Winter 2018 Preview

Winter 12 www.afamag.com | www.incollect.com W hen commissioning articles, sometimes an unintentional theme unfolds. Such was the case with this issue, which features three articles that revolve around the topic of nature. I suppose such subject matter is only “natural,” considering that the environment is frequently in the news, and curators often look to current events as springboards for inspiration. In Audubon Then & Now , Biggs Museum of American Art curator Ryan Grover points to how Audubon’s nature prints still influence contemporary artists, something Ryan notes has received little attention (pages 66–71). In his discussion, Grover also addresses the dichotomy between Audubon’s preservation of birds and mammals on paper, while he simultaneously contributed to the extinction of some species. In Nature’s Nation (pages 98–104) authors Karl Kusserow and Alan Braddock tackle changing attitudes about the environment and the natural landscape as reflected in art, exploring the “truism of art history that cultural artifacts reflect the time and place of their making.” On pages 104–105, Winterthur curator Leslie Grigsby looks at nature as inspiration in ceramic art for the dining table, whether a perched kingfisher ready to lunge at its prey, or a soup tureen in the shape of a boar’s head with steam rising from its nostrils. Two other articles in this issue also have overlapping themes, that of modern design and, in particular, the work of Charles and Ray Eames. This husband-and- wife-duo were groundbreaking in the visual vocabulary and exploration of design in the twentieth century. They are featured in Lotte Johnson’s The World of Charles and Ray Eames , an exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California (pages 92–97), and are also discussed in Monica Obniski’s article, Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America (pages 78–83). And lastly, I would like to thank James Aman and John Meeks, owners of the Manhattan interior design firm Aman & Meeks, for working with my colleague Marianne Litty on the article, City Sleek, Country Chic (pages 54–65), which features interiors of their Upper East Side and lakefront New Jersey homes. We hope you enjoy these and the other articles in this issue. Johanna johanna@antiquesandfineart.com Photography by Ellen McDermott LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Ž‹˜‡ ‡˜‡‹•Š –‹“—‡• …Ž‹‡ ‹ŽŽƒ‰‡ǡ ‡˜ƒ†ƒ …Ž‹˜‡†‡˜‡‹•Šƒ–‹“—‡•̷…‘…ƒ•–Ǥ‡– ™™™Ǥ…Ž‹˜‡†‡˜‡‹•Šƒ–‹“—‡•Ǥ…‘ ’Š‘‡ ȋͷͳͲȌ ͶͳͶǦͶͷͶͷ Established 1976 Š”‡‡ ̺ ƒŽŽ̹• š…‡Ž•‹‘”̺ ƒ• ‹”…ƒ ͷ;ͼͿ ̺ ‘ƒ† ‘ –—’̺ ‹”…ƒ ͷ;;ͼ ̺ ”‰ƒ ƒ̺ ™‹–Š ‘‡›ǡ ƒ– Ƭ ‘‰ ‹”…ƒ ͷ;;͸ ‹‡ —ƒŽ‹–› ‡…Šƒ‹…ƒŽ ƒ• ‡„‡” –‹“—‡• ‡ƒŽ‡”•̹ ••‘…‹ƒ–‹‘ ‘ˆ ‡”‹…ƒ