art conservation

Pennsylvania Museum, Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, with Antique Toy Collection

hoyt institute of fine arts artes fine arts magazine 5 — Lehmann-Made Tut-Tut, No 490 (1913). Coll. of L. J. Buehler, 1999. Gifted to Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, New Castle, PA

“Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man’s physical means to express itself, and with the analytical mind that enables it to bring order into the sum of experience, involuntarily amassed.” ~Charles Baudelaire

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!” ~Charles Dickens

We may be shopping for the children in our lives, reminiscing about the holidays of our youth, or analyzing our portfolios, hoping that the decision to invest in Barbie instead of G.I. Joe this season turns out to have been the right one; whatever the case may be, whether or not they are a part of our daily lives, the December holiday season is upon us. This is the time of year when toys find themselves at center stage. artes fine arts magazineMore

New York Art Critic, Ed Rubin, Takes to the Road for a Sampling of New England Country Living

Editor’s Note: Regular ARTES contributing writer and critic, Ed Rubin, travels all over the world in search of extraordinary art and theater experiences. Like the rest of us, though, he finds that sometimes a break in routine is in order. Ed recently traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, just to explore and discover what this famous nautical city, in the country’s smallest state, had to offer. Here is his fun-filled and useful report—good reading for anyone planning a ‘stay-cation’ and hoping for a little salt water adventure, mixed with a dose of old-world, ocean-front mansion elegance.

: Harbor, Newport, RI, at peak of the season. Photo: Keith W. Stokes

Newport, Rhode Island, widely renowned for its Jazz Festival every August and its Gilded Age, turn-of -the-century mansions—many of the most awesome overlooking the Atlantic – is filled to the brim with hidden and not-so-hidden treasure. Saying that this small enclave of some 26,000 year-round folk (swelling three-fold, plus, in the summertime) is an embarrassment of riches, is a gross understatement, for around every corner await astonishing surprises, many of mesmerizing proportions. fine arts magazineMore

Art Deco Silver: A Modern Design Revolution

art deco silver artes fine arts magazine — Gorham silver coffee pot (c. 1932)

How can you explain the allure of silver? Like its rich cousin, gold, silver is one of those rare earth elements that has served the imagination and creative hand of artisans over the ages- often with breathtakingly beautiful results. Silver in its purest form is soft and pliable, reflective and lustrous when polished to a high shine and filled with beautiful light-effects when cut, shaped, hammered or cast.

Over the ages, silversmiths have taken their inspiration largely from nature to create works of art with both utility and beauty. Most familiar are the elaborate coffee services, candelabras and jewelry fashioned in the style of 19th Century Romanticism. These pieces showcased the craftsman’s skill with elaborate floral scenes and design elements inspired by the classical Revivalist style of the Romans and Greeks. In America, the austere, but elegant creations of the colonial silver-making tradition, popularized by our most famous silversmith, Paul Revere, can be found in many well-to-do homes.fine arts magazineMore

FDR’s ‘New Deal’ and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Help Define Modern Art in America

In my small New England city, the post office was a down-scaled, classically-inspired structure of harmonious proportions, designed to serve as a symbolic link to a democratic ideal, filled with promise, several hundred miles south, in L’Enfant’s capital city of Washington, D.C.. For many years, when I was a young stamp collector, I would patiently stand in line at our post office, surrounded by the dull echo of voices reverberating off well-worn marble floors, studying the intricately- carved wood pilasters surrounding the postal clerk’s windows, as I awaited my turn. Out of boredom, my eyes would follow the reverberating sounds to the ceiling of this mundane, aging federal office building, where dusty globe lights hung from heavy black chains, beneath delicately-ribbed vaulted ceilings, darkened by grime. This scene, even then heavily frayed on the edges, hinted of a postal service long-past, once sanguine with national pride and the promise of all-weather efficiency.

(Above) Stuart Davis, (1894-1964) United States, SWING LANDSCAPE (1938), o/c, 86 3/4 x 173 1/8”, Frame: 88 1/2 x 174 3/4 x 3 ½”. Originally painted by Davis for the Williamsburg Housing Project, Brooklyn, NY. ©2011, Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana, #42.1. Photographers: Michael Cavanagh and Kevin Montague fine arts magazineMore

Antiques Roadshow: Standing in Line for the American Dream

At first, it seemed that a mass migration might be underway. People by the dozens and then by the hundreds moved along sidewalks and curbsides, pushing carts, pulling wagons and dollies, arms laden, backs straining under the weight of their worldly goods. Were they fleeing the oppressive heat and humidity of Washington, D.C., or perhaps some apocalyptic event about to befall the nation’s capital, of which I was not yet aware? They moved with determination and good humor, as if on an adventure, converging finally at the doorway of the Walter Washington Convention Center in the heart of the city. A sense of camaraderie and common purpose seemed to form an invisible bond between strangers as they gathered up their treasures and moved collectively down the seemingly endless hallway toward a single spot—center stage at public television’s national phenomenon, The Antiques Roadshow; or what one appraiser explained to me about its 14-year run, “It’s ‘the History Channel’ meets ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire.’”

Above: Art appraisers, David Weiss, foreground and Alasdair Nichol, of Freeman’s Auctioneers work the Paintings & Drawings table for Washington, D.C.’s Antiques Roadshow. All photos, unless otherwise noted, by Katherine Arcano fine arts magazine artwork More

Photographer, Alex Maclean Documents Two Threatened Settings in Unlikely Parallel

At first glance, the only similarity between Vegas and Venice is that they both begin with the letter V. Look closer though, and you’ll see another parity—they’re both vanishing. Pilot, trained architect, and fine art aerial photographer, Alex Maclean, sees a disturbing beauty in these doppelgangers. Disturbing because of the environmental destruction these two iconic cities are experiencing, even though their impending demise is at the extreme ends of environmental catastrophe: drowning and desertification. But he beholds remarkable beauty there, too; because he brings to his task no preconceived ideas of what the lay of the land should be. From the sky, he surveys beauty wherever he finds it- even in the most unlikely settings. Fine Arts Magazine

Above: Alex Maclean, Las Vegas, Housing subdivision built out in the desert, from his solo exhibition, ‘Vegas-Venice’More

Newport, Rhode Island’s Historic Vanderbilt Hall and Vernon Court Share Passion for Fine Art

fine arts magazine — Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (circ.1910)

This is a tale of two historic homes in a beautiful seaside, New England town, and of how visionary zeal and coincidence braided history, friendship and a passion for things beautiful together in a most unusual way…

On May 1, 1915 Alfred Vanderbilt boarded the Lusitania bound for Liverpool as a first class passenger. It was a business trip, and he traveled with only his valet, leaving his family at home in New York. On May 7th, off the coast of County Cork, Ireland, the German submarine, U-20, torpedoed the ship, triggering a secondary explosion, sinking the giant ocean liner within eighteen minutes. Vanderbilt and his valet, Ronald Denyer, helped others into lifeboats, and then Vanderbilt gave his own lifejacket to save a female passenger, even tying it onto her himself, since she was holding an infant child in her arms. His selfless actions cost him, and those of 1197 other passengers, their lives. Fine Arts MagazineMore

Fine Art Collecting: Art Fairs and Other Insurance Underwriting Challenges

Seeking – Director for Museum, open 4-10 days a year with hundreds of curators involved, and tens of thousands of visitors. Must be able to cope with logistical nightmares and able to please everybody all the time.

How many museums are there in the world? Have a guess. I have no idea so email me if you know. My point is there are thousands upon thousands of museums, more than it would be possible to count with any great ease. Museums are, for the most part, continuously in operation. Their time horizon, as a business, is long range. They are afforded the luxury of time to organize, correct, and improve. But, in the case of an art fair or expo, how do you cram all of these operational considerations into a just a few days of intense activity, and accomplish it without serious incident?Fine Arts MagazineMore

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Soon to Display Object of Baroque Era Artistry

In 2007, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston acquired a spectacular twenty-eight piece silver-gilt toilet service made by the Augsburg goldsmith, Johann Erhard II Heuglin (master 1717-1757), around 1725-1730. It represents the height of the Baroque style in Germany.

Left: Twenty?eight piece toilet service in original leather case marked by Johann Erhard II Heuglin (master 1717–1757) and Philipp Jakob I. Jäger (active 1715–1763), (German (Augsburg), about 1725–1730). Silver gilt, glass, boars’ bristles, original leather?covered case with wrought?iron hardware. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Fine Art MagazineMore

Fine Art Collecting- A New Series Focuses on Risk Management

This unusual story may not at first appear to be entirely relevant when considering the dark magic of insurance. Certainly many people need a cup of strong coffee before submitting themselves to an insurance analysis. But, other than that, what relevance is there between insurance and the art of coffee making…possibly, none.