NEW YORK, NY.- The Winter Show returns to the Park Avenue Armory from January 18 through January 27, 2019, for its 65th Anniversary Sapphire Jubilee. The leading art, antiques, and design fair in America, The Winter Show is an annual benefit for East Side House Settlement, a community-based organization serving the Bronx and northern Manhattan. The Show’s 2019 edition will feature 68 of the world’s leading experts in the fine and decorative arts, alongside a series of lectures and panel discussions and this year’s Loan Exhibition, Collecting Nantucket, Connecting the World, organized by the Nantucket Historical Association.
Led by Executive Director Helen Allen and Associate Executive Director Michael Diaz-Griffith, The Winter Show builds on its esteemed reputation, offering a dynamic display of fine and decorative arts from around the world. Spanning more than 5,000 years, from antiquities to contemporary photography and design, the Fair continues to broaden its scope, introducing established and emerging exhibitors to new and expanding audiences. The Winter Show maintains the highest standards of quality in the art market, and each object is vetted for authenticity, date, and condition by a committee of 150 experts from the United States and Europe. Returning for a 23rd year, the Show’s Presenting Sponsor is Chubb.
Exhibitor Highlights
The 2019 edition welcomes new exhibitors including Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd (London, UK), which presents a pair of the largest surviving sketches of Baroque ceilings made in Britain, reunited for the first time since 1961; Charles Ede (London, UK), showcases exceptional ancient objects from Egypt, Greece, and Rome dating as far back as 664 BC; and Erik Thomsen Gallery (New York, USA), a specialist in Japanese art, which brings finely detailed folding screens and traditional Japanese maki-e objects.
Contemporary highlights this year also range across materials and geography. Maison Gerard (New York, USA) returns to the 2019 Show with a selection of Art Deco furniture, lighting, and art objects, including Ayala Serfaty’s distinctive sculptural light fixtures; Elle Shushan (Philadelphia, USA) presents Maxine Helfman’s photography series Forefathers, which chronicles the 18 slave-owning Presidents of the United States; and Joan B Mirviss LTD (New York, USA), a leading gallery in Japanese contemporary clay art, presents the work of five major ceramic artists—Futamura Yoshimi, Kakurezaki Ryūichi, Kaneta Masanao, Kondō Takahiro, and Yoshikawa Masamichi—offering a rare look into the world of contemporary Japanese clay drawn from the aesthetics of ancient Asia.
Specially curated booths include H. Blairman & Sons Ltd (London, UK), illuminating the English Arts and Crafts movement with works by Ernest Gimson, Peter Waals, Alfred Bucknell, and Eric Sharpe, many of which are appearing on the market for the first time; these include a rare roomful of 19 woven wool panels by William Morris in the Campion pattern, recently removed from the Scottish home where they were originally installed. Returning exhibitor Les Enluminures (Chicago and New York, USA; Paris, France) brings medieval and Renaissance works including books of hours, sculpture, and jewelry and has published a new catalogue, Medieval Must-Haves: The Book of Hours, on the occasion of The Winter Show. Menconi + Schoelkopf (New York, USA) offers works by the seminal American Modernist painter John Marin. Jonathan Boos (New York, USA) and Hirschl & Adler Galleries (New York, USA) also showcase American painting from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Decorative antiques and furniture highlights include a lift-top chest attributed to Johannes Mayer, dated 1841 and still with its original paint-decorated finish, presented by Olde Hope (New Hope, PA, USA), alongside other exceptional pieces; a 1770 Chippendale side table presented by Bernard & S. Dean Levy Inc. (New York, USA); and an English William and Mary oyster-veneered olivewood chest of drawers, circa 1690, presented by Hyde Park Antiques, Ltd. (New York, USA).
Additional highlights include a selection of rare maps, prints, and books, such as a lithograph from 1881 by Beck & Pauli depicting a bird’s-eye view of Nantucket, presented by Arader Galleries (New York, USA); a variety of unique French antique wallpapers, from 18th-century French Neoclassical panels to 20th-century Art Deco panels, presented by Carolle Thibaut-Pomerantz (Paris, France); and an array of fine jewelry pieces, including a Tiffany & Co. platinum-and-diamond heart pendant, circa 1900, in its original box and an engraved Fabergé gold empire-style cigarette case from Frank Sinatra’s personal collection, presented by A La Vieille Russie, Inc. (New York, USA). Macklowe Gallery (New York, USA) also presents important antique and estate jewelry, such as a Tiffany Studios “Wisteria” table lamp, designed by the famed Clara Driscoll, one of Tiffany’s most notable female designers.
Lecture Series
The Winter Show’s Lecture Series includes panel discussions and talks by leading experts from the worlds of art and design, including Stellene Volandes, Editor in Chief of Town & Country, leading a panel on “The Holy Grails of Jewelry Collecting”; Elizabeth A. Williams, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the RISD Museum, lecturing on “Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850–1970”; Wendy Goodman, Design Editor at New York magazine, on “Discovering the World in Other People’s Houses”; artist Peter McGough on “Art, the Past, and LGBTQ+ History”; and Raymond J. Dowd, Partner at Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP, on “Art and the Spoils of War: Lessons from the Temple of Ishtar.”
Additional highlights include a design luncheon and panel discussion moderated by Wendy Moonan with The Winter Show 2019 Design Co-Chairs Frank de Biasi, Victoria Hagen, and John Murray, as well as special lectures for this year’s Loan Exhibition including Michael R. Harrison, Director of Research and Collections at the Nantucket Historical Association, on “125 Years of Collecting on Nantucket,” and National Book Award Winner Nathaniel Philbrick on “The Enduring Power of Moby-Dick.”
