From an Elliptical Piano to a Renaissance Altarpiece—Rare Treasures Abound at New York’s Winter Show

The Winter Show has again returned to the vaulted vastness of the Park Avenue Armory, on New York’s Upper East Side, to delight and dazzle spectators, professional and not, with a plethora of curious art and design objects that stretch back centuries. They hail from all corners of the world; however, the theme this year is Americana.

Now in its 70th year, the show has corralled 70 international exhibitors (those matching numbers were, apparently, just a coincidence). Newbies include Jill Newhouse Gallery (New York), which presents 19th- and 20th-century European drawings and paintings; Jon Szoke Gallery (New York), experts in Old Master material; Peter Harrington (London), showcasing rare books and manuscripts; and Galerie Léage (Paris), who, sharing a booth with Carolle Thibaut-Pomerantz (Paris), is showcasing exceptional 18th-century objects and furniture.

With so much to see at the Winter Show—which benefits the East Side House Settlement in the Bronx, as it always has—we’ve put together the primer below with all the treasures that leapt out at us as we perused the aisles during a preview. That’s followed by the booths where we spent large amounts of time in deep conversation with the exhibitor.

A sensational azure vase by the studio of Artisti Barovier at Glass Past (New York) begged a touch, though we dared not. Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Diana of the Tower (1899) at Lillian Nassau LLC (New York), originally designed as a gilt bronze weathervane for Madison Square Garden’s tower in 1891, would have been very busy had it been placed outside on this frigidly windy day. Contemporary master woodworker Michael Coffey’s elaborately carved wood partition, from Maison Gerard (New York), stands sentry in the front, beautifying the bag check line. A stucco Buddha head dating from the 3rd to 4th century, found at Tambaran’s (New York) booth, is a sight to behold. And the New York gallery A La Vieille Russie’s 10-karat diamond bumble bee brooch (ca. 1870) with ruby eyes is deserving of all the buzz it gets.

Now on to the booths…

Bernard Goldberg

There’s so much to absorb chez Bernard Goldberg, a Winter Show stalwart, that it’s hard to know where to begin. One obvious contender is the statement-making centerpiece of the booth: a sumptuously elliptical grand piano that juts out into the front entrance—one of two made by the Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly (who designed the residential skyscraper at 432 Park Avenue) along with Chris Maene. Non-architectural works by architects are the theme here. Don’t miss a cypress-wood Frank Lloyd Wright chair (ca. 1940s) from his C. Leigh Stevens House in South Carolina; a Jacques Lipchitz bronze sculpture, Standing Figure (1916), with the artist’s thumbprint at the base (a limestone version can be found at the Guggenheim Museum in New York); and a laidback bench by I.M. Pei that once sat in the lobby of Dallas’s City Hall, a concrete 1970s brutalist structure that the architect also designed. 

Robert Simon

Over at Robert Simon, the gallery has installed an exquisite altarpiece by Giovanni dal Ponte, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saint Anthony Abbott (ca. 1420). It is in splendid condition, retaining its brilliant colors, including its original gilding. As Simon explained, other works of the late Gothic and early Renaissance periods in Florence were painted with layers upon layers of gold leafing. It’s always a curious treat to see Renaissance works on U.S shores, so don’t miss the opportunity. This piece was featured in a recent exhibition at the Accademia in Florence. 

Peter Harrington

Pom Harrington, owner of the London-based rare book seller Peter Harrington (his father), beamed when describing his remarkable selection of objects belonging to Winston Churchill. They hail from the collection of Steve Forbes, who famously auctioned off a stash of Churchill memorabilia in 2010 at a Christie’s sale which just so happened to be attended by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. This new stash includes books and letters that Churchill, Britain’s wartime prime minister, either wrote or read, often inscribed to important people in his life, such as his military mentor Ian Hamilton. Among the literary treasures, however, another prize stands out: the artwork, The Entrance to the Gorge at Todhra, Morocco, which Churchill himself painted in 1935–36. He was a keen artist, first taking up the brush in 1915 as a form of art therapy and continuing until his death. That’s pretty heavy, sure, but not as heavy as a hulking wood desk on view, part of his private office in his Hyde Park Gate home and used while writing his war memoirs. 

Joan B. Mirviss

This eye-popping booth from Joan B. Mirviss—an American dealer and scholar on the topic of Japanese ceramics—looks at the modern and contemporary clay art of 20 female Japanese artists spanning three generations. These women, according to the gallery, “overcame social and cultural barriers to express both eloquence and strength.” Especially eloquent are Fujino Sachiko’s Imagery ’23-1 (2023) and Tanaka Yū’s red glazed stoneware sculpture (2023) resembling a knotted wrapping cloth. Anyone interested in this genre should check out “Radical Clay: Contemporary Japanese Women Artists,” currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago, featuring works by many of the same artists.

Peter Finer

Specialists in antique arms and armor from around the world—Bronze Age to the 19th century—with a London gallery on historic Duke Street, St James’s, Peter Finer was especially keen to talk about a rifle. Not just any rifle, but an elegant Kentucky rifle made in the year the country was formed, 1776. It is an elegant and clearly important piece made by gunsmith George Grace (about whom little is known) that one might not associate with the rifles of the Revolutionary War. Finer noted that no other American weapon is more evocative of this period than this gun, perfected in the American colonies by immigrant German gunmakers.

Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com