February 2009 - Page 4 of 8 - Auction Central News

Allegheny County halts removal of public art from Pittsburgh airport

Pittsburgh-based Wolverine produced this classic American musical toy, the Zilophone. Vintage toys are the inspiration for a summer art exhibition in Pittsburgh. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.

PITTSBURGH (AP and ACNI) – Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato wants to prevent the removal of artwork from county property following a plan emerged to replace a sculpture at Pittsburgh International Airport in favor of paid advertising.

Onorato says protecting public art is important.

Earlier this month, he ordered the county airport authority to stop removing Silver Grid Wall, an 8-by-68 foot aluminum sculpture by Peter Calaboyias. The sculpture has been in the same place since the airport opened in 1992, but airport officials wanted to move it.

They hoped to earn between $250,000 and $300,000 a year by leasing the space for ads.

Onorato says he’s creating a committee to decide on a case-by-case basis whether public artwork can be moved.

This summer Pittsburgh will gain a unique display of outdoor sculptures based on vintage and antique toys. Artist Tim Kaulen, recipient of Pittsburgh’s Artist of the Year Award, will create the sculptures to be placed at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Kaulen is currently researching images of toy designs from the 1900s through the 1950s to serve as the inspiration for his sculptures.

“These toys could be American or from other countries, however I have a specific interest in seeing if there are any local ties to the toy industry,” Kaulen told ToyCollectorMagazine.com, a digital magazine that is assisting him with information and images of toys.

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Catherine Saunders-Watson, Auction Central News International, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-02-16-09 0948EST

Painting of Washington crossing the Delaware gets facelift

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanual Leutze, 1851, Gift of Joseph Stewart Kennedy, 1897. Image courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art.

NEW YORK (AP) – The iconic painting that depicts George Washington crossing the Delaware River is getting even more dazzling. The plain frame that held the room-size painting is being replaced with an ornate recreation of its original, and the art itself is getting a touch-up.

A recently discovered photograph showing Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware with an elaborate border during an 1864 exhibition inspired the Metropolitan Museum of Art to replace the plain frame.

The masterwork’s current frame “minimized it,” said Carrie Rebora Barratt, the Met’s curator of American paintings and sculpture, although it’s difficult to imagine how the painting, more than 21 feet by 12 feet, could be missed.

Leutze painted the masterpiece in 1851, depicting Washington and his companions crossing an ice-strewn Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Washington crossed the river on Dec. 25, 1776, in a surprise attack during the Revolutionary War.

Eli Wilner, whose company has made frames for the Met, was hired to recreate the original golden frame – an intricate and large project that takes up more than 250 square feet at Wilner’s workshop in Queens.

Leutze had specifically ordered the original, which bore shields at each corner and was topped with an eagle crest and a ribbon that marked lines from George Washington’s eulogy: “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen.”

In the world of frame-making, “this is by far the largest complex project that anyone’s ever undertaken in America,” Wilner said.

Mar. 13-15 American Craft Council Show in Atlanta marks 20th year

Glass and steel construction by Sabra Richards of Cadiz, Ky. Image courtesy American Craft Council.

ATLANTA – For years the American Craft Council Show in Atlanta has been the premier marketplace for fine craft lovers in search of unique works to adorn their homes, offices and even themselves. Now in its 20th year in Atlanta, the 2009 Show will take place Mar.13 -15, 2009 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Ga., with a wide array of decorative, fashionable and functional artworks.

Presented by the nonprofit American Craft Council, the three-day event will feature more than 200 of the nation’s most respected artists, who will exhibit and sell their latest high-quality handmade jewelry, furniture, clothing, home accessories and more. The event is expected to draw approximately 10,000 shoppers.

Attendees will find artist-designed fashions including jewelry, clothing, purses and accessories for their wardrobes. They will also find furniture, baskets, floor coverings, lighting, decorative accessories and usable objects such as tableware, cutlery and vases for the home or office.

Price points are wide ranging, from $25 to several thousand dollars, with works worthy of the most discerning collections at one end of the spectrum and imaginative, original objects for everyday use at the other end.

In addition to art appealing to adult collectors, many artists will participate in Craft 4 Kids, displaying handmade objects designed especially for newborns and children. The green movement is stepping up its presence at the show, as well. As was the case in 2008, the 2009 show will feature works from a number of GreenCraft artists, including Mayra Orama Muniz of Lancaster, Pa., and Tim Sarno of Marietta, Ga. GreenCraft artists’ works are made from recycled materials and/or sustainable processes. Among the materials getting a new life as beautiful art are materials recovered from natural disasters, such as hurricanes; and items from places of man-made neglect, such as landfills.

London Eye: February 2009

2008 TEFAF in Maastricht. Image courtesy TEFAF. Photo Peter de Vries.

A new retrospective report commissioned by the European Fine Art Foundation, which organizes the annual European Fine Art Fair (Fig. 1) held in the Dutch city of Maastricht, concludes that the art market is now truly global with powerful new developing economies firmly established as key players.

The report, Globalisation and the Art Market, Emerging Economies and the Art Trade in 2008, has been published to coincide with the 2009 fair, which is scheduled to take place in the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre from March 13-22. However, global economic change is now taking place at such an alarming pace that any attempt at forecasting the future of a particular market runs the risk of being out of date by the time it’s published.

Little-known rarities in March 18 Clarice Cliff ceramics auction

Plate in Red Carpet pattern, circa 1930. Estimate $2,800-$4,250. Image courtesy Bonhams.

LONDON – The finest single-owner collection of Clarice Cliff pottery ever to come to the market will be offered in a March 18 sale at Bonhams’ New Bond Street gallery in London. The 100-piece collection amassed by oilman Sevi Guatelli includes many rare patterns and shapes designed by the woman often described as Britain’s most important ceramicist of the Art Deco period.

The collection, which pulses with vibrant color, has a direct relevance for today’s world in that the very hardship and bleakness of the Great Depression of the 1930s is what led to the success of the cheerful wares. For a population facing great hardship, the arrival of the Clarice Cliff designs in the shops was akin to the sun rising. The hand-painted, unusually shaped teacups, teapots, vases and plates were an overnight success.

Mark Oliver, Head of Design at Bonhams believes there will be strong competition for objects in the Guatelli collection, noting that items once affordable to middle-class British families now sell for major money. “In the sale we have many pieces which are estimated to sell for $17,000 which originally cost just a few shillings!” Oliver said.

Design 1860-1945 specialist Natalie Evison, said,” This collection highlights Clarice Cliff’s distinct style of the Art Deco and early Modernist periods, representing the very best of her bold abstract designs and shapes including many rare examples that have not been seen on the market for many years.”

Sevi Guatelli, a Swiss-born oilman who married a Scotswoman and settled in Glasgow, fell in love with the work of Clarice Cliff and began to collect her work in the spring of 1990. The spark that ignited his enthusiasm for Cliff came when his niece chose Clarice Cliff as a topic for a school project. Her enthusiasm became infectious, and soon the thrill of the chase and the pleasure of learning about and acquiring works became Guatelli’s pastime and investment.

“Her work soon became my passion,” said Guatelli. “Whenever I found myself away from the very different world of oil exploration, I made my way to antique shops and auction houses where I might indulge this growing love and respect for her work.”

School’s cache of Indian artifacts is a rare find

EAST GREENVILLE, Pa. (AP) – The link between an ancient American Indian culture and a group of student archaeologists is a businessman and outdoorsman who died in 1964.

Charles Erb lived on Main Street in Red Hill, a town located approximately 37 miles northeast of Reading, Pa. He spent years walking the freshly plowed farm fields of Montgomery County, poking the earth with a long stick.

For decades, the artifacts collected by this unassuming man hung anonymously on the walls at Upper Perkiomen Middle School – until a Temple University archaeologist stopped by.

“We were awestruck,” said R. Michael Stewart, an associate professor and an expert in prehistoric Delaware Valley American Indians.

At 1,980 pieces, and with its probable origins centered in the Upper Perkiomen area, the collection was the kind of find that could reveal the lifestyle of native peoples going back 10,000 to 13,000 years, Stewart said.

The artifacts are being studied by Temple University professors and graduate students, along with members of the Upper Perkiomen High School Archaeology Club. They plan to create a database and write a paper for a project expected to take years.

“It’s the history of a lot of our ancestors – what they ate, how they lived,” said Edward Felix, 16, a sophomore member of the high school archaeology club. “It’s just interesting to hold them and think that a Native American actually used them to live.”
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Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: Week of Feb. 16, 2009

This plate is from the original White House set of dishes used by President Abraham Lincoln. It sold recently at Cowan's Auctions in Cincinnati for $14,100, even though it has a chip on the edge.

When Abraham Lincoln was president, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, bought a new set of dishes for the White House. Although there was the threat of a civil war, Mrs. Lincoln realized a state dinner would require more dishes than were in the set bought during President Pierce’s administration. Many of the set’s white dishes with gold-and-blue trim had been used and broken. Mrs. Lincoln went to New York City and ordered a set from E.V. Haughwout & Co., the same company that had furnished the Pierce set. The center of the dishes is decorated with an eagle holding a red, white and blue shield and a banner saying “E Pluribus Unum.” The edge is gold-and-white twisted ropes surrounding a border of purplish-red called “Soliferno,” a fashionable new shade at the time. The same pattern was ordered several times in later years as new dishes were needed. This explains why some of the dishes are unmarked, some are marked “Fabrique par Haviland & Co. pour J.W. Boteler & Bro., Washington” and some are marked “Theo Haviland, Limoges, France, J.W. Boteler & Son, Washington, D.C.” All of these dishes were used in the White House. But later, some souvenir plates were made with a border in a different shade of purple. These are marked “Administration Abraham Lincoln.” The souvenir plates sell for about $300 each. The authentic White House plates usually bring $4,000 to $6,000. At a Cowan Historical Americana Auction in December, a chipped 9 1/2-inch plate sold for $14,100.

Peter Max exhibit ‘pops’ up at Clinton Center

Liberty Head by Peter Max. Copyright Peter Max. Image courtesy of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Peter Max figures he and Bill Clinton go pretty well together, so he said it came naturally to pick a selection of his work for an exhibition at the Clinton Presidential Center.

The pop artist known for his colorful canvases and psychedelic portrayal of cultural icons, became friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton after the 1993 inauguration, and said they told him they had posters of his on their dorm room walls when in college.

“I was beyond belief thrilled,” Max said.

Now, Max’s work hangs through three floors of the museum at Clinton’s presidential library for a show that begins Monday, Presidents Day, and runs through May 25.

The exhibition includes Max’s depiction of presidents; American symbols, such as the White House and the Statue of Liberty; and other images of his adopted country and beyond. Portraits range from side-by-side interpretations of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa – one so dark she almost disappears, the other a rack of nine squares of her face, splashed with bright colors.

Max recalled attending Clinton’s first inauguration, with a prime seat just a few feet from where Clinton took the oath of office. Beforehand, Max had painted 100 portraits of Clinton, an assemblage that Clinton saw on his way out of the Capitol for his first trip to the White House.

Max said Betty Currie, Clinton’s secretary, later told him that the president said, “If I hadn’t just been sworn in, this (seeing his portraits by Max) would have been one of the highlights of my life.”

“For years and years,” Max continued in a telephone interview, “I remembered this story. I didn’t dare tell anybody – it would sound like I’m exaggerating.”

Greek man arrested with stash of antiquities

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) – Greek police arrested a veterinarian with more than 2,000 illegally excavated antiquities, including a small clay statue from pre-Columbian America, officials said Friday.

Police in the northern district of Halkidiki said the 47-year-old Greek man was arrested Thursday in the village of Nea Moudania, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Thessaloniki.

The items were found in the man’s home and at his shop that sells items for pets. Police also confiscated a .22-caliber revolver found in the man’s car.

The confiscated antiquities included more than 1,500 silver and copper coins dating from the 4th century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D., Halkidiki anti-crime squad director Giorgos Tassiopoulos said. Police seized another 680 clay and bronze artifacts, including vases, lamps, statuettes and jewelry.

All appeared to be Greek, apart from a pre-Colombian clay figurine from central or southern America. By law, all antiquities found in Greece are state property.

AP-CS-02-13-09 1137EST

Donald Kaufman collection steps into the spotlight March 19-21 at Bertoia’s

Perhaps the most desirable and highly prized motorcycle toy ever, this Hubley cast-iron Say It With Flowers delivery motorcycle van is a clockwork version. Hubley discontinued this design shortly after introducing it, hence its extreme rarity, especially in such fine condition. With provenance from the L.C. Hegarty Collection, it may bring as much as $75,000 at auction. Image courtesy Bertoia Auctions.

VINELAND, N.J. – Widely regarded as the ultimate assemblage of antique and vintage toys in private hands today, the Donald Kaufman collection is headed for the auction spotlight at Bertoia’s, starting with a 1,500-lot offering on March 19-21, 2009. Kaufman, one of the founders of K-B Toys, is considered a pioneer in the toy hobby, having started his collection nearly 59 years ago.

The Kaufman auction debut will follow a carefully mapped-out plan, with Thursday evening’s 6 p.m. session serving as a comprehensive “sampler” of all categories to follow in the full-day sessions on Friday and Saturday. “We’ve chosen some wonderful highlight pieces for a panoramic overview on Thursday,” said Bertoia Auctions’ owner, Jeanne Bertoia. “Collectors won’t be able to sleep that night. They’re going to have plenty to dream about.”

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