Here is my Huge booth at the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair fall show that was held September 30th thru October 4th. The Mart really does know how to put together an antique show and truly make it a real event. The Merchandise Mart had a great group of dealers this year with truly rare and unique merchandise.
My booth at the Mart show was over 48 feet long. By far the longest booth I have ever had. After spending 7 days working that booth the length of it became very noticeable to my feet. Click on images to enlarge.
One side of the booth had most of the folk art, industrial lighting, and funky unique objects, while the other side had the antlers, the leather chairs, and the more lodge type items.
The “palace nudist bar” French poster found a new home in Chicago. The American Indian masks are chromolitho printed childrens’ masks from around 1905. The flash art or tattoo art to the right of the poster dates from the 1920′s and features women in various poses, one of the “ladies” is displaying a Canadian flag.
The anatomical charts were a big hit at the show. Several different Chicago area bloggers posted photographs of the charts on their blog sites. Click on images to enlarge.
The showcase in the booth was packed with a wild assortment of curiosities.
One of the great things about doing an antique shows like this one is that you get to play decorator with every display. I might not have normally paired the two French chairs with the Italian 1970′s chrome coffee table, but with the addition of the wings it seemed to work just fine.
The 18th century Madonna and Child held court in the very center of the booth. The 1950′s polished steel Jielde lamps provided just the right amount of light to make all the gold gilt sparkle.
The wrought iron table worked great set up as a desk, but would work just as well as a dining table. The antler gun rack didn’t make it past opening night at the show. Click on images to enlarge.
Everything on this table I found in Europe this past trip. I think it’s time to go again. Click on images to enlarge.
The vintage ski poster, ca 1928, is by the famous French artist Paul Brusset. The poster has great Art Deco graphics and is in mint condition.
This photo really illustrates just how long the booth was. Greg is on the far left thinking the very same thing.
I just had to include a closeup of the 19th century European carousel figure, she has a nice smile, rather comforting. So that’s it for my booth photos from the fall show, but I am going to follow with a few images of other dealers’ booths at the Mart antiques show. Click on images to enlarge.
The “flowers” on the left wall are actually blades from a piece of farming equipment. They made a strong graphic statement. Click on images to enlarge.
There were some great mid-century modern booths at the Mart show.
Nice collection of coral and it looked great on the silverplate tray.
This booth had a nice collection of paintings and globes. Click on images to enlarge.
This photo and the following one is of the booth belonging to Moss Studios owned by Breck and Robin Armstrong. Breck’s booth was close to my booth so we solved many of the worlds problems in our mere 7 days at the Mart. You can check out Breck’s website here.
Breck has a unique take on industrial material. He had an amazing assortment of lamps made from 19th century cast iron, architectural terra-cotta, as well as unusual found objects.
There were several decorator showcase booths at the Merchandise Mart show with really dramatic room settings. This decorator’s work was my personal favorite, …. gotta love the Fornasetti plates and the Verner Panton chairs. So that’s it for the shows I will be doing at the Mart until spring of 2011. I leave for the Winnetka Antiques and Modernism show next week. It runs from the Thursday night opening October 21st through Sunday, October 24th. If you are in the area I hope you will come by and say hello. It should be a great show.
