtesy of Storrowton Village

Everybody loves the illustrations of Norman Rockwell, including two of America’s best-known modern filmmakers. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg recognized the connections between Norman Rockwell’s iconic images of American life and the movies; each formed in-depth collections of the artist’s work.

“The idea for this ground-breaking exhibition began several years ago with a friend of the Smithsonian American Art Museum who knew of the Lucas and Spielberg collections,” said Virginia M. Mecklenburg, senior curator and organizer of the show. “We quickly realized that these collectors had a special take on Rockwell.”

Setting the stage for a story
Filmmakers are storytellers and in Norman Rockwell, they see a kindred spirit, a man whose idea of storytelling is pervasive. The way Rockwell revealed his narrative, the way he posed his models, selected his props and costumes and the way he dressed the sets are absolutely parallel to criterion used by film directors.

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The “Home Department”
And how it became Storrowton Village - June 2010

By Randall Decoteau
All images courtesy of Storrowton Village

Eastern States Exposition, today known as The Big E, started in 1916 as a cattle show in West Springfield, Mass., and the event quickly developed into a much larger livestock show. By 1920, the Board of Trustees realized that the exposition attracted mostly men, so the Home Department was introduced with the purpose of drawing in the rest of the family. New exhibits featured fashions, the latest cuts in clothing, cooking and lighting the rural home with gas, voting for suffragettes, Girl Scout demonstrations on camping and various craft displays.

In 1923, Deerfield and “Kentucky Mountain” handwork was displayed, and hand weaving was demonstrated. By 1925, the Home Department was moved to its present village location and 12 temporary cottages were installed to make up a larger exhibit. An old-fashioned garden was set in by Adam’s Nursery, and seat-caning and rug-hooking demonstrations were offered to fair visitors. Early American dance presentations were brought in for 1926, with music provided by Henry Ford’s Orchestra.

SS Normandie
An icon of Art Deco and economic stimulus

By John G. Sayers
All images from The Sayers Collection

This article isn’t about ocean liners. It is about what can happen during a “stimulus program” like we’re into right now, and how the outcome can be both a delight and a heartbreak. The story is about beauty, about art, about style, about what you can do when you have tons of money to lavish upon a project – and about the myriad of collectibles that can pour forth from such a cornucopia.

Seventy-five years ago, the SS Normandie, pride of France and the most stylish ocean liner ever to cross the Atlantic, made her maiden voyage. Normandie was conceived and constructed during the Great Depression of the 1930s as part of a “stimulus package” to support French workers, artists and artisans.

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Christmastime is almost upon us, and we all look forward to the many facets of Christmas. The special television programs, the gifts, the turkey dinner, the Christmas letters, the Christmas e-mails… Christmas e-mails? Wait a minute. What about Christmas greeting cards?
Christmas greeting cards have been a part of the Christmas scenario for over a century, and this writer believes that they can never be replaced by Christmas e-greetings. Why not? This story – this Christmas Story – explains why Christmas cards are part of your and every family’s heritage.

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Up Close & Personal
200 Years of Fashion
in Saratoga Springs

By Emily B. Fowler
Photographs by John Conners, Bolster Collection Curator, Saratoga Springs History Museum

The third floor of the Saratoga Springs History Museum (SSHM) is a steep climb, the ancient mahogany banister guiding visitors up a total of 47 steps. At the summit, a collection of rooms house the George S. Bolster Photographic Collection, the museum archive and the Walworth Family heirlooms, including cabinets of curiosity along the hallway. Behind the other doors lie storage areas with equally fascinating treasures, and it was here, in the costume repository, that the idea for an exhibit originated.

America’s “New” Period Rooms
The Renovation of the American Wing
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1909, when the Metropolitan Museum was relatively new, it was asked to participate in the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s historic cruise up the river and the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton’s celebrated steamboat ride over the same waters. Curators brought in platforms and display pieces and crammed several galleries full of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century decorative arts from Colonial America.

President Obama and World Dignitaries Presented with Unique Pieces of Phipps
Pittsburgh G-20 Summit
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

PITTSBURGH, PA - President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Summit leaders took home their own pieces of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens following the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit. Prior to the reception at Phipps, Richard V. Piacentini, executive director of Phipps, privately presented the president and the first lady with three glass pieces from the current exhibition, Life in the Gardens. Fräbel at Phipps. The Obama’s were given the sculpture, the Wavey Bowl, as well as two tropical frogs glass sculptures for the Obama’s children, Sasha and Malia, all made by internationally renowned glass artist Hans Godo Fräbel.

DuMouchelles
Fine Arts Auctioineers & Estate appraisers
Since 1927

“My father started DuMouchelles in 1927 and somehow he stayed afloat during the Depression,” Ernest (Ernie) DuMouchelles said as he stroked his white beard. “He had a good reputation because one of the important things he stood for was to be honest; and it is so today. Honesty is a big thing in the auction business and it’s served us well.”