Grant Wood’s sketchbook containing images related to a 24-foot stained glass window in Cedar Rapids will be auctioned May 12 at Leslie Hindman in Chicago. The 24-foot tall window in the Veterans Memorial Building in Grant Wood’s hometown was the largest in the United States in 1929. It features a central figure of a Lady … Continue reading Grant Wood’s Sketchbook Up for Auction
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired one of only 16 known casts of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Abraham Lincoln, the Man (Standing Lincoln), a rare, authorized reduction of the large bronze monument that the sculptor originally created for Lincoln Park in Chicago between 1884 and 1887. The Met’s 40-1/2-inch-high bronze statuette was one of a limited … Continue reading Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquires Saint-Gaudens Standing Lincoln
While the antiques industry seems to be in a contraction mode with fewer shows and lower gate numbers, you wouldn't know it from a popular market in Chicago. Vintage Markets like the Randolph Street Market Festival have been able to repeatedly attract a young, educated and affluent customer who is knowledgeable about the products and … Continue reading Dealers Look to Vintage Markets to Reach New Customers
The man who says he discovered the work of currently celebrated photographer Vivian Maier also says her best work has not been seen yet. Chicago resident Ron Slattery says he noticed a box of photographs in an auction there and would go on to buy two more lots containing Maier's work. "At the first auction, … Continue reading Chicago Collector Recalls First Box of Vivian Maier Photos
A weekend trip to Chicago has allowed me to cross off two of one hundred or so things to see before you die, although for me I imagine there are 100 just in the windy city. Both items were sculptures and both by famed New York sculptors. The first was Abraham Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. … Continue reading Lincoln and the Republic in Chicago
Once dismissed as merely an afterthought, antique city maps are now the hottest segment of the collectible antique map market. Antique city maps provide a window into the past, illustrating detailed layouts of cities from hundreds of years ago that are often entirely different than what they have become today. Often hand-colored, the maps themselves … Continue reading Antique City Maps Gaining Ground in the Vintage Map Market
Just a short post to share some interior photos I found recently at antique shops. The first two appear to depict a Spanish-Colonial interior and while unlabled are likely of a historic property, quite possibly one still existing. Notice how the room depicted is essentially a wide hallwayallowing for passage. The stairway shot depicts worn … Continue reading Interiors on Paper: Antique Market Finds
There aren't many retail stores that stock antiques these days. The Ralph Lauren store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago is not only decorated with fine antiques, but wrist watches from the 20s-50s are available for purchase. If you're in the windy city, be sure and make this a destination!
To Caroline Ashleigh, author of Warman’s Shoes Field Guide, there are three criteria to use when looking for vintage shoes: condition, condition and condition. Beyond that, she advises buy what you love, buy the best you can afford and buy the best example you can afford. Moreover, she says, one of the best places to … Continue reading Author and Collector, Caroline Ashleigh Offers Advice on Acquiring Vintage Shoes
On my first visit to the reopened American Wing at the Met, I walked past rooms from Richmond, glass from Pittsburgh and pottery from Cincinnati. Nothing in the exhibit that day struck me as much as a Louis Sullivan staircase from Chicago, however. Perhaps with American on the mind, this was because there's no place more … Continue reading From Richmond to Chicago, the Reopened American Wing
Urban Art & Antiques 