design

Some folks like to do things in a big way.  They enjoy the spotlight, and blossom with a little extra attention.  We’re sort of that way, too, so we understand.  Even when it comes to selling an antique or collectible, we think it’s always more fun to make a splash.  Why do anything the conventional way when you can make it fun? Do you remember that Super Hero Auction we had last year?  We had national news coverage for that event, plus plenty of local headlines and spots on our local news networks.  Our own John discovered he looked good in ...

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  If antiques are items torn from history, then auctions are the vehicles that place them once again within the context of personal history.  As surely as Curtis Jere's fanciful wire sculpture "Three Birds in Flight" or Nathan Wasserberger's nude on blue reflect today's sensibilities, two 19th C. French bronzes-Jean-Paul Aube's "Allegorie de le Pientre" and Auguste Peiffer's Allegorical Bronze Group-echo with a timeless beauty.  It will be a joy to see all find new owners. Surveying the wealth of designer modern furniture in our gallery at 80 East 11th Street, I can almost see the set of six ...

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A few days ago, a Chinese collector came into the gallery to inspect a piece of Orientalia. He brought a black light, a jeweler's loop and a translator. After thoroughly inspecting the item, the collector remarked that the nuances and subtleties were all but missing on the Internet. That's why Robert and I spend so much time staging the Roland Auction exhibitions. The preview that opens Thursday, October 13 features more than 400 lots in the October 15 sale. Catalog descriptions are, at best, curatorial and academic. We don't editorialize. We don't "sell" in the catalog you view on ...

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Can you follow your passion?  Can you live a life full of only what you hold dear?  Is this possible?  Well sure.  Sort of.  Let's talk about artists.  Creators who produce work that is wholly about their passion.  Artists who break barriers and cause us to stop and think.  Artists who challenge the old guard and what has always been to create what will be.  Often times, these artists are not fully appreciated in their own time.  So, I ask you - Can you follow your passion or do you have to follow the money?   The idealistic me says that of course you can live a life following your ...

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Have you heard that?  Have you said that?  I'm not speaking about dating, but rather singles and pairs in the antiques and design business.  Lamps, chairs, vases, chandeliers, mirrors, sconces - just about anything.  For those of us in the antiques and design business we seem to be all too preoccupied by pairs.  The desire to have a mirror copy of a room, to have even numbers throughout, to have a numerical balance - it just doesn't add up.   Let's examine your living room.  A sofa with a matched pair of end tables on either side with a matched pair of lamps or vases sitting on top.  ...

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If I had to pick three great names in 20th Century design, I think they would be Frank Lloyd Wright, George Nakashima and Isamu Noguchi.  I was coming of age when they had already achieved a certain agelessness. Their names and work continue to endure.  We're lucky to have items by each in our September 17 auction. Frank Lloyd Wright's last project was the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue. Who can forget Isamu Noguchi's sets for the Martha Graham modern dance company? And Nakashima's offspring continue in his tradition. I won't say Roland's looks like a museum these days, but when you see ...

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You know this already.  We've all heard it.  The three most important things in real estate are location, location and location.  And when you're speaking of Manhattan real estate you had better add numerous zeros.  This 'City that Never Sleeps' offers everything you could want (and maybe some things that you don't) throughout the city.  And there's a price for that convenience.  Whether you rent or own, a Manhattan store is no small investment.  With rents in the 10's of thousands of dollars per month and prices to own in the millions, what is a start up business to do?  That all depends on ...

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When people speak of Cidade Maravilhosa, Rio de Janeiro, they are generally speaking of the lush tropical natural beauty that is rivaled only by its inhabitants.  They generally are speaking of Carnaval, The Girl from Ipanema and other such icons that conjure up beauties and the beach.  They are not generally speaking of world class architects and furniture designers.  But they should be.Hi, my name is Heather Karlie Vieira and I'd like to introduce you to a world of important design.  Oscar Niemeyer, Joaquim Tenreiro, Sergio Rodrigues, Jorge Zalszupin, Percival Lafer, Jean Gillon, Michel ...

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How is energy transmitted? Reverberations, responses, echoes – the vibrational criteria of effects. Sensitive chaos, formulating itself into waves, patterns and nature’s intermeshing. Parallel phenomena – body and spirit. These are the emotions and responses one experiences when viewing the artwork of Audra Skuodas. Her wall sculptures, hand- made books, drawings and writings have been created over forty years. Audra Skuodas’ artworks have become her voice and often reflect her inner psyche. She paints the yin and the yang, the spiritual and the material, the body and the soul. Her good ...

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Using nature as my springboard, I create optimistic, energetic and playful images. Content is of primary importance in my work. Most recently I have used the “leaf shape” as my sculptural foundation. Layering and adding a variety of materials helps embellish and define my carved wood sculptures. Working in a variety of materials (bronze, stone, stainless steel and wood), I am not restricted to just one process. This gives me the freedom to explore exciting combinations while creating my sculptures. I am constantly expanding my artistic vocabulary and look forward to the challenges of ...

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After more than 35 years in the economic and community development field, Don Iannone has mounted the creative path as a practicing artist and author. Don’s educational background includes an undergraduate degree in Anthropology, and graduate studies in Organizational Behavior and Economic Development. Very recently, he completed a Master of Arts Degree in Consciousness Studies, with a concentration in how our consciousness gives rise to art, and how art shapes our consciousness of the world. Don is a fine arts photographer living in Bratenahl, Ohio. His niche is using photography as a ...

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Senior Entrepreneurial Fine Arts Consultant with over 18 years experience as a professional fine art consultant, fine art appraiser, curator to corporations, hospitals, financial institutions, and private individuals.  Experience Includes sales, marketing, contract negotiations, art acquisition, advisory services for current collections, fine art exhibitions and archival preservation.   Partner with clients to build an art collection that both reflect the client’s interests and aesthetic needs along with creating a collection of great value.  Since 1984, operated a corporate art ...

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The history and beauty of Charleston, South Carolina, are featured in the current exhibition at Payne Fine Arts. From paintings, including an unusual WPA-era view of the College of Charleston, to the silhouettes of Carew Rice, to a burgeoning field in Charleston collecting, that of original vintage photographs and Albertypes,  to historic engravings, the "Charleston Collection"  has something for all those who have fallen in love with the "Holy City." For our friends and collectors of Kentucky and regional art, the site has recently added artworks and prices that should prove tempting. From ...

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As a younger artist I envisoned myself in prestigious galleries, accepting awards from people "on high". I soon lost patience with that. I found that what I love most is to create exactly the kind of art that my heart desires. I've had no problem finding people who love my work and buy it, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters to me. I've always had a childlike quality to what I do. I used to try to "overcome" that, but now I embrace it. I am childlike. I love to see the world through my own lens, in the way I want to see it. My worst critics in life where all in my head. They ...

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A Chinese Vase expected to sell for $800. to $1,200., was sold by Sotheby's New York for an astonishing $18 million on March 22, 2011. Described as an unusual famille rose and gold decorated vase, an Anonymous Sotheby's bidder paid $18 million for this 20 century porcelain. The Chinese Vase was among 300 lots consigned by J.T. Tai and Company, a well-known  Dealer of Chinese Porcelain; the Sotheby's Sale realized $36.3 million and took nine hours to complete. Why did Sotheby's estimate the $18 million Chinese Vase at only $800-$1,200? Sotheby's felt there was no actual support to indicate ...

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When Charles Lewis Tiffany opened his stationary and fancy goods shop in 1837, he could not have imagined the indelible mark the name "Tiffany" would leave on the history of American decorative arts. Its mere mention conjures images of the timeless elegance and refinement seen in every work of silver and fine jewelry the firm ever created. Tiffany and his partners John Young and J.L. Ellis recognized early on the importance of becoming prominent force in silversmithing. The great increase in demand during this era for both presentation and household silver convinced the trio to open their ...

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There’s something about wintry days that make a person see their home with new eyes. Maybe it’s all that indoor time between the holidays and the Super Bowl that spurs that itch for change. Whether you while away your weekends rearranging the furniture, or reclining on your George Nelson sofa, I’m pretty sure you’ve spent a little time envisioning how swell your living room would look with that orange chair parked in front of the picture window. Before you know it, you might find yourself brandishing a paintbrush and picking out new throw pillows.  Being the voice of experience, I ...

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SANTA FE, N.M. – December is the best month to be in Santa Fe. Snow sugars the old town and farolitos – occasionally still the paper bag and candle variety of childhood memory – climb stepped adobe walls. Pinon scents the night air. At the nearby pueblos, feast day dances bind the generations in spiritual traditions as old as time. A first stop is Coulter Brooks Art & Antiques at 924 Paseo de Peralta.  Jan Brooks and Lane Coulter  –  who is known for such well-thumbed references such as New Mexican Tinwork, 1840-1940; Navajo Saddle Blankets: Textiles to Ride in the American West and ...

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The joy of instant gratification, combined with that pleasurable buyer’s rush, all mixed up in a compact four-hour sale mean that I can go to the auction, see my pals and bid on great area rugs and end tables and still make it home in time to pop dinner in the oven before running off for some afternoon errands. Now, my days of obtaining and taking home furniture have just become a little easier. Dan Ripley and my friends at Antique Helper have decided to offer weekday auctions where folks with the urge to purge can unload alongside the hunters and gatherers who crave some change.I ...

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HARTFORD, CT. – Some scholars cast a shadow so deep that decades pass before newcomers dare examine a subject in a new light. Betty Ring is one such giant. Beginning in 1967 and culminating in 1993 with Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers and Pictorial Needlework, 1650-1850, the doyenne of needlework studies defined the field’s scholarly and commercial parameters by classifying the best early American embroidery by school and instructor. Enter Susan P. Schoelwer. In 2005, she began her exhaustive analysis of antique needlework in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society. ...

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Frank Lloyd Wright's bold, textile-block Ennis House in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles is for sale with an asking price of $15 million. An eclectic incarnation of the world-renowned architect's work, the Mayan-inspired house was built for men's clothing magnate Charles Ennis and his wife Mabel in 1924. Wright created four textile-block houses in Los Angeles County between 1923 and 1926. Ennis House is the grandest of them all, encompassing more than 20,000 16-inch by 16-inch concrete blocks in 6,000-square feet at the edge of the Santa Monica Mountains. Listed by the U.S. ...

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