'Furnishing Louisiana': Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735-1835: A Lecture by Cybele Gontar

 

Carlton Hobbs is hosting the New York launch of 'FURNISHING LOUISIANA': Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735-1835 at their New York gallery at 60 East 93rd Street, New York.

The opening night reception, on March 24th, will be preceded by a lecture on the subject of the book by co-author Cybèle Gontar, current Ph.D. Candidate in 18th and 19th century American Art at CUNY's Graduate Center.
 
Described by The Historic New Orleans Collection as its latest and most ambitious publication, this magisterial study evokes an era before mass production and ease of transport began to homogenize furniture design across America. From the early 18th through the mid-19th centuries, distinctive cabinetmaking traditions developed along the Mississippi River through a melding of French, Anglo-American, Caribbean, French-Canadian, and African influences. Furnishing Louisiana stands as tribute to the region's cultural diversity and remarkable artistry.
 
Featuring more than 1,200 full-color illustrations, Furnishing Louisiana presents a comprehensive catalogue of furniture forms produced in the upper and lower Mississippi River valley. The book also offers contextual essays on cabinetmakers, hardware, woods, inlay, the import trade at the Port of New Orleans, and the interior of the early Louisiana home.

Cybèle T. Gontar is a Ph.D. Candidate in 18th and 19th century American Art at CUNY's Graduate Center. Gontar holds an M.A. from Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in History of European Decorative Arts. From 1999-2007, she maintained the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Sculpture and Decorative Arts database through TMS. In 2002, she worked as a researcher for James Madison's Montpelier. She has written extensively for The Magazine Antiques, Antiques & Fine Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Currently she teaches Modern European and American art at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC.

 Furnishing Louisiana is available for purchase at The Shop at The Collection, www.hnoc.org or (504) 598-7147; at independent booksellers nationwide; and through major online retailers. Retail price is $95 plus tax.

For further information regarding this event, please call 212-432-9000.

 

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Carlton Hobbs was delighted to host an event held for private clients of Gurr Johns Fine Art Advisory and Valuation Firm last night. In anticipation of the event, we installed some prints of works handled by Gurr Johns on behalf of their clients. These include Le Moteur (The Engine) by Fernand Leger, Figures in a Landscape by Roy Lichtenstein, Reverie by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and The Virgin and Child with Grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder.  Here you can view their placement in our galleries. It was most interesting to experiment with the juxtaposition of 18th century furniture and 20th century paintings.

 

http://www.gurrjohns.com/aboutus

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A La Française

For over 30 years The Sylvan Winds has earned both critical and audience acclaim for its spirited performances and innovative programming as one of New York's most versatile chamber music ensembles. 

The group has performed at numerous prestigious music halls and festivals, including the Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, Town Hall, Merkin Concert Hall and Symphony Space, and the Governor's Arts Awards. They have also performed at the White Mountains, Cape Cod and Caramoor International Music Festivals, have toured major university and chamber music series nationally including Amherst College, the Chicago Chamber Music Society, Rutgers University's Summerfest, and the University of the Pacific, as well as performing in Korea, including the Sejong Cultural Center.

Tonight they open their Spring 2011 Season at Carlton Hobbs with a concert entitled A La Française, featuring pieces by Rameau, Kriens, Chrétien, Cowell, Dvorak. The concert will also feature selections from Grétry's opéra-comique Zemire et Azor, which, interestingly is also the subject of five extremely rare faux tapestry panels in our collection, circa 1775. 

A favorite of Marie-Antoinette, Zémire et Azor was first performed at Fontainebleau in November of 1771 and was dedicated to Madame du Barry. It would later be performed for the emperor Napoleon.  The story was an adaptation set in Persia of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's tale 'La Belle et Bete' ('Beauty and the Beast') first published in 1756. The costume and décor illustrated in the panels follow the much imitated, extravagant A La Turc style promoted by Marie-Antoinette, which represented the height of fashion and opulence.  It seems extremely likely that the five panels were conceived as preliminary designs or maquettes for tapestries, probably for one of the great French factories such as Aubusson or Beauvais.

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The Sailor's Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Before there was Hallmark, you might have received a "sailor's valentine" from your darling 19th-century seafarer across the ocean. 

Traditional sailor's valentines are keepsakes typically made of octagonal boxes, usually constructed of mahogany or cedrella (Spanish cedar), hinged together in pairs which open to reveal elaborate mosaics made of colorful shells covered by glass. T

he patterns often featured a heart or compass rose design, and included a sentimental message such as "Remember Me" or "Home Again." 

The romantic myth behind these tokens of affection is that sailors constructed the "valentines" for their sweethearts to pass idle hours at sea. This may be a possibility for their origin, however, the vast majority were actually produced as part of the souvenir trade on Barbados and other Caribbean islands, mainly between 1830 and 1890. Barbados was a port of call for American and English ships, and the sailors would purchase the valentines as tokens of love to bring back to their wives, mothers, and sisters. According to Sailors' Valentines, by John Fondas, the primary source for these souvenirs was the New Curiosity Shop, located in McGregor Street, Bridgetown, Barbados, owned by the English brothers B.H. and George Belgrave.

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Massive mirror on the wall...how'd you get hung up there in the first place?

This impressive baroque mirror, of carved and painted wood, is done in the manner of 

the celebrated sculptor Filippo Parodi (1620-1702). 

While it may look like a little reflective cloud, don't let the image fool you-- this massive mirror measures a whopping 8 1/2 feet wide by 9 feel tall (and a foot in depth)! 

Here are some photos taken during the installation of the mirror in our gallery. We needed ladders, a crane, and lots of manpower. 

And here is a look at the finished product: 

 At over 500 pounds, the mirror is hung (over an equally monumental desk) with a little help from some wooden supports.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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"One Small Step for Man"

A friend of ours recently brought to our attention an amazing exhibition that was held last Spring and Summer at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne entitled Der Mond. Over 130 paintings, drawings, prints and photographs were exhibited, spanning 500 years of human personification of the moon through art and science. 

It is particularly interesting to us because our own painting of the moon (Mond, by Julius Grimm) was created by a scientific photographer that, after having produced countless lunar maps, decided to paint this extraordinary natural satellite with a blend of art and science.

The exhibition features a second painting of the moon by Grimm, a copy twice the size of our original, executed 11 years later and now hanging in Tübingen University Museum.  

We think it can be best summed up by Apollo 13 star, Tom Hanks, who subsequently wrote/directed/produced/narrated the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon,: "That going to the moon was not just a technological endeavor but an artistic one, like Michaelangelo's frescoes on the Sistine chapel ceiling."

(Photos: Mond, Julius Grimm, Carlton Hobbs LLC;  Apollo 11 Moonwalk; The Sheepfold, Moonlight, Jean-Francois Millet)

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James has us all wondering-- What will he wear at Masterpiece London?

Our glamorous friend, James Andrew, visited our gallery last week with equally hot photographer, Lars Stephan. 

James is currently featuring a "What is James Wearing in Paris" section on his blog (www.whatisjameswearing.com), but interrupted the series to spend some time on our grand staircase. The extravagant escalier

 get us all in the mood for the upcoming Masterpiece Fair in London, which James will be visiting and where we will be exhibiting from June 22nd through the 29th. It promises to become one of the best antiques and fine art fairs in the world and you can read more about our plans for the fair here!  

Lars Stephan's  images have been featured in numerous international magazines and his first solo exhibition was held last summer at Envoy Enterprises here in New York. You can view his portfolio on his website, www.larsstephan.com. 

Thanks to both of them for stopping by, and we hope many of you are able to hop the pond and enjoy this inaugural antiques show!

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