Albert Sack once said about antiques: If the proportion isn’t right, nothing is. The American decorative art from 18th and 19th century, regardless of regional preferences and regional characters, has been well defined as a set of specific visual vocabulary, beyond which authenticity and originality would be cast in doubt. But often, Americana has its … Continue reading If Proportion Isn’t Right, So What?
A major painting by 19th-century landscape artist Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821–1872), the first African-American artist to achieve international acclaim, has been purchased by Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Painted in 1869, the work titled The Caves was originally owned by Cincinnati Abolitionist Richard Sutton Rust (1815–1906), and it remained in his family … Continue reading Amon Carter Acquires Major, Little Seen, Duncanson Painting
On June 11, 2010, Cowan’s in Cincinnati offered an archive of documents detailing the 1875 insanity hearing and ultimate commitment of Mary Todd Lincoln into Bellevue Place, a private asylum in Batavia, Illinois. A Louisville, Kentucky, family decided to sell the archive after preserving it since the 1930s. The archive, which included the commitment decree, … Continue reading Mary Todd Lincoln Archive of Commitment Papers Sells to Museum for $37,600
The dingy dirty canvas showed up at Doug Eisele’s Old World Restorations in Cincinnati in March 2009. The owner of the painting, a dentist from London, KY, had rescued the work from an obscure corner in ClaireBourne Antiques in Lexington by paying $900. It looked like it might need to be cleaned up a bit … Continue reading Old World Restorations of Cincinnati Uncovers Duncanson
Urban Art & Antiques 