FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – The Fayetteville Museum of Art’s ambitious plans to build a nine-story, $15 million home designed by a world-renowned architect fell apart in three years, as the economic recession took its toll on arts institutions nationwide.
The Fayetteville Observer reports the museum’s last day was yesterday, May 31. It closed its doors because of money problems.
The reasons for the change in its fate included the museum’s bookkeeping and funding cuts. The museum’s board of trustees voted earlier this month to shut down rather than accumulate more debt.
Museum executive director Tom Grubb says the closing is a sign that the arts aren’t healthy in Fayetteville.
Summer art classes that were nearly full also have been canceled, along with children’s programs.
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Information from: The Fayetteville Observer, http://www.fayobserver.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Marble House is one of Newport’s most popular mansions. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) – Marble House oozes decadence at every corner, from the 22-karat gold leaf decorations to the Corinthian columns at the front entrance to the lavish ceiling paintings of Greek gods.
But for more than 80 years, the Gilded Age mansion has been without one of its most treasured features: a vast collection of more than 300 objects of Medieval and Renaissance art.
The wealthy Vanderbilt family bought the works in Paris and displayed them for years on the red-silk walls of their mansion’s aptly named Gothic Room. But after the house closed in 1925, the items were sold to art collector and circus entrepreneur John Ringling and today belong to a Sarasota, Fla., museum bearing the Ringling name.
Now, Newport visitors can see the items in their original setting. The John and Mable Ringling Museum has loaned the collection to Marble House through Oct. 31. The items – paintings and sculptures, busts and furniture – have been reassembled in the Gothic Room and displayed exactly as they were 100 years ago.
The Preservation Society of Newport County operates the Marble House and other Newport mansions as public museums.
“I think that most people who know the Gothic Room always thought it was a very pretty room, and then you have these 300 objects added to it, and you go, ‘Oh my God, it was bare before,’” said Trudy Coxe, the Preservation Society CEO. “But, we didn’t know that until the objects were added.”
Marble House is among the most popular of Newport’s mansions, palatial summer homes built for wealthy industrialists in the late 19th century that today rank among the most-visited attractions in the northeastern U.S.
Inspired by Greek architecture and the Petit Trianon at Versailles, the home was completed in 1892 for railroad heir William K. Vanderbilt and his wife, Alva, a lover of art and culture who collected Renaissance art at a time when not many other Americans did.
In 1889, the Vanderbilts and architect Richard Morris Hunt traveled to Paris to find artworks and other decorative pieces for the home. They acquired the Gothic collection of French architect Emile Gavet and sent it to Newport.
The collection is varied and vast. There are 15th-century Italian paintings depicting battle scenes; painted terra-cotta busts; assorted copper and silver chalices and candelabra; intricately detailed French dressers showing stories from the life of Jesus and Greek mythology; and a case of wax portrait medallions bearing the likenesses of such dignitaries as King Henry II of France and popes Benedict XIV and Clement XI.
A highlight of the collection is The Building of the Palace, a 16th-century Italian painting showing men busily constructing a mammoth structure arising in the background. The painting is by Florentine artist Piero di Cosimo, who was believed to have contributed to the Sistine Collection.
“You could spend a whole day in here and not grasp everything,” said Erin Marshall-House, 33, of New Bedford, Mass., who was browsing the collection while vacationing in Newport one recent morning. But she also said the aesthetic seemed a little over-the-top.
“This room was made to look like a museum,” she added. “You can’t live and be comfortable in a museum.”
The Gothic Room, a reception room decorated with stained glass and a mantelpiece, was created to display the collection. Alva Vanderbilt opened the room to the public, but closed Marble House in 1925, moved to France and put the art up for sale. John Ringling, of Barnum & Bailey Circus fame, bought the works in 1927 for $125,000.
Many of the items have been displayed at the Ringling Museum, but others were in storage. Preservation Society staff had long discussed displaying the collection, and Virginia Brilliant, the Ringling Museum’s associate curator for European art, said she made a loan agreement a priority soon after joining the museum.
The Ringling Museum relocated most of the collection to Newport, though some items were too fragile to travel and are replaced at Marble House by to-scale photographs. Archival photos helped Preservation Society staff know exactly where Vanderbilt hung each piece.
“You can, for all intents and purposes, walk in and out of that room and know that she’s there,” Coxe said.
Brilliant said it was poignant to see the works in Marble House and that she’s open to leaving some items there long term. But, she said, history can’t be undone.
“When you talk about the rightful place of an object, then everything should have to go back to the church it was made for, or the home it was made for,” Brilliant said. “Art changes hands. That’s just the nature of life and collecting.”
Coxe said she’ll be sad when the collection is returned.
“If I had my druthers, they would forget that they loaned them to us and we would have them forever. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) – Five pilots from western Pennsylvania and Ohio will fly historic biplanes into Washington later this week in preparation for the June 11 premiere of a 3D IMAX film about the history of aviation.
The planes are Stearman biplanes, and US Airways pilot Jack Roethlisberger of Beaver says if you could learn to fly one of them, you could fly just about any World War II aircraft.
“That’s what most aviators trained on,” Roethlisberger, 61, said at Beaver County Airport, where five Stearmans are kept and several others are in various stages of restoration.
Roethlisberger, no relation to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, will join Ron Gorr of Mt. Lebanon, Cam Youree of Hookstown, John Lebbon of Fredonia and Charlie Lines of Canfield, Ohio in flying restored biplanes in for the Washington premiere of “Legends of Flight,” a 3-D IMAX film about aviation history.
Gorr, 66, said they will fly to Manassas, Va., on June 7 to meet up with four Virginia-based Stearman pilots, and the following day the group will fly into Washington’s Reagan National Airport and watch the film premiere at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
The Stearman is one of several aircraft featured prominently in the film as an “innovation in flight,” film spokesman Ryan Lilyengren said.
Ken Miles, director of operations for the nonprofit Stow, Mass.-based Collings Foundation, which preserves and flies vintage planes, calls the Stearman “iconic.”
“It’s the open cockpit biplane that everyone thinks about when they think about World War II aviation,” Miles said. Sixty to 70 percent of all WWII combat pilots trained in the Stearman, including nearly all of those in the Army Air Corps, he said.
After the war, many were auctioned off and used as crop-dusters, sport planes and on barnstorming tours. Of the 10,000 planes built in the late 1930s and early ’40s, more than 1,000 remain in use today, Miles said.
“They are reliable, available, and they are built like a tank,” said Lebbon, 70. “They were built to go through training, so they had to be more rugged and easy to repair.”
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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Poster based on Roy Lichtenstein’s "Tintin Reading." Poster auctioned for $350 on May 10, 2010 at Wittlin & Serfer. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Wittlin & Serfer.
PARIS (AP) – A life-size bronze statue of comic book reporter Tintin and more than 200 other items linked to the diminutive globetrotter have fetched more than euro1 million ($1.3 million) at a Paris auction.
The most expensive lot was two inked and water-painted original panels from the 1938 King Ottokar’s Sceptre album, which went for euro243,750 ($299,620).
The bronze statue, showing Tintin with his hands in his pockets and dog Snowy at his side, went for euro125,000 ($153,650) in the Saturday auction at the Drouot-Montaigne auction house.
Belgian artist Herge’s adventures of Tintin have been translated into nearly 80 languages and sold more than 200 million books since 1929. Racial and cultural stereotypes in books such as Tintin in the Congo have prompted criticism, but demand for Tintin artifacts remains strong.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This early-20th-century French papier-mâché e milliner’s head has original paint with some crazing. Her name, ‘Dorothee,’ is written on the front. It sold in March at Garth’s Auctioneers in Delaware, Ohio, for $646.
Hats are not as popular today as they were years ago, so there are fewer hat shops and fewer people making special hats fitted to a particular buyer. But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, milliners were found in every city and town. A hat was designed and created with the help of a “milliner’s head.” The milliner shaped, cut, pinned and fashioned the hat on the head. Then the finished hat was displayed in the shop. A life-size head made of soft wood or papier-mâché was used. Sometimes the top of the head was made of padded cloth so it was easier to pin the hat to the head. If you plan to buy an old milliner’s head, be sure to look for pinholes. There probably will be flaking or damaged paint, too. Early ones were painted, but by the 1850s some were made with printed eyes and mouths pasted in place. The hairstyle also helps date the head. Folk art collectors like these heads, so they’re pricey. An early one could cost $1,500, and a 20th-century example $500 or more, depending on condition.
Q: I have a six-piece dresser set of Val St. Lambert’s uranium glass from the 1890s. Because it has uranium in it, is it safe?
A: Uranium glass was first made in the 1800s by adding uranium dioxide to melted glass. The uranium gives the glass its bright yellow-green color and makes it fluoresce under ultraviolet light. Most uranium glass contains only a small amount of uranium, although older glass may contain as much as 25 percent uranium. The amount of uranium in the glass will set off a Geiger counter, but it is not considered unsafe to use. Production of uranium glass ceased during World War II, when uranium was not available for nongovernmental use. Small amounts of uranium are available today, and some uranium glass is being made.
Q: I have a toy pot-belly stove that my husband bought about 30 years ago. It is embossed “Grey Iron Casting Co., Mt. Joy, Pa.” The stove is about 13 inches high and has a piece to open the top and another to stir the ashes. I would love to know if it’s worth anything.
A: Grey Iron Casting Co. is best-known as a manufacturer of cast-iron soldiers and other toys. The company was in business from the late 1800s until the mid-1900s. Grey Iron made toys, banks, hardware, tools and other iron products. It was sold in 1967, and the name was changed to Donsco Inc. in 1974. Your stove is worth about $100,
Q: I have an armless rocking chair that was my great-grandmother’s. She passed away more than 20 years ago, at 100 years old. The chair has a label on the bottom that reads “Cochran Chair Company, Cochran, Indiana.” Can you tell me anything about it?
A: There is very little information about the Cochran Chair Co. It seems to have been in business from 1879 until 1983, but was no longer family-owned after the early 1970s. The label on your chair reads “Cochran, Indiana,” which means it was made before 1900. Cochran labels reading “Aurora, Indiana,” indicate the furniture was made after 1900. While your chair may have great sentimental value, it probably is worth less than $150.
Q: I have a calendar clock that belonged to my great-grandfather. It has been handed down throughout the years to the youngest child in the family. The clock was patented March 18, 1879, by Southern Calendar Clock Co. of St. Louis. It has two dials, one with the numbers of the hours and one with the numbers of the days of the month. The word “Fashion” is written in gilt letters between the two dials. Can you tell me the approximate value of my antique clock?
A: The Southern Calendar Clock Co. was founded in 1875 by three brothers, Henry Harrison, Lucius L. and Wallace W. Culver. The movements for the company’s Fashion calendar clocks were made by the Seth Thomas Clock Co. of Thomaston, Conn., and the calendars were made by Randall Andrews. The company advertised that the Fashion clock would run for 100 years. Southern Calendar Clock Co. closed temporarily in 1889 but reopened for a short time in the 1890s. A clock like yours sold for $1,770 a few years ago.
Q: We have a collection of World War I postcards from Germany and Holland. Are they worth anything? I expect that some of the buildings shown were destroyed in the war or later during World War II.
A: A postcard can sell for anywhere from 5 cents to several hundred dollars. The price is determined by the type of picture on the card, the artist or manufacturer, condition and rarity. Even the stamp or postmark can contribute to the value. Cards with pictures of street scenes with stores, advertising, people or special events are very collectible. Collectors also look for pictures of early autos, trains or airplanes. You can go to a postcard show and see what cards like yours are selling for. Dealers may be interested in buying your cards but will pay you a lot less than the retail value. They have to make a profit.
Tip: Do not wrap ceramics, wood, marble or other porous materials in old newspapers. The ink used for print eventually will stain the pieces. Newsprint is high-acid paper and can discolor other materials, especially other paper, over time. Recycled paper usually is bad for storage, too, but some photocopy paper is acid-free and good for archival storage. Cardboard boxes, plastic boxes and many folders, scrapbooks and plastic sleeves can damage old paper items, including autographs, photographs and baseball cards.
Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or e-mail addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
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CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Handmade dollhouse made from crates, cut shingle roof, faux-stone chimney, two stories, glazed windows, side opening, open porch, 1850s, 26 x 22 x 15 inches, $150.
World War II Sweetheart plaque, woman kissing soldier, painted plaster, original hanger with string, 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches, $155.
Johnny Ringo Western game, board, red and blue plastic markers, spinner, 1960, Transogram, 9 x 17 inches, $160.
Tin rhinoceros cookie cutter, soldered to perforated foundation, folded edge handle soldered to back, early 19th century, 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, $320.
Effanbee Olive Oyl doll, sawdust-stuffed fabric, hard-rubber head, red dress, arms outstretched, tag reads “I Am Olive Oyl, Popeye’s Sweetheart,” 1930s, 16 3/4 inches, $400.
Hooked rug, E.S. Frost & Co. pattern, brown dog lying on red-and-white checked floor, beige ground, brown trim, red roses on ends, No. 36, c. 1880, 31 x 61 inches, $410.
Rookwood Vellum swan vase, landscape, three white swans, trees and flowers, dated 1907, E.T. Hurley mark, 9 inches, $2,115.
Pennsylvania Country Sheraton daybed, woven oak splint top, blue and gray paint, turned legs and stretchers, 21 x 75 x 20 inches, $2,260.
Berkshire Bitters bottle, Amann & Co., Cincinnati, amber pig, applied mouth, circa 1870-75, 9 x 4 inches, $2,400.
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