Summer 2014 Preview

Summer 8 www.antiquesandfineart.com ,ITERATURE ,AVITT !NIMALS IN !MERICAN &OLK !RT P !NOTHER EXAMPLE IS IN THE COLLECTION OF 3HELBURNE -USEUM 0ATRICK "ELL %DWIN (ILD 0/ "OX .EW (OPE 0! % ND 3T .EW 9ORK .9 "Y !PPOINTMENT %MAIL INFO OLDEHOPE COM 6ISIT US ONLINE A T /LDE(OPE COM !MERICAN C ,ENGTH ² -OLDED COPPER WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY WEATHERED SURFACE OF VERDIGRIS AND REMAINS OF THE ORIGINAL GILDED ½NISH OVER YELLOW SIZING %XHIBITING 0HILADELPHIA !NTIQUES 3HOW !PRIL 2ARE $OLPHIN 7EATHERVANE he influence of Europe on American taste is evident in the grand Herter Brothers furniture in this issue’s Lifestyle (pages 104–119). Trained in Germany, Gustave (1830– 1898) and Christian (1839–1883) Herter made their mark in New York and elsewhere, with commissions from prominent clients such as William Henry Vanderbilt. A number of the historic pieces in this Lifestyle were actually used as Hollywood props and were rescued from obscurity and restored by present owner William Ruger. Fond of resuscitating beautiful things, Ruger has also restored numerous classic cars, twenty of which are in his collection, including an extraordinary award-winning 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III. Some objects in collections are not always what they purport to be. In their article Faux Fraktur: Too Good to be True (pages 150–153), Lisa Minardi and Jennifer Mass examine, from both scholarly and scientific perspectives, several illustrated works on paper that have long fooled the eye with their masterful impersonations of period pieces, visually matching the original colors and designs. Color played an important role in the formation of the Pilgrim/ Roy collection of quilts (pages 134–141), now on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Collectors Gerald Roy and the late Paul Pilgrim were struck by the use of color in quilts when they first began collecting them in the 1960s. Associating the quilts with art, particularly the mid-century geometric compositions of Joseph Albers, the two built a vibrant collection of dazzling material. While Pilgrim and Roy may have been ahead of many collectors in how they viewed quilts, Sara Roby, who started collecting in the 1950s, championed the art of realism while other collectors were focusing on abstract expressionism. The works she acquired are among the 175 she donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a selection of which are illustrated in Virginia Mecklenburg’s Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (pages 126–133). One of the works from her collection is featured on our cover. Johanna McBrien johanna@afapublishing.com Photography by Ellen McDermott FROM THE EDIT O R T