Fakes and Forgeries Seminars on Antique Silver: NYC and Williamsburg, VA

A unique insight into the faking and forgering of antique silver and gold; aimed specially for collectors, silver specialists, auctioneers, independent dealers, insurance valuers; Goldsmiths' Company

“FAKES AND FORGERIES” SILVER SEMINARSHOSTED BY ASSAY OFFICE LONDON AND THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF GOLDSMITHS TO TAKE PLACE IN NEW YORK NY, RICHMOND VA AND WILLIAMSBURG VA, USASINCE ITS FORMATION by Royal Charter in 1327, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths has played an integral part in the regulation of the silver trade. Today, The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office London continues to be the world’s authoritative body for authenticating antique silver and, in addition, plays an important support and educational role. Under this remit Assay Office London has, for more than a decade, organised seminars on detecting fakes and forgeries in antique silver. For the first time, Assay Office London is presenting its educational programmes in the United States. Two full-day seminars will be offered in the USA this autumn. The first will be offered in association with the Bard Graduate Center and Christie’s in New York City on October 23 2007. The second will be held on October 25 2007 in association with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg VA. Dr Robert Organ, Deputy Warden of The Goldsmiths’ Company and Head of Assay Office London, said: “To take the Fakes and Forgeries seminar on the road is one of Assay Office London’s new initiatives. By better informing both international collectors of silver and also the wider trade in the regulation of antique silver and ancient hallmarks, we hope to increase interest and trust in this specialised market. America has many important collections of English silver and we want to encourage this valuable collecting tradition.” The seminars are specifically for silver specialists, auctioneers, independent dealers and insurance valuers, as well as private collectors and are designed to provide them with an invaluable opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the identification of fake and forged antique silver. The full-day seminars comprise a morning session which explores the English Hallmarking system, the regulatory role of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and Assay Office London and the use of scientific methods in the authentication of antique plate. In addition, lectures with perspectives on detecting fakes in the field of antique silver and jewellery will be delivered by Timothy Schroder, former Head of Christie’s Silver Department, and Charles Truman, general editor of ‘Sotheby’s Concise Encyclopaedia of Silver’. In the afternoon, a “hands-on” session, led by silver specialists, offers participants the opportunity to examine articles from the infamous Assay Office London’s Rogues’ Museum of Fakes, the largest known collection of fake English silver. Among the fakes to be examined are common examples such as spoons converted into forks, transposed marks and articles made from base metal. In addition, pieces that continue to perplex experts will be discussed to ensure that all levels of expertise benefit from this unique exercise. Questions such as how to identify an illegal cast duplicate of an authentic original, how an expert decides on an object’s authenticity and legality will all be addressed during the seminar. Included in the seminar programme is an evening lecture by Alastair Dickenson of the BBC’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’ fame on the history of fakes and forgeries in antique silver. The lecture will be followed by a reception and preview of Christie’s Auction of ‘Important Silver and Objects of Virtue’ in New York on October 23, 2007. A reception and private view of ‘Noble Silver: the Jerome and Rita Gans Collection of English Silver’ at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond will follow Alastair Dickenson’s lecture on October 24, 2007, in association with the full day seminar in Williamsburg on October 25, 2007. Those interested in taking part in the New York seminar or evening lecture should contact: The Bard Graduate Center, Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 18 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024, Information: 212-501-3011; email: programs@bgc.bard.edu www.bgc.bard.edu/public/special_events.shtml Those interested in taking part in the Williamsburg seminar should contact:


The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 325 Francis Street, Williamsburg, Virginia USA 23185, Information: 1-800-HISTORYwww.history.org/History/museums/dewitt_gallery.cfm Those interested in attending the evening lecture in Richmond should contact:The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts ticket desk, 200 N. Boulevard, Richmond, VAInformation: 1-804-340-1405http://www.vmfa.museum Further information on forthcoming seminars and additional educational programmes can be found on The Goldsmiths’ Company’s website: www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk Lectures at the upcoming seminars delivered by The Goldsmiths’ Company, include the following: Why is Silver So Special?Address by Dr. Robert Organ, Deputy Warden, Assay Office LondonThe history of Hallmarking and The Goldsmiths’ CompanyVideo starring Mr. Tim Wonnacott, daytime presenter of BBC’s ‘Bargain Hunt’ The Final Word on Fakes:

The Role of the Assay Office and the Antique Plate CommitteeMiss Christina Reti, Marketing Manager & Hallmark Specialist, Assay Office London Test Methods: The Use of Scientific Technology in Authenticating Silver PlateMr. Tim Swann, Senior Assayer, Assay Office LondonKeynote Speeches:The Connoisseurship of Fakes and ForgeriesMr. Timothy SchroderFreelance curator; Former Head of Christie’s Silver Department; Curator of the Gilbert Collection at Somerset House (1996-2000); Consultant Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum (2000-2006); Court of Assistants, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and former member of the Antique Plate Committee. Publications include: ‘The National Trust Book of English Domestic Silver’ (London, 1988); ‘The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver’ (Los Angeles, 1988); ‘Gold and Silver at the Ashmolean Museum’ (forthcoming 2008).Whatever has been collected has also been faked. Saintly relics in the Middle Ages, classical antiquities in the Renaissance and Queen Anne silver in our own times have all been targeted by enterprising fakers exploiting a buoyant and sometimes gullible market. This lecture looks at some of the broader issues of faking and tries to distinguish between the outright fake, the honest imitation and the unacceptably over-restored. In the specific field of English and Continental silver, it analyses a number of individual objects, giving insight into some of the many ways in which the work of the faker can be recognised.A Gem of a Fake: Targeting Fake Renaissance JewelleryMr. Charles TrumanCurrent member of the Antique Plate Committee; Past Chairman of the Silver Society and the British Antique Dealer’s Association; Former Director of Christie’s Silver Department; general editor of “Sotheby’s Concise Encyclopaedia of Silver”; author of “The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes” and numerous publications on precious metalworkSeveral prominent goldsmiths were working on the production of “Renaissance -style" goldsmith's work during the second half of the 19th century.

Many of their products found their way onto the market through the "Sale of the Century", that of the collection of Frederic Spitzer in Paris in 1893, but many had already found homes in some of Europe and America's finest collections. Curators from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, the Musée Cluny in Paris, as well as those of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London were unable to resist the attraction of such sought after pieces. In this lecture, Charles Truman will explore whether or not these spectacular pieces were made as deliberate fakes or if they were made out of respect for an earlier tradition and used as "window-dressing" for great collections.Evening Lecture and Reception: The Fake’s ProgressMr. Alastair DickensonLeading antique silver dealer and participating specialist on the BBC’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’ for over 15 years; former Director of Asprey’s Antiques Department and Tessier Bond Street; only member of the Antique Plate Committee to be re-elected for a second term; former council member of the BADA; founding member of the Guild of Art Scholars, Dealers and Collectors.

The possibility of overlooking a fake or forged piece of silver has haunted experts, curators, and collectors for as long as silver has been a prized commodity. In this lecture, silver specialist Alastair Dickenson will expose some of the sharp practices undertaken by disreputable silversmiths and dealers, and will unveil clues to distinguishing between fake and genuine articles. Tracing the history of fakes and forgeries from the early 18th century, Dickenson will also highlight some very recent developments in faking and discuss the sophisticated methods that present a challenge to current connoisseurship.NOTES TO EDITORS:Fakes and Forgeries Seminar New York 23 October, 2007 – 9am – 4pmBard Graduate Center38 West 86th Street, NY, NYCost: $120 general$100 seniors and students(includes admission to the Alastair Dickenson lecture on October 23)The Fake’s Progress Lecture New Yorkby Alastair Dickenson23 October, 2007 – 6pm – 8pmChristie’s20 Rockefeller Plaza (The lecture will be followed by a reception and preview of Christie’s Auction of ‘Important Silver and Objects of Virtue’, to be held 26 October, 2007)Cost:$20 general$15 seniors and studentsThe Fake’s Progress Lecture Richmondby Alastair Dickenson24 October, 2007 – 6.00pm – 8.00pmVirginia Museum of Fine Arts200 N. Boulevard Richmond, Virginia USA 23220-4007 (The lecture will be followed by a reception and preview of ‘Noble Silver: The Jerome and Rita Gans Collection of English Silver’)Cost:$20 general$10 seniors and studentsFakes and Forgeries Seminar Williamsburg25 October, 2007 – 9.30am – 4.30pmThe DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation325 Francis StreetWilliamsburg, Virginia USA 23185Cost: $160 general$120 seniors and students(includes lunch and evening lecture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)For further press information and images please contact:Christina Reti or Amanda Stücklin,Press Office, Tel 020 7367 5913, Email: Amanda.stucklin@thegoldsmiths.co.uk Christina.reti@assayofficelondon.co.uk www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk

The Winter Antiques Show

The 54th annual Winter Antiques Show, featuring America's most prestigious experts in American, English, European, and Asian fine and decorative arts, will be held Jan 18-27, 2008.

The Winter Antiques Show celebrates its 54th year as America’s most prestigious antiques show featuring 75 renowned experts in American, English, European, and Asian fine and decorative arts. Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Chilton, Jr. serve as Honorary Chairmen for 2008. Bank of America premiers as the proud Show sponsor for 2008-2009, with Alan Rappaport, Bank of America, and Pamela Fiori, editor in chief of Town & Country as Co-Chairmen of the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 17th. All net proceeds from the Show benefit East Side House Settlement, a non-profit in the South Bronx that provides social services to community residents. An Eye Toward Perfection: The Shaker Museum and Library is the 2008 loan exhibition, designed by Stephen Saitas and sponsored by The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies for the twelfth consecutive year. The Shaker Museum and Library, based in Old Chatham, NY, owns the largest and best-documented Shaker collection in the world. Show hours are 12 Noon to 8:00 p.m. daily; Sundays and Thursday, 12 Noon to 6:00 p.m. To purchase tickets for the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 17th or the Young Collectors’ Night on Thursday, January 24th, please call 718.292.7392 or visit the Show’s website at www.winterantiquesshow.com. General admission to the Show is $20, which includes the Show’s award-winning catalogue.

California Country Antique & Folk Art Show

22nd year of this superb antique show featuring American Country and Folk Art with 50+ dealers from across the US & Canada selling the finest classic & new country style antiques.

For the past 22 years, the Los Altos History Museum has sponsored the California Country Antique American Country & Folk Art Show which is held at the Hillview Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave, Los Altos. This show, rated by Country Home Magazine as the #7 Great Outdoor Show in America, is a twice-yearly event that has the atmosphere of old friends getting together to spend the day enjoying their common interests. This is always an exceptional show with 50+ superb antique dealers from across the USA and Canada selling the finest classic & new country style antiques. Country to formal furniture, folk art, quilts, hooked rugs, samplers, lighting, woodenware, baskets, stoneware, architectural and garden elements, camp and cottage, toys, holiday items, lots of old original paint and much, much more! Items will be priced to meet everyone’s budget. The traditional $100.00 shopping spree drawing will be held at 2 pm on the luncheon lawn. Show goers will be able to visit the History Museum at no extra charge. Also on the History Museum patio, right next door, artisans will demonstrate making early American decorative arts and their completed works of art will be available for purchase. With the addition of old-fashioned barbecued and picnic-style foods, including homemade apple pie, available for purchase and live country folk music makes this a “must” event for antique lovers from the San Francisco Bay area and all over the nation. This show has the same quality and quantity as the top east coast shows...with surprisingly better prices!Date: October 21, 2007Hours: 10am - 4pmPrice: $9 ($6 after 11am)Location: 97 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA.The show is conveniently located between highways 280 and 101 in Los Altos. For fly-ins, both the San Jose International and San Francisco International Airports are only about 20 minutes away.

The Phoenix Antiques, Bottles, & Collectibles Club (PABCC) is putting on an Antique Show

The Phoenix Antiques, Bottles, & Collectibles Club (PABCC) is putting on their massive annual show, presenting a diverse array of interesting collectibles on October 12th and 13th.

The Phoenix Antiques, Bottles, and Collectibles Club (PABCC) is having our annual show/sale in October. We would love to have you attend or be a dealer at our show. Here are the specifics: The show is scheduled for Friday, October 12th, Early Bird 10am-1pm ($10) and General Admission 1pm-6pm ($3) and Saturday, October 13th, General Admission 8am – 4pm ($3). Items for sale in the past have been wide ranging, including: antique toys, bottles, insulators, coins, tokens, furniture, jewelry, china, glassware, railroad items, breweriana, ephemera, Arizona items, Fred Harvey collectibles, stamps, dolls, miniatures, pottery, artifacts, and much, much more.

Other attractions include: A HUGE dealer appreciation dinner, raffles, experts on all subjects - several antique book authors, FREE parking, our great PABCC hospitality, and of course ... October in Arizona weather - GORGEOUS! The location is at the North Phoenix Baptist Church with over 10,000 sq. ft. available for setup!!!Address: 5757 N. Central Ave. (Southeast corner of Bethany Home Road and Central Avenue), Phoenix, AZ, 85012For more information contact:Charles and Julie Blake at 602-938-7277 or email dig632@hotmail.com.

Depression Era Glass Events / 20-30-40 Glass Society of Illinois. COLLECTORS' MARKET November 4, 2007 and ANNUAL DEPRESSION GLASS SHOW & SALE March 2

The 20-30-40 Glass Society of Illinois is sponsoring two Events in the Glass Collecting World.November 4th, 2007COLLECTORS' MARKET at the American Legion Hall, 900 S. La Grange Rd., LaGrange, IL 9 am to 3 pm $2.00 admission, Free Parking - Members and dealers will be selling their treasures in glass and collectibles.Glass Identification $5 per piece, Maximum 2March 29th & 30th, 2008The ANNUAL SHOW & SALE will be held at the Concord Place, (Midwest Conference Ctr), 401 West Lake St., Northlake, IL. Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 11 am to 4 pm. Admission $7.00 per person ($6 with this announcment - limit 2)

Free Parking with Shuttle to front door.Special Features -30 Nationally known dealers will be offering an amazing array of glass and pottery. 2 dealers specializing in Crystal Repair and Cloudy Glass Cleaning, so drop off your treasures that need "help" and continue to shop.

Please visit our Reference Library of glass and pottery booksd, plus FREE glass identification by knowledgeable members has and continues to be a tremendous favorite of our visitorsSave the DATES - socialize, learn and support the preservation of American Glassware. All attendees will be processed as associate members for this event and receive a "Society Page" newsletter.Please visit us - Our Show, Markets and Meetings. We have bimonthly luncheon meetings held in LaGrange.

European Antique Market debuts the vintage "Urban Chic Collection" at their fall container show, Saturday, October 20th.

There is an inherent rhythm that is vibrating throughout Louisville.Unless you’ve been in seclusion the last few years, you know thatLouisvillian’s lifestyles are elevating to new heights. Whether it beLiving in industrial buildings-turned-lofts or enjoying a café ata zinc top bar, Louisville is becoming a cosmopolitan city.

For those city dwellers looking to furnish their digs with modernauthenticity, European Antique Market will debut their vintage“Urban Chic Collection” Saturday, October 20th, along with some of thebest antiques France has to offer. Shawn Stucker, owner of European Antique Market, has been importing from France since 1998. Her Open Houses are eagerly anticipatedand have become known as feeding frenzies of good taste.The “Urban Chic Collection” consists of a range of metal furniture made by the worldrenowned French factory “Tolix”.

The pieces date from the 30’s and the buckled sheetmetal has been polished to restore its metallic sheen. Other items in the collectioninclude a metal postal desk, polished metal and oak bar, oversized zinc letters and accessories.

Space-Flown Coin Encapsulated by NGC

DALLAS, TEXAS: When is a dollar worth more than a dollar? When it's been flown into space aboard one of the most important journeys in human history."Normally, the 1923-S Peace Dollar is a fairly common coin," said Tom Slater, Director of Americana Auctions for Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, "but this particular coin is truly one-of-a-kind. It was part of the material that Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the surface of the moon after Neil Armstrong, took with him in his Personal Preference Kit (PPK).

Dr. Aldrin himself consigned this coin to our recent auction, so its provenance is impeccable. There have been a number of specially-produced medals that have been space-flown, but the number of actual coins to attain this lofty pedigree is astronomically smaller.""This coin sold in our recent auction for $31,070," Slater said, "about 2,000 times as much as a regular, heavily circulated 1923-S dollar would have brought.

To make sure this treasure is properly documented, it's been certified and encapsulated by NGC, one of the foremost coin graders in the world, complete with the notation, 'Flown on the Moon Mission Apollo 11 / July 16-24, 1969 / Dr. Buzz Aldrin.' This will certainly remain an important memento of man's first tentative steps into outer space, a touchstone to the stars for all earthbound mortals."

The Greater York Antique Show and Sale Nov 2 & 3, 2007

Two Great York, Pennsylvania Shows Are Now One> > Greater York Antiques Show and Sale now includes the York County > Classic Antiques Show> > > For more than three decades, collectors of quality Americana and folk art have been flocking to York, PA for predictably great buying at Jim Burk´s Greater York Antiques Show and Sale. Since 1994, Barry Cohen´s original York Tailgate Antiques show, which later became the York County Classic Antiques Show, has offered the country crowd an equally fertile hunting ground for well-priced treasures.

These two events complemented each other, merchandise moved regularly between them, and customers got a wide variety of buying options and price points from which to choose. Now these two fine sources have become a single great show.> This year the York Expo ran into some scheduling problems, and the shows, planned to function as a combined event, were forced to move back to the East and West sections of Memorial Hall, where a physical split recurred. > Show hours for the approximately 125 dealer show at York Expo Center´s > Memorial Hall this November 2 - 3 are 11am - 7pm on Friday and 11am - > 5pm on Saturday. Admission is $10/adult, with unlimited returns for the duration of the show.

Web sites are www.jimburkantiqueshows.net and www.b4rtime.com. The show phone is 717/872-2778 (Burk).Their Philadelphia show, ousted from the Naval Business Center in a power play last April, will be held this April at a new location just off I-76 in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Magnificent Ornithology from the Collection of Brooks Mc Cormick, October 5, 2007

Today at Sotheby’s, Magnificent Ornithology from the Collection of Brooks McCormick, sold for the benefit of the International Crane Foundation, achieved a price of $2,722,678, above its high estimate ($2 million).

Lot 13, Marc Catesby, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (est. $400/600,000), sold for $657,000, setting a record for any 18th century work of Natural History at auction.Sale Results New York Sale N08391 McCormick Ornithology Collection 05 OCT 07 Grand Total (Including Buyer's Premium): $2,722,678 (£1,337,071) Exch Rate: 0.49 Sold by Lot: 94.9% Lots Offered: 99 S old by Value: 94.4% Lots Sold/Unsold: 94 / 5 Specialist in Charge: Selby Kiffer, Mary Bartow Press Office Contact: Courtney King 212 606 7176David Redden, a Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s said, “Today’s very strong results are a reflection of Brooks McCormick’s fine taste in collecting and his generosity in leaving his prints and library to the International Crane Foundation. We were thrilled to be able to translate these wonderful books into support for such an extraordinarily worthy foundation.”Selby Kiffer, Senior Specialist in the Books and Manuscripts department said, “ We saw strength from America and Europe and were pleased to set a record for the Catesby, lot 13, the first great Natural History work of the New World.” Please note all prices include buyer's premium. Sale session totals are net aggregate figures plus premiums. Sotheby's buyer's premium is 25% of the hammer price on the first $20,000, 20% of the hammer price up to and including $500,000, and 12% thereafter on each lot.

Auction

Featured auction through Roland Antiques with more than 400 lots featuring artists C. Guys, Forain, Dufy, Donati, Henninger, Berge, Vernard, Jean, Cocteau, Lamotte and Goldberg. The online event runs from July 24th through August 14th. There will be a preview exhibition at the Old Brookville estate, centerpiece of the auction, from August 10th - 13th, 10 AM to 5 PM. Further information such as photographs or a press kit, please feel free to contact 212-289-5588 or via email at justin at igavel dot com. August 03 2007 03:15 GMT

New Antiques, Collectibles and Auction News Site

If you are one of the few who haven't yet visited the new Antiques, Collectibles and Auction News Site, then you must. Focused on the latest news, events and important resources related to antiques, collectables and auctions, this is an absolutely must read for the real collector!

Art Glass and Antique Silver at Golden Era Antique

Antique dealer specializing in collectible art glass and antique silver from the 18th century onwards including Victorian silver and Georgian, Bohemian and Murano glass with free shipping worldwide from the United Kingdom.

SPACIFY - Ergonomic Computer Furniture

If you are looking for modular office furniture, then trend line from Spacify is your answer. We offer you contemporary trend office furniture including trendy mobile pedestals, cabinets and much more at affordable rate

Asian Gift, accessories, tableware, decorative box

Asian gifts, accessories, art, tableware and home decor. We are the premier shop for Asian goods. Our current offerings include Chinese wall hanging and scrolls, embroideries, watercolors, Ming ceramic vases, Asian decorative boxes, tea sets, sake sets, silk cushions, chopsticks and Lemoneko wallets, handbags and purses.

Bachmann - Eckenstein

Art & Antiques (Bachmann - Eckenstein) dealing & consulting in Asian & Oriental Art, antiques from China, Japan & India. Bachmann - Eckenstein Art & Antiques - Masterpieces from the Far East - Asian Art & Buddhist Art from China, Japan, Tibet. Chinese ceramics from Han to Tang Dynasties, early bronzes, Buddhist sculpture, Japanese screens from Edo and Meiji periods.

CULTURE AND CONTINUITY: THE JEWISH JOURNEY

This vibrant, two-floor exhibition examines the Jewish experience as it has evolved from antiquity to the present over 4,000 years. Visitors to the 4th floor see the Ancient World galleries, featuring archaeological objects representing Jewish life in Israel and the Mediterranean region from 1200 BCE to 640 CE, and a dazzling installation of selections from the Museum’s renowned collection of Hanukkah lamps.

On the 3rd floor alone close to 400 works from the 16th century to the present are now on view in this dramatic and evocative experience. Highlights include: a pair of silver Torah finials from Breslau, Germany (1792-93) reunited at The Jewish Museum after sixty years of separation; paintings by such artists as Max Weber, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Isidor Kaufmann, Morris Louis, and Ken Aptekar; prints by Marc Chagall and El Lissitzky; and sculpture by Elie Nadelman. A display of 38 Torah ornaments allows the viewer to compare artistic styles from different parts of the world. It features lavishly decorated Torah crowns, pointers, finials and shields from Afghanistan, Algeria, Austria, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ottoman Empire (Greece and Turkey), Georgia (of the former Soviet Union), Morocco, Israel, Italy, early 20th century Palestine, Persia, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, the United States, and Yemen. Leonard Baskin’s 1977 sculpture, The Altar (based on the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac), considered the artist’s greatest carving, is on view for the first time since 1986.

Television excerpts from the Museum’s National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting are also included. The entire exhibition is comprised of close to 800 works and is accompanied by a series of thematic, random access audio guides using CD-Rom technology, including a family audio guide and a Director’s Highlights Tour with The Jewish Museum’s Director Joan Rosenbaum and WNYC Radio’s Brian Lehrer. Ritual Repetition, a new mini-exhibition of 14 works in the contemporary gallery of Culture and Continuity, presents an outstanding group of works from The Jewish Museum’s collection in which artists use formal strategies of repetition to explore the nature of Jewish law, ritual, and identity. The show features works by Dov Abramson, Lynne Avadenka, Harriette Estel Berman, Wallace Berman, Deborah Kass, Arianne Littman-Cohen, Nona Orbach, Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, Zelig Segal, Harley Swedler, Allan Wexler, and Hannah Wilke. George Segal’s 1982 work, The Holocaust, is also on view.


The portraits of the Levy-Franks family, attributed to Gerardus Duyckinck and dating from the 1720s to 1735, are the most extensive surviving group of Colonial American portraiture. The Jewish Museum will be exhibiting six of them consecutively in pairs through June 2009 in Culture and Continuity. The first two will be on view through December 31, 2007, the second pair from January through September, 2008, and the third pair from October 2008 through June 2009. These six paintings are from the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, a new museum scheduled to open in 2009. Spanning three generations, the works depict the German-born patriarch Moses Raphael Levy, his wife Grace Mears Levy, his daughter Abigaill Franks and her husband Jacob Franks, and five of their children. These paintings also hold a noteworthy place in American art as one of the oldest surviving family portrait series.


A recently acquired suite of classic post-World War II works originally designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson and the prominent Abstract Expressionist sculptor Ibram Lassaw for Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel in Port Chester, New York, is also on view in Culture and Continuity. Included are sections of a large wall sculpture/bimah screen, the eternal lamp, the Torah ark, and two of the four bimah chairs.

THE BARBARA AND E. ROBERT GOODKIND MEDIA CENTER

The Barbara and E. Robert Goodkind Media Center features an exhibition space dedicated to video and new media, and houses a digital library of 100 radio and television programs from The Jewish Museum’s National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting (NJAB).

Selections include such comedy favorites as “How to Be a Jewish Son,” a panel discussion from a 1970 David Susskind Show featuring the incomparable Mel Brooks; a 1947 radio drama entitled “Operation Nightmare” starring John Garfield and Al Jolson, produced by the United Jewish Appeal to call attention to displaced persons in postwar Europe; contemporary television documentaries on black-Jewish relations, Latino Jews, Jewish feminism, and klezmer music; interviews with artists such as Marc Chagall, Jacques Lipchitz, Larry Rivers, George Segal and Ben Shahn; and Manischewitz wine commercials produced between 1963 and 1981 featuring Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford.

ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER AND THE LOWER EAST SIDE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRUCE DAVIDSON

Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side: Photographs by Bruce Davidson includes 40 intimate and moving photos spanning the years 1957 to 1990.

Included are selections from Davidson’s Garden Cafeteria portfolio; his portraits of the author and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991), the most revered Yiddish writer of the twentieth century; and a series of photographs of Lower East Side residents.

Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side: Photographs by Bruce Davidson was organized by the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.

CAMILLE PISSARRO: IMPRESSIONS OF CITY AND COUNTRY

A founding member of the Impressionists and a master of depicting urban life and rural settings, Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was the only artist to show his paintings in all eight of the Impressionist exhibitions from 1874 to 1886, and the only Impressionist who was Jewish. Pissarro is celebrated for his Impressionist landscapes painted in and around the villages of the French countryside surrounding Paris.

He also painted more cityscapes than any other Impressionist artist. Pissarro’s continual artistic experimentation revolutionized late-19th-century art. The artist espoused an anti-bourgeois, anarchist ideology and was passionate about the plight of the working classes. Camille Pissarro: Impressions of City and Country includes nearly 50 paintings and works on paper – drawn primarily from New York City-area private collections – many of which have rarely been on public view.

The exhibition examines how the painter’s artistic theories and social convictions influenced his Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist work.

NEW MEDIA CENTER EXHIBITION : OBJECT OF DESIRE: YAEL KANAREK’S WORLD OF AWE

NEW MEDIA CENTER EXHIBITION
OBJECT OF DESIRE: YAEL KANAREK’S WORLD OF AWE

The Jewish Museum will present Object of Desire: Yael Kanarek’s World of Awe in theMuseum’s Barbara and E. Robert Goodkind Media Center. Object of Desire is the third and newest installment of Yael Kanarek’s World of Awe project, an online travelogue chronicling the search for a lost treasure in a virtual desert landscape called Sunset/Sunrise.

Featuring fifteen richly animated scenes that integrate English, Arabic, and Hebrew, Object of Desire draws from ancient Near Eastern themes as well as contemporary popular culture in a trilingual story space.

Object of Desire’s scenes include a cave where one finds a hidden recipe for sesame cookies written in C programming language; a fossilized Noah’s Ark containing a trove of creatures who do not fit into male/female categories; a three-pronged structure of Arabic, Hebrew, and English alphabets that sails across a saffron-colored sky like a flock of birds; and a three-dimensional map of falafel restaurants that superimposes the Middle East on the East Village.

NEW CHILDREN’S EXHIBITION : ARCHAEOLOGY ZONE: DISCOVERING TREASURES FROM PLAYGROUNDS TO PALACES

In Archaeology Zone: Discovering Treasures from Playgrounds to Palaces, an engaging and thoroughly interactive experience, children become archaeologists as they search for clues about ancient and modern objects.

Visitors will discover what happens after archaeologists unearth artifacts and bring them back to their labs for in-depth analysis. Children ages 3 through 10 will magnify, sketch and weigh objects from the past and the present, piece together clay fragments, interpret symbols, and dress in costumes.

By examining these artifacts and imagining how people used these objects in their daily lives, children can learn how forms have changed and evolved over time, and how these objects relate to their own lives.

REPAIRING THE WORLD: CONTEMPORARY RITUAL ART

For centuries, artists have created beautiful and functional works of ceremonial art designed for use on specific Jewish holidays or rituals. Contemporary artists have used these traditional forms as starting points, while creating fresh and innovative designs that reflect the world in which they are working.

Repairing the World: Contemporary Ritual Art showcases works by thirteen artists investigating a wide range of present-day issues. Many of the artists focus on feminist themes creating objects that celebrate women’s oft-neglected roles in Jewish history and in general society. Other artists explore anti-Semitism, poverty and political conflict.

Artists represented in Repairing the World include Helène Aylon, Harriette Estel Berman, Zoya Cherkassky, Janet Dash, Lillian Elliott, Neil Goldberg, Phyllis Handler, Cary Leibowitz, Richard Meier, Gilda Pervin, Lucy Puls, Laurel J. Robinson, and Melissa Shiff.

NEW EXHIBITIONS FROM THE NEW YORKER TO SHREK: THE ART OF WILLIAM STEIG

Known for his brilliant cartoons for The New Yorker and his award-winning children’s books, William Steig (1907–2003) was an American original whose achievements remain unparalleled. He first gained fame through his artwork for The New Yorker where he ushered in a new era by radically transforming the way cartoons were created at the magazine.

In the 73 years that Steig worked for The New Yorker, more than 120 of his covers and over 1,600 of his drawings were published. Beginning in his sixties, Steig became a successful writer and illustrator of children’s literature, creating such award-winning titles as Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969) and Doctor De Soto (1982). His 1990 picture book Shrek! —which means “fear” in Yiddish—inspired the Academy Award-winning feature film Shrek (2001) and its two sequels – Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek the Third (2007) – as well as an upcoming Broadway musical. From November 4, 2007 through March 16, 2008, The Jewish Museum will present From The New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig, the first major exhibition of the artist’s work. Marking the centennial of Steig’s birth, the exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to view over 190 original drawings, many of which have never before been on display.

Museum visitors will discover art ranging from classic cartoons to psychologically charged pen-and-ink drawings, from Picassoesque portraits to geometric figure studies, and from delicately rendered sketches to vibrant watercolors.

In addition, the exhibition will include several of the artist’s notebooks and sketchbooks, letters, and Steig’s preparatory dummies for children’s books. Some of the character studies and models created by animators at DreamWorks, the studio that produced the Shrek movies, will also be on view. Following its New York showing, the exhibition will travel to The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA (June 8 – September 7, 2008) and one other venue.