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<\/a><\/p>\nIn today\u2019s world of art and collecting, the word antiques has come to be regarded as more than just a little . . . antiquated. Now the term Historical Design has arisen to embrace the encyclopedic range of decorative arts from the 16th through 20th centuries. Calling this rich mixture by the term \u201cantiques\u201d is outmoded and outworn, and no one is more aware of that than the participants in this year\u2019s METRO Show, which opens for its five-day run on January 23, 2013, at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Says Caroline Kerrigan Lerch, director of the METRO Show: \u201cIn all my experience with art fairs over the years, never before have I seen so many dealers steering clear of using the word antiques.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the participants at the METRO Show is Fred Giampietro, proprietor of the Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut. Says Giampietro: \u201cFor years I\u2019ve resisted being categorized as an antiques dealer, especially since I have always focused on the buying and selling an item based on its artistic value rather than whether it fit into a category as a so-called antique. So it\u2019s natural that I completely endorse the term Historical Design to describe what I\u2019ll be exhibiting at the METRO Show, where I\u2019ll be dividing the focus between emerging contemporary art mixed with 19th- and 20th-century folk art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another METRO Show dealer who champions the notion of Historical Design over the designation of antiques is Pat Garthoeffner of the Garthoeffner Gallery Antiques in Lititz, Pennsylvania. \u201cWhen we dealt totally in early-American toys, we couldn\u2019t get into a good show for many years because show promoters felt that toys weren\u2019t consistent with their list of \u2018acceptable merchandise\u2019 in other words, \u2018antiques.\u2019 And when we dealt in vintage advertising we were only able to do \u2018advertising shows\u2019 for the same reason,\u201d recalls Garthoeffner. \u201cThank goodness that the METRO Show doesn\u2019t cling to the old idea of \u2018antiques\u2019 and has recognized that calling the show one of Historical Design doesn\u2019t buttonhole the show into one category.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adds Garthoeffner: \u201cThere have been many articles written about how to get young people to collect and attend shows. By stressing Historical Design over \u2018antiques,\u2019 the METRO Show leads the way in attracting now only the seasoned collector but the collector who is just starting out and gives both of them reason to start, expand and redo a collection. The METRO Show also highlights how multiple categories merge together and are complementary. Limiting those categories to \u2018antiques\u2019 is completely pass\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n
Says Susan Baerwald, co-owner of Just Folk, Summerland, California: \u201cWe are trying to attract younger collectors and the way METRO Show is promoting Historical Design over the old-fashioned term \u2018antiques\u2019 is the astute way to go. My partner, Marcy Casey, and I come from the television business, and we know that people like to be entertained. Why use the word antique when there are buyers, especially younger ones, interested in contemporary self-taught and outsider art mixed with traditional quilts, weather vanes and trade signs?\u201d<\/p>\n
An example of an offering in Historical Design that Just Folk will have at the METRO Show is an extraordinary group of four African American heads made of concrete, gravel, and cement. Entitled the Roxbury Heads, they were found in Connecticut in the late 19th century and are believed to have been displayed as fence posts to indicate a \u201csafe house\u201d at the time of the Underground Railroad.<\/p>\n
Jeff R. Bridgman, owner of Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques, York County, Pennsylvania, is impressed with the pick-up in the economy from both designers and new collectors. \u201cMid-range things are selling again in great numbers,\u201d says Bridgman, who is expecting to sell well at the METRO Show, \u201cfrom masterpiece-level objects to those for beginning collectors, which the METRO Show does such a good job attracting in part, I feel, because it does not dwell on the word \u2018antique, which rightly or wrongly, young people and even older people are more scared of than they should be.\u201d One of the highlights Bridgman will feature is an Bridgman will feature an extremely rare 36-star American flag, with a six-color overprint, dated 1876.<\/p>\n
Bonnie Grossman, owner and director of The Ames Gallery, Berkeley, California, admits that \u201cin these difficult economic times, winning over new younger buyers has been difficult. The strategy of stressing Historical Design over \u2018antiques\u2019 promises to be effective. We have definitely seen a downward shift in age,\u201d she says. Among the eclectic offerings Grossman will feature are a wool-hooked rug, entitled \u201cFowls,\u201dcirca 1900 and a pair of articulated figures with a paddle stick and original carrying case, circa 1920.<\/p>\n
The second edition of The METRO Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion opens to the public for its five-day run on January 23, 2013. Fair-goers will have a sweeping array of material from which to choose. The new dealer line-up includes 35 pre-eminent specialists in the field of outsider and self-taught art; outstanding contemporary dealers; and the foremost dealers specializing in ethnographic works, Americana, paintings and prints, furniture, Native American, historical design, textiles, and American folk art.<\/p>\n
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Metro Show Welcomes Editions | Artists’ Books
\nThe METRO Show has formed an alliance with Editions | Artists\u2019 Book Fair, which will run concurrently in the Altman Building adjacent to the Metropolitan Pavilion. Founded in 1998 by Susan Inglett of I.C. Editions and Brooke Alexander Editions, the Editions | Artists\u2019 Book Fair has grown in size and stature to become the premier showcase for contemporary publishers and dealers, presenting the latest and greatest in prints, multiples and artists\u2019 books. The Editions | Artists\u2019 Book Fair is well known for its vibrant energy and innovation, thanks to over sixty exhibitors, presenting hundreds of artists representing New York, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, London, Paris and points in between.<\/p>\n
About The Art Fair Company
\nIn 2009 Michael Franks, Chief Operating Officer, dmg world media, along with Mark Lyman, former Vice-President, dmg world media\u2019s Art & Antiques Fairs and SOFA Founding Director purchased the internationally renowned Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fairs – SOFA CHICAGO and SOFA NEW YORK – from dmg world media, creating a new jointly owned firm, The Art Fair Company, Inc. (TAFC). In addition to SOFA fairs in New York and Chicago, TAFC produces The METRO Show and the Arts and Antique Dealers League of America Spring Show NYC. The Art Fair Company, Inc. is based in Chicago, IL.<\/p>\n
For more info, please visit www.metroshownyc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n