Sponsored by the prestigious Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, the show closed on April 15th with a record of strong attendance, including the celebrities.

“This year’s NY Book Fair was officially the largest in the twenty-plus years we’ve served as manager–also the most successful in the past five years,” said promoter Sanford L. Smith adding that even with an expanded show floor, all the dealers interested in the show could not be accommodated.

The museum acquired two remarkable cut and engraved glass water decanters commissioned as part of a large service by President James Monroe in 1818 and made by renowned Pittsburgh glass firm Bakewell, Page, and Bakewell. Existing objects from Monroe’s service have long eluded scholars and collectors; the last documentation of the objects occurred in 1833, when a dozen glass decanters were sold from the White House. Preserved in private hands for nearly two centuries, these two objects resurfaced in a rural auction in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2010 and are now on view in the Carnegie’s Ailsa Mellon Bruce Galleries.

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

The objects are significant not only for their presidential provenance but also their rarity as the earliest known fully cut and engraved American water decanters. They are among Bakewell’s masterworks—possessing exceptional clarity and cool, gray color, and embellished with the exquisitely cut motifs of strawberry diamonds, prisms, and pointed arches. The central medallions are delicately engraved with the Great Seal of the United of States.

“As Pittsburgh-made presidential products of superior artistic and technical merit, the Monroe decanters are an extremely significant addition to Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection,” says Jason T. Busch, Curatorial Chair for Collections and the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design. “They represent the highest level of design and craftsmanship contributed by our region in the early 19th century.”

Benjamin Bakewell is recognized as the “father of the American flint glass business.” He began his glassmaking career in Pittsburgh in 1808 along the banks of the Monongahela River. Through various partnerships, his glassworks operated until 1882. Bakewell’s glass was renowned in America for its high-quality, colorless formula, perfected only shortly before the Monroe decanters were made. In 1816, Bakewell proudly sent Monroe’s predecessor, President James Madison, an example of his firm’s superior workmanship: a pair of wine decanters also decorated with the Great Seal of the United States.

When President Monroe visited Pittsburgh in September 1817, Bakewell presented him with his own pair of decanters. Monroe followed up with an order for a 340-piece service of cut and engraved glass—which included six pairs of water decanters (including the two acquired by Carnegie Museum of Art), as recorded on the original invoice preserved in the National Archives.

The decanters were acquired through the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund and as a gift from Christopher T. Rebollo.

As the popularity of portraits grew, a cottage industry of itinerant artists fanned out across the East Coast and the near mid-west, canvassing the finer homes where potential commissions lived.  Most all of the artists were self-taught. They came to be known as “folk artists” and “naive painters.” Their work is now sometimes referred to as “primitive art.”

By any name, the portraits of the itinerant artists capture the essence of common Americana. In that sense they are honest representations.

Whether miniatures or life-size, the portraits generally resound with strong colors and unabashed boldness. In fact, self-taught

A Girl and Her Dog

artists – either because of lack of training or because they were in a hurry to complete each commission and move on to the next – generally painted flat pictures. In spite of their lack of sophistication, the portraits do provide more or less honest portrayals of the sitter.

There were popular themes and settings that added to the facial and physical story telling. For instance, the full figure of a man in an exaggerated frock coat standing on a dock in front of ships was popular with the merchant class. Interior portraits that carry the slight hint of the chair can provide insights into the sitters station and taste. The former is, of course, defined by dress, hairstyle, accessories. Frequently, the family pet – sometimes with a recent catch in its mouth – rounded out the flavor of the paintings.

Rather than oils, the early American portraits tend to be pastel and graphite on paper, water color on paper, or water color and ink on paper. Occasionally you will see an oil on canvas.

Not all folk artists remained anonymous.  Now were they all Caucasian. Several we know of were African-American.  Many have acquired excellent reputations, as indicated by auction prices, over the years.

Painted by a Dutch portraitist of an American Woman

For a comprehensive primer on American folk art portraits, visit the Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York, or its blog. Paul D’Ambrosio, President and CEO, oversees one of the foremost collections of folk art in captivity.

1. Gracie Mansion-In 1799, Archibald Gracie, a prosperous New York merchant built a country house overlooking a bend in the East River, five miles north of the City. The city would grow around the estate, and it would become the official home of the Mayor of New York. The Mansion’s main floor is open to the public on a limited basis and is a showcase for art and antiques created by New York designers, cabinetmakers, painters and sculptors. Duncan Phyfe is well-represented. To make reservations email gracietours@cityhall.nyc.gov.

2. New York Historical Society-Usually on display at the New York Historical Society, Duncan Phyfe’s tool chest will be part of the exhibit at the Met. Phyfe built this tool chest and amassed this collection of almost 300 woodworking tools for carving, veneering and inlaying furniture. The museum houses other works including a sideboard, gaming table, arm and side chairs, plus a tea service belonging to Phyfe.

3. 168–172 Fulton Street- Then called Partition Street, this was the site of Duncan Phyfe’s workshop. The buildings are long gone, but were located near the present intersection of Fulton and Broadway, not far from Ground Zero. Born in Scotland, Phyfe came to New York around 1794 and established a cabinet shop. His firm continued under the name Duncan Phyfe & Sons until his retirement in 1847.

4. Visible storage in the Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art. While visiting the Met, don’t forget to stop in the visible storage and look for additional works by Phyfe. In addition the Brooklyn Museum has works by Phyfe including a window seat, dining table, recamier, sewing table and card table. Some or all may not be on display.

5. Green-Wood Cemetery. A mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery is Phyfe’s final resting place. The size of the structure will give you an indication of Phyfe’s considerable commercial success. I always wondered if it might also entomb furniture. A recent photo inside the structure of Peter Kenny, Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Met, put that notion to rest.

(Gracie Mansion photo by Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons)

At the turn of the 20^th Century, a generation of Americans renounced high Victorian and elaborate Beaux Arts designs in favor of a new look – one that reflected the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, elevated simplicity to a place of prominence and honored the principles of honest construction.

In 1900, Stickley, working with designers Henry Wilkinson and possibly LaMont A. Warner, created a line called New Furniture. The aesthetic promoted straight lines with unadorned surfaces that allowed the growth rings of radially cut oak to be admired.

Within three years, the company was known as the Craftsman Workshops. By 1903, the company was offering Craftsman style home plans and the decorative accessories to enliven them.

“The Craftsman” magazine provided a community for consumers. It treated them to thoughtful articles while allowing them to peruse the Stickley catalog.

The Stickley company thrived in Eastwood, NY. According to David Rudd, collector and proprietor of Dalton’s American Decorative Arts in Syracuse, the finest Stickley items date to the years c. 1901 – 1905.

The first couple of years, 1901 and 1902, were undoubtedly Stickley’s best. This is when he produced pieces of the highest standards, designs and experimentation. The years 1903 and 1904 the architect Harvey Ellis joined the Craftsman Workshops designing some of the finest work to come out of this esteemed firm.  By 1905 catalogs had been developed with a line of standard designs, some of which would continue through the next ten years.

The Craftsman home, the Stickley aesthetic, the Arts and Crafts movement are an integral to the evolution of Americana.

Editor’s Note:  Dalton’s American Decorative Arts is located in Syracuse, NY. For more on Gustav Stickley, the Stickley Brothers, and the company today, please visit Dalton’s American Decorative Arts.

This year there are more reasons than ever to come to Philly, take in the sights and stay longer. We offer just five at PhiladelphiaAntiquesWeek.com.

The show opens with a Benefit Preview Party and Collectors’ Plant Sale on Thursday, April 26. Garden antique specialists will offer tours and booth talks daily as well as assist buyers looking for the perfect piece to complement a garden, landscape, or interior.

This year’s exhibitors feature antique cast iron and marble fountains, antique wicker furniture, cast iron and stone garden seating, statues, urns and vases, bird cages and bird baths, gates, antiquarian books on gardens, and architectural ornament. Most objects date from the late 18th century through the mid-1950s and include American, French, Swedish, Italian, Belgian, and English pieces. Massive terra-cotta oil jars—one ancient Roman, one mid-19th century—a garden by the sea, and French-themed booths are among this year’s highlights.

Among the highlights of this year’s show are colorful 1920s pendant lights and a bright red early 20th century elevator door at Ani Ancient Stone. A set of c. 1915 close woven wicker furnishings with Arts and Crafts woven decoration is at Antique American Wicker. One of the earliest objects is a custom copper armillary made in France, c. 1720 at Balsamo Antiques.

The most antique object in this year’s show is likely the massive terracotta oil jar at Village Braider Antiques. Measuring 69″ high and 63″ in diameter at its widest point, the jar is thought to be ancient Roman. Presented to Catherine L. Wolfe of Vinland in Newport on June 22, 1884, the oil jar is reputed to have been discovered in a 30-foot deep excavation at the church of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, Rome, which would date the jar earlier than the original 4th century church. A second massive Italian terracotta oil jar can be found at Barbara Israel Garden Antiques: c. 1870, the jar has a wrought-iron stand and measures 49” high and 48” in diameter.

The Antique Garden Furniture Show and Sale takes place in a tent surrounded by flowering trees, plants, and shrubs outside the landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Among the new participants from the U.S. are New York-based galleries: Craig Van Den Brulle (mid-20th century furniture); Gavin Spanierman, Ltd. (American 19th- and 20th-century paintings); Lawrence Steigrad (16th- to 18th-century Old Master and British paintings, drawings and sculpture); and Sundial (antique clocks and timepieces); and Jason Jacques, specialist (European Art Nouveau, Japonist pottery and turn of the century decorative arts). And from the West will be tribal specialist William Siegal from Santa Fe and John Atzbach (Fabergé and Imperial Russian antiques), based in Redmond, Washington.

Christopher Dresser for Minton, France, c1876. Jason Jacques.

Hailing from Europe are: John Jaffa (18th- to 20th-century English and Continental enamels, Fabergé, rare perfume bottles and objets de vertu); Nicholas Grindley (fine Chinese furniture and works of art); MacConnal-Mason (English and European 19th- and 20th-century paintings and sculpture); N & I Franklin (antique English silver); The Silver Fund (Georg Jensen); and Piacenti Art Gallery (Old Master paintings), and Haynes Fine Art of Broadway (16th-21st century paintings) all London-based; Mark Helliar Vintage Murano Glass from Kent (20th century vintage Italian and Murano glass); and from Paris, Martin du Louvre (contemporary paintings, works on paper, photography and sculpture). Rounding out the roster are haute jewelers Sabbadini from Italy and Jerusalem-based jeweler Yvel.

“We are very pleased to welcome this new group of prominent dealers to the second edition of the Spring Show,” says Clinton Howell, president of the AADLA. “These specialists, with their expertise and connoisseurship, will further broaden the breath of spectacular offerings of our fair.” Howell expects a total of 60 dealers to participate.

For more information about the AADLA Spring Show – taking place May 3-6, 2012 at the Park Avenue Armory at Park Avenue and 67th Street, NYC, please visit springshownyc.com

Mark Lyman, President of The Art Fair Company says SOFA dealers have always been at the forefront of promoting studio artists and designers when they were just starting to gain recognition. According to Lyman, SOFA was instrumental in bringing attention to luminaries such as Rudy Autio, Ruth Duckworth, Wendell Castle, Olga de Amaral, Dale Chihuly, Jun Kaneko, Betty Woodman, Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, Sam Maloof, William Morris, Beatrice Wood, Philip Moulthrop, George Nakashima, Ted Noten, Lenore Tawney, Albert Paley, Ed Rossbach, Lino Tagliapietra, Peter Voulkos, and Michael Zobel.

Look for details on our EVENTS page.

Those familiar with New York’s long-standing Americana Week in January are probably familiar with our sister site AmericanaWeek.com. Launched this year, the site and accompanying mobile app were well-received with participation from Americana at the Pier, Antiques and Art at the Armory, the New York Ceramics Fair, Vintage and Modern, the American Folk Art Museum, the Hudson River Museum, HL Chalfant, Dalton’s American Decorative Arts, Eve Stone Antiques, Ltd, Finish Line Collectibles, Just Folk, South Road Antiques and others.