Santonio Holmes’ Super Bowl gloves in charity auction

Santonio Holmes after a reception in the Oct. 15, 2006, game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Image by Steel City Hobbies, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.
Santonio Holmes after a reception in the Oct. 15, 2006, game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Image by Steel City Hobbies, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.
Santonio Holmes after a reception in the Oct. 15, 2006, game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Image by Steel City Hobbies, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes is auctioning the gloves he wore when he caught the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII to benefit a charity that is close to his heart.

All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America Inc. As mentioned to Jay Leno during Holmes’ appearance on The Tonight Show, the football star’s 6-year-old son, Santonio III, has the blood disease, for which there are treatments but no widely available cure.

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Ward Bennett: The designer’s designer

Ward Bennett with his 1968 Scissor Chair, a popular design manufactured by Brickel, said to be his most comfortable chair. Shown here in wood and leather, the Scissor is also manufactured in steel. Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.

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BY SUSAN BRANDABUR
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Ward Bennett with his 1968 Scissor Chair, a popular design manufactured by Brickel, said to be his most comfortable chair.
Shown here in wood and leather, the Scissor is also manufactured in steel. Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.

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A name to look for in postwar American design on the secondary market is Ward Bennett.

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His furniture and objects have a subtlety of line and richness of materials that give them a timeless presence. Bennett is hailed by other designers as an enormous influence (among his assistants was design star Joe D’Urso), and he received honors that included a place in Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame, but so far there has not a published monograph devoted to his work.

Bennett designed furniture, glassware (Tiffany, Sasaki), lighting (Harry Gitlin) and metalwork (Tiffany and Supreme Cutlery), as well as houses (including several residences for publisher Jann Wenner and his own small weekend house in Amagansett). He also created interiors for clients like the Agnellis and the Rockefellers.  He was in-house designer for the American furniture company Brickel beginning in 1964 and for Geiger – the company that purchased Brickel – beginning in 1987. Geiger still manufactures Bennett’s designs.

A set of 12 Ward Bennett armchairs with steel frames, leather arm panels, adjustable backs and custom French gaufrage fabric. Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.
A set of 12 Ward Bennett armchairs with steel frames, leather arm panels, adjustable backs and custom French gaufrage fabric. Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.

Timothy deFiebre was Ward Bennett’s assistant in the 1980s and is now the primary custodian of the designer’s legacy. He believes a confluence of factors may have contributed to Bennett’s relative obscurity outside of interior design circles.

Bennett was born into a poor family in Manhattan’s Washington Heights and went to work at the age of 13 in the garment industry. Prodigiously gifted, he tried his hand at fashion illustration, window design, millinery, jewelry and sculpture, even studying with Constantin Brancusi in Paris as a youth, before gaining prominence as a designer of objects and interiors.

A Ward Bennett two-tier marble console with steel frame. Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.
A Ward Bennett two-tier marble console with steel frame. Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.

“Having once been poor, when he began to make money as a designer Ward did not devote a lot of attention to creating an archive,” said deFiebre. “Also, because he was self taught, his design methods did not lend themselves to conventional documentation.”
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The Banker Series for Brickel from 1980 is a good encapsulation of Bennett’s style and is one of the series most admired by interior designers. The curving lines evoke a traditional design, but the pieces are very simple and pared down to a modernist minimum. In a  popular fabrication, warm cherrywood frames are contrasted with sleek black leather upholstery; Bennett was known for his juxtapositions of industrial materials with organic ones. His I-beam-shape table base anticipated the high-tech movement.

One of Ward Bennett's designs for Sasaki, a thick-walled black glass vase, its rim etched with circles, squares, and triangles. John Sollo says 'the market for 20th-century design has expanded to encompass even more recent designs, like the later work of Ward Bennett.' Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.
One of Ward Bennett’s designs for Sasaki, a thick-walled black glass vase, its rim etched with circles, squares, and triangles. John Sollo says ‘the market for 20th-century design has expanded to encompass even more recent designs, like the later work of Ward Bennett.’ Image courtesy of Sollo Rago Modern Auctions.

A unique American artist and designer who started from nothing and succeeded through sheer talent and hard work at seemingly everything he tried, Ward Bennett died in 2003 at the age of 85. In his New York Times obituary, writer Julie V. Iovine wrote: “His own apartment, carved in 1962 from a warren of maids’ rooms tucked under the rooftop gables of the majestic Dakota building on the Upper West Side, was legendary in the world of New York interiors and was in the news every time he redecorated it.” In 1964, George O’Brien, who reported on home furnishings in The New York Times Magazine, had described it as “the most exciting modern apartment in New York.”
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In Memoriam: Texas landscape artist John Bruce Erwin (1920-2009)

Noted Texas landscape artist John Bruce “Jack” Erwin died on Jan. 22, 2009 at the age of 88 at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Erwin possessed numerous talents. Among them were architect, violin maker and artist. Jack excelled in each of these areas and received national recognition for his accomplishments.

Born in 1920, Jack Erwin was a native of Jacksboro, Texas, and was a 1941 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture. He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean Conflict, serving in the U.S. Navy.

He was the architect for the Jack County Hospital in Jacksboro, the Congregation Tiferet Israel Building in Dallas, and also the educational building, fellowship hall and Chapel of Silence of Cochran Chapel United Methodist Church in Dallas.

Erwin was a violin maker and entered instruments in the Wieniawski International Violin Making Competitions in Poland. He is listed in Henley’s Universal Dictionary of Violin and Bow Makers. Recently, one of his violins was given to Mariusz Patyra as a prize for being the winner of the 2001 Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy. He was a member of the Violin Makers Society of America. After moving to Natchitoches, Jack became and remained an active supporter of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra. His legacy endures through his instruments. His elder son, daughter and the 2008-09 concertmaster of the NNSO play on Erwin violins.

Jack was also a member of the Watercolor Society of America. His watercolors painting while he served in the Pacific during World War II were selected for National Treasure status in 2002 by the National Trust as an Official Project of “Save America’s Treasures.” These works now reside with the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. Jack Erwin is listed in Paula and Michael Grauer’s Dictionary of Texas Artists, 1800-1945.
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Atlantique City shoppers can try for two $500 shopping sprees

CINCINNATI – Attendees at the 2009 Atlantique City, New Jersey’s largest indoor antiques and collectibles show, will have the opportunity to win one of two $500 shopping sprees sponsored by Barbara Gerr Antiques of Galloway, N.J. Atlantique City returns to the Atlantic City Convention Center  for its now annual show on March 28-29, 2009.

Show buyers can enter a daily drawing for a $500 shopping spree in the appraisal/bookstore area of the show floor or right outside the Barbara Gerr Antiques booth, #1000. One winner will be randomly chosen each day to win the shopping spree. You must be present to win and the shopping spree is good for purchases made at the show.

“Barbara Gerr Antiques has been a tremendous partner over the last few years. Their sponsorship of the shopping sprees benefits all exhibitors as well as consumers and adds to the excitement at the show,” said show producer Eric Bradley of F+W Media. “Our buyers really look forward to the drawings.”

The March 2009 Atlantique City Show expects 400+ exhibitors of art, furniture, jewelry and vintage fashion, pottery, porcelain, glass, dolls, toys, silver and more. The show is considered by many dealers to be one of the easiest indoor shows to do because of drive-in set up that takes place over two days. It’s also a haven for collectors and decorators with objects and styles ranging from colonial to contemporary. 

Atlantique City will continue to offer attendees valuable services such as free furniture delivery within a 100-mile radius, free appraisals, drawings for shopping sprees and deep discounts on the latest antiques and collectibles books. A comprehensive multi-media marketing campaign includes advertising in daily newspapers, television, community-themed magazines and weekly papers.

 

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Art/music fusion in Sonic Youth multimedia exhibition

Sonic Youth exhibition poster. Image courtesy Kunsthalle Dusseldurf and KIT.
Sonic Youth exhibition poster. Image courtesy Kunsthalle Dusseldurf and KIT.
Sonic Youth exhibition poster. Image courtesy Kunsthalle Dusseldurf and KIT.

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY – An exhibition devoted to the activities of the experimental guitar band Sonic Youth, which profoundly influenced style in the music and art scene from its founding in 1981, has opened in Dusseldorf. The comprehensive project is being staged jointly by the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and KIT – Kunst im Tunnel.

Titled Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix, the exhibition showcases the numerous joint projects undertaken by band members with various other artists, filmmakers, designers, and musicians, as well as works of art specificially selected by Sonic Youth for the exhibition. 

The interdisciplinary show, which runs through May 20, 2009, tells a story of contemporary culture that incorporates teenage rebellion, the craving for fame and the search for identity as expressed through gender roles, sexuality and religion. As a special highlight in conjunction with the exhibition, Sonic Youth will perform in an April 24, 2009 concert in Dusseldorf. Tickets have already sold out.

After its run in Dusseldorf, the exhibition will travel to the Malmö Konsthall in Malmö, Sweden.

Lost 1793 Trumbull painting discovered in England

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – A lost miniature painting by Connecticut native and Colonial-era painter John Trumbull has been found in England, where it was mislabeled for generations.

A London art dealer bought the painting for less than 200 pounds, or $280 American dollars, last month. A researcher for the dealer says the miniature, ascribed to “Humbert,” turned out to be one of many by Trumbull and was worth closer to $22,000.

Bendor Grosvenor, a researcher for London art dealer Philip Mould Ltd., said the 1793 portrait of Philadelphia lawyer William West turned up at what Grosvenor called “a very small country auction in Devon, in what in the states would be called an estate auction.”

The people who possessed the West portrait for years may have misread Trumbull’s signature as “Humbert,” Grosvenor said. The Philip Mould art dealership found Trumbull’s signature on the back of the painting, he said.

“We didn’t see the back of the painting until it got here,” Grosvenor told The Hartford Courant in a telephone interview from London. “It was quite a nice surprise it said Trumbull on the back.”

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Work of Danish artist Ib Geertsen in London exhibition

'Det runde og det lige' by Ib Geertsen. © Paul Tucker Courtesy Rocket Gallery.
'Det runde og det lige' by Ib Geertsen. © Paul Tucker Courtesy Rocket Gallery.
‘Det runde og det lige’ by Ib Geertsen. © Paul Tucker Courtesy Rocket Gallery.

LONDON – Jonathan Stephenson / Rocket has mounted the first-ever solo exhibition in London of the iconic Danish artist Ib Geertsen.

Geertsen, who began painting at age 20, just celebrated his 90th birthday. The exhibition celebrates his work of the last four decades, incorporating his ventures into mobile sculptures, screenprints, furniture and public design projects.

Throughout his artistic career, Geertsen has pursued his very personal vision of ‘Konkrete’ – or geometrical – abstraction with his own distinct exploration of shapes and color combinations.

Self taught, Ib Geertsen worked as a gardener prior to discovering his gift for art. Since 1943 he has exhibited in every major museum in Denmark, and in 2003 he had a retrospective at the Kunsthallen Nicolaj, which led to renewed critical attention. His works can be found in numerous museums including Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; ARoS, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, and Trapholt Museum, Kolding.

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Park West denies they defrauded buyers in cruise ship auctions

SEATTLE (ACNI) – Multiple class-action lawsuits are currently facing Park West Gallery Inc., of Southfield, Mich., including a complaint filed in Seattle’s U.S. District Court, Western District, that jointly names Park West, two major cruise lines, and several other corporate entities as defendants. Park West is vehemently denying any wrongdoing and plans to fight to protect its reputation and business interests.

The Seattle case, in similar fashion to a suit filed in Michigan, hinges on the authenticity, or lack thereof, of artworks auctioned by Park West on certain cruise ships. Plaintiffs allege the art they purchased in onboard auctions conducted by Park West were misrepresented as originals when, in fact, some were forgeries.

The law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is representing the plaintiffs in the Seattle-based action, who are indicated on the complaint as “Rodney J. Blackman and Myra J. Kean, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated.” The full list of defendants, updated as of Oct. 3, 2008, is shown as “Park West Galleries, Inc., Fine Art Sales, Inc., HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A., HSBC Finance Corp., Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line-USA Inc., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.”

Originally filed on Sept. 2, 2008, the lawsuit alleges the defendants engaged in a scheme to knowingly defraud passengers aboard cruises by selling forged artwork to unsuspecting purchasers. Specifically, the suit claims Park West sold pieces of art “ostensibly created by artists Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt, when in fact the defendants knew – or should have known – that some of the pieces were forgeries.”

According to the complaint, auctions held onboard ships account for “a significant portion of the cruise ships’ revenue through revenue-sharing agreements with the art auction companies.” For a number of cruise-ship companies, not just those involved in the litigation, Park West’s auctions have become a revenue source as important as many other mainstream onboard concessions, such as boutique shopping, gambling or nightclub shows. Reports peg the cruise-ship art-auction revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

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Sporting auction house Lang’s goes ‘paperless, green and electronic’

Lynn Bogue Hunt oil on canvas of sporting dogs. Sold in Lang’s Fall 2008 auction.
Lynn Bogue Hunt oil on canvas of sporting dogs. Sold in Lang’s Fall 2008 auction.
Lynn Bogue Hunt oil on canvas of sporting dogs. Sold in Lang’s Fall 2008 auction.

WATERVILLE, N.Y. (ACNI) – Lang’s Sporting Collectables, Inc., the world’s leading auctioneer of antique and vintage fishing tackle, is breaking from tradition and taking a completely “green” approach to its business methods going forward.

Lang’s co-owner Debbie Ganung told Auction Central News that the company will no longer be printing the lavishly illustrated hard-copy catalogs for which they are so well known. Instead, they will produce electronic catalogs exclusively, for CD, DVD or online viewing/downloading through Lang’s Web site (www.langsauction.com) and that of its Internet live-bidding facilitator LiveAuctioneers.com (www.liveauctioneers.com).

Taking it a step further, Lang’s will conserve even more paper and trees by e-mailing auction announcements to its customer list of 30,000 collectors as opposed to mailing out masses of postcards.

“There are several reasons why we made the decision to go paperless, but it started with our own customers urging us,” said Ganung. “We specialize in antique fishing tackle, which is collected by a predominantly male group, almost 100 percent of whom are fisherman. These men are staunch conservationists who donate to wildlife preserves and environmental groups. Some have even made arrangements in their wills to leave property to conservation causes. They had been asking us what we were doing to ‘go green.’ At first it was just a few people, but this last year, we had 20 times the requests from ecologically minded collectors to do something that was good for the environment.”

Ganung said she and her husband, John – co-owner of Lang’s – had also been encouraged by their staff of young, computer-savvy employees to give up their old-school, ink-on-paper methods in favor of Internet-based alternatives. “They had been pushing us in this direction for quite some time,” said Debbie Ganung. “They had been correct with the other suggestions they had made over the last few years, so we said we would trust their judgment and go this route.”

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Spotlight on signed Martin Lewis etching in Clark’s Feb. 8 sale

Martin Lewis, 'Quarter of Nine, Saturday's Children M.78)', signed in pencil and on plate, 9.75x12.5 inches. Image courtesy Clark's Fine Art Auctioneers Inc.
Martin Lewis, 'Quarter of Nine, Saturday's Children M.78)', signed in pencil and on plate, 9.75x12.5 inches. Image courtesy Clark's Fine Art Auctioneers Inc.
Martin Lewis, ‘Quarter of Nine, Saturday’s Children M.78)’, signed in pencil and on plate, 9.75×12.5 inches. Image courtesy Clark’s Fine Art Auctioneers Inc.

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. – Clark’s Fine Art & Auctioneers’ next art auction, on Feb. 8, 2009, features an outstanding etching by Australian-born American printmaker Martin Lewis (1881-1962). Titled Quarter of Nine, Saturday’s Children, it is a strong impression, signed in pencil and on the plate, and measures 9¾ inches by 12½ inches.

Martin Lewis (1881-1962) left home at the age of 15, subsequently studying art under Julian Ashton at the art society’s school in Sydney. In 1900 he left Australia for the United States, settling in New York. There he found work in commercial illustration; his first job was painting stage decorations for William McKinley’s Presidential campaign of 1900.

Lewis’ earliest known etching is dated 1915, however the level of skill exhibited in the work suggests he had been working in the medium for some time previously.

In 1920 he decided to travel to Japan, where for eight months he learned oil and watercolor painting. In 1925, he returned to etching and produced most of his best-known works in the 10-year period to follow. Particularly noteworthy were his series on Japan and New York.

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