The Newport Jazz Festival was not the only thing in town over the weekend of August 7‹ that was making for lively times and sweet music. Moving to a beat of its own, the Newport Antiques Show opened across town on Friday evening, with a well-attended gala preview party and continued its two-day run over the course of the weekend.
Featuring 42 dealers, the elegant and tasteful displays catered toward the upscale Newport crowd with a wide range of merchandise that spanned the centuries. Merchandise included everything from a Sixteenth Century illuminated manuscript ready to be placed on a shelf to Twentieth Century wicker settees all set for a veranda with an ocean view. Although set up in a hockey rink, this show does the impossible and conceals it. Similar to a cocoon, it opens into a spectacular vision of exquisite antiques displayed in intertwining aisles.
A benefit for the Newport Historical Society and the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County, the show is managed by Diana Bittel.
A special loan exhibit on display, “Maps From The Collections of The Newport Historical Society,” traced the history of Newport. Beginning with a 1712 example by John Mumford that displayed an al-ready developed town, the exhibition continued with the 1777 “Blaskowitz” map that depicted a bustling commercialized downtown area. Paper conservator Elizabeth Combs was also on hand Saturday morning to discuss her role in the restoration of the maps from the collection.
While the entrance at St George’s School had not changed, a revised and dramatic entryway onto the floor of the show was a topic of conversation. It proved to be both visually appealing and effective, delivering showgoers into an open area in the corner of the show’s floor and offering them several options in regard to a path to follow. Some were attracted by the uniquely flavored Americana offered immediately on their left in the stand of Cunha-St John, some to the exceptional artwork displayed across the aisle by The Cooley Gallery, others took fancy with the elegant offerings of Georgian Manor on view directly in front of them, and yet others were swayed by the formal furnishings presented to the right by Thomas Schwenke. No matter which direction they chose, the path they followed blossomed into a sumptuous arrangement with quality antiques displayed in booth after booth.
Essex, Mass., dealer Cunha-St John presented a wide variety of merchandise, with two themes prevalent: Americana and nautical. A nice pair of diminutive wall mounted barber poles in red, white and blue were affixed to a wall that also sported a large patriotic wooden shield. Below the shield was a well executed ship’s model on top of a banded chest.
Across the aisle, the nautical and oceanfront theme continued with local landscapes as presented through a series of oil paintings displayed by Jeff Cooley and The Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, Conn. Of particular interest was the monumental depiction of the local seashore landmark by Edmund Darch Lewis, “Sailing Off of Indian Rock, Narragansett Bay.”
The forefront of Schwenke’s booth, Woodbury, Conn., was filled with a Federal round center table in mahogany on a pedestal base ending in saber legs that was thought to have been made in Maryland, circa 1820. The table was surrounded by an impressive set of six English Chippendale carved mahogany chairs from the late Eighteenth Century.
Keeping within the local theme was silver specialist Robert Lloyd, New York City, with a select offering of regional silver, including a rare pair of sugar tongs by Jonathan Otis, Newport, circa 1775. Lloyd commented that this is only the “third known pair of cast, pierced arm sugar tongs from Rhode Island.” The dealer also offered what was termed “one of the earliest Rhode Island porringers known to exist,” a rare silver example touchmarked by Arnold Collins, Newport, circa 1695.
The booth of Newport art dealer William Vareika proved to be a unique study center for the paintings of William Trost Richards. More than 30 examples were on display, ranging from monumental local scenes to a series of smaller, yet equally impressive, works. “Sunset at Second Beach, Near Newport R.I., 1891,” is arguably one of the artist’s masterpieces and it dominated the rear wall of the stand. A watercolor titled “A Rhode Island Farmhouse” by Richards was attracting attention, as was another watercolor, “Morning: Old Fort (Dumpling), Conanicut, R.I.,” 1874.
Vareika, the show’s sponsor, stated that “Richards is one of the many important American artists who found special inspiration in the sublime natural environment and unique societies of Newport and the Narragansett Bay region.” The dealer was conducting his summer exhibition concurrently with the show that features more than 100 works by Richards.
While outside of the Richards theme, but still within the local theme, other stellar works in Vareika’s booth included Childe Hassam’s “Newport 1901,” price on request, and John Henry Twachtman’s “Paradise Rocks, Newport” that was marked $750,000. George Wesley Bellows’ oil “The Tree,” 1918, was another work of note that was marked $450,000.
A large bronze, “Naiad-Dryad” by Albert Atkins, was one of two sculptures beckoning views into the booth of Boston art dealer Walker-Cunningham. The outside wall of the stand featured a large painting by Phillip Little, “A Bit of Maine,” circa 1911, that was priced at $120,000, while a Maurice Compris oil depicting a vase of flowers in front of a window, “Afternoon Light,” had found a buyer soon after pre-view had opened.
Marine paintings by Montague Dawson were attracting attention in the booth of Quester Gallery, Rowayton, Conn. A selection of Dawson’s oils depicting racing sloops was featured, including “Reaching Across the Solent,” $250,000, and “British 6-Meter Yachts Racing on the Solent,” $200,000. Other paintings of interest included “Waiting for the Boats” by Edward Moran and “Pull for the Shore” by John George Brown. Folk art in the stand included a ship’s figurehead of a woman in a Victorian dress that was thought to have come from either an English or American sailing vessel, circa 1830, and a large carved sailor with a sextant.
Stonington, Conn., dealer Roberto Freitas had a large pair of cast iron recumbent retrievers at the forefront to his booth. “We just got them,” stated the dealer of the impressive life-sized figures with a wonderful old patina. Several weathervanes were also offered, including a leaping stag that was neatly displayed between a classic Chippendale dressing table and a Chippendale slant front desk.
A grand selection of folk art was also seen in the booth of Raccoon Creek Antiques, LLC at Oley Forge, Oley, Penn., where painted furniture and decorated stoneware took the lead. Viewers were greeted with a wonderful Pennsylvania blanket box in red paint with the front panel decorated with a basket of yellow flowers and straw spilling out to the sides. A collection of Nantucket baskets were displayed on the top.
Douglas Soliday and Melissa Williams, Columbia, Mo., offered a wonderful pair of cast zinc garden storks that were getting looks from the crowds. Another unusual item in the booth was a ceramic tile sculpture with an air of the Art Deco period by Frederick Holschuh.
An amusing pair of automated “wedding birds” were capturing the hearts of the young and old in the booth of Leatherwood Antiques, Sandwich, Mass. Made in Germany in the 1930s, the monumental birds’ beaks opened and closed as if chirping out joyous news. “They were used as a store window display,” said dealer Mo Wajselfish of the pair, “and they are reminiscent of characters from an old Ger-man folk tale.”
Dennis Easter of Made in Russia, Palm Beach, Fla., was on hand with a huge assortment of icons dating from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. Highlighting the group was a large panel from the Nov Grod school in Russia, early Sixteenth Century, that depicted Trinity Old Testament. “It is from one of the best schools in Russia,” stated the dealer, who quickly added that the selling price was $295,000. Another panel, a triptych, depicting Christ, Gabriel and the Saint Michael was from the same school and was offered by the dealer at $275,000.
For further information, www.newportantiquesshow.com or 401-846-2669.
