New York Antiques Week Guide to Shows and Events

By Troy Segal

It may not be marked on Google calendar, but the end of January in NYC has become known as New York Antiques Week, for the bevy of fairs exhibiting precious collectibles and art. This antiques week guide also lists the shows’ special events, like lectures or panel discussions, which your admission ticket will get you into.

Joan R. Brownstein and Peter H. Eaton. Miniature Portrait of a child holding a basket of strawberries, by Mrs. Moses B. Russell. Boston, c.1845.

Prestigious Pedigree: If it’s January, it must be time for the Winter Antiques Show (Jan. 23–Feb. 1), one of the oldest—2015 marks its 61st anniversary—and most acclaimed arts fairs in the nation, with some 74 exhibitors from around the world setting up within the stately drill hall of the 19th-century Park Avenue Armory. Ranging from medieval manuscripts to Art Nouveau necklaces, from grandfather clocks to Midcentury Modern daybeds, the wares span the eras and continents, but they’re all in museum-quality condition and of impeccable provenance (the WAS is a vetted show, meaning the pieces for sale are authenticated by administrators). There’s a variety of lectures too, from the practical (25 Years 25 Interiors: A Quarter Center Decorating with Antiques, by designer Thomas Jayne, Jan. 23) to the historical (Mansions and Millionaires: The Transformation of Taste in America’s Gilded Age, by author/curator Ulysses G. Dietz, Jan. 30).

Lee Gallery & Studio

Oven-Baked Objets: Are you crazy for cloisonné? Enraptured by enamels? Then the New York Ceramics & Glass Fair (Jan. 21–25) is a can’t-miss: Antique, vintage and contemporary china, glass, and porcelains are featured in this show, which is staged in the grand ballroom of the Bohemia National Hall—an appropriate venue, given Czechoslovakia’s long and rich tradition in decorative glassmaking. While there are serious pieces aplenty, don’t be surprised to see whimsical wares as well. The fair is also famed for its authoritative talks on historical and collecting topics, like Some Took a Shine to It: Evidence for Silver Lustreware in Late-Federal America, Jan. 21, and Ceramics: The Creative Edge, which features decorating tips, Jan. 23.

Crested Bird Aztec Culture – Mexico 1350 – 1521 AD William Siegal, Santa Fe

Theme and Variations: In contrast to the above, Metro Curates (Jan. 22–25)—one of the younger fairs in town—aims to offer an eclectic array of exhibitors, from experts in ethnographic art to advocates of Americana. The exhibitors organize their offerings around a single artist, theme or genre, all of which serves make touring the show an almost dreamlike experience in artistic diversity: In one corner, you might spot an 1820s Pennsylvania embroidered sampler, in another, a ca. 1978 carved table with human legs by artist James Callahan. A series of “dialogues” are offered throughout the show, including a panel discussion on Quilts, Past, Present, Tomorrow (Jan. 23) and a screening of a documentary on self-taught artist Bill Traylor: Myth vs. Realty (Jan. 24).

MDNY 2015 Jill Newhouse shows Charles Francois Daubigny 1817-78 La Beateau Atelier Studio on the Boat pen ink pencil

Artistic Stroll: The Upper East Side becomes a blocks-long arts fair during Master Drawings New York week (Jan. 24–31), as 30-odd galleries on and around Madison Ave. lay out their latest acquisitions. Aficionados can view inventory from NYC dealers, as well as out-of-town shops, in everything from preliminary chalk sketches to fully realized watercolors to oil-on-paper works. Look for drawings by old masters (Vermeyen, Reynolds), modern masters (Seurat, Léger) and new masters (Scott Kelley, Frida Kahlo) alike.

Image: Juan Antonio F. Segal — Flickr

New Show in Town: Making its debut in 2015, the Art, Design & Antiques Show (Jan. 23–25) features 34 dealers, setting up shop in St. Ignatius Loyola Church’s Wallace Hall. The emphasis is definitely on the decorative arts, with specialists in Oriental rugs, ironstone china, wicker—and of course, jewelry, both fun and fine. It’s a more intimate affair than the concurrent Winter Antiques Show, to which it’s providing a shuttle bus.

For some other arts-and-crafts activities and workshops going on around town, click here.