I thought this year’s show at the Merchandise Mart was more visually interesting, and even an even higher level of quality then in any of the previous years I’ve been to the show. Setting up at the show is an amazing experience on many levels. Set up allows me the luxury of seeing rare and sometimes startling objects being moved past my booth before the show opens up as everyone is trying to work their booths into beautiful room-like settings. The enormous Mart building, two football fields long, fills up in just a few short days with antiques from all over the world as well as dealers from several different countries exhibiting their very best for this fair. Click on images to enlarge.
My booth at the mart show had my usual mix of periods and styles that for some reason seem to work together. I like to think of the pieces as all settling in together in the booth whether they like it or not. Each piece seems to find to place to show off without competing with the others…or so I tell myself.
The 19th century framed botanical flowers formed a backdrop for the dark oak 18th century gate-leg table with a small grouping of santos figures on top. Click on images to enlarge.
The santos shown in the previous photo replaced this grouping of 19th century candlesticks that sold one by one at the show.
I love this mix of art work on the back wall of the booth. The top painting is by Guillermo Silva Santamaria, an artist from Bogota, Colombia below it is a painting by a St. Louis artist, Margery Dodson Imster. To the left of the lamp are three 1920s stained glass window watercolor studies from the Emil Frei Art Glass Studios in St. Louis. Click on images to enlarge.
Greta Von Nessen “Anywhere Lamp”, circa 1951 in original mint condition. The lamp and the painting in the background found really good new homes.
The Italian gilt mirror on the back wall was a recent lucky find just a few days before the show. The modernist painting on the right is by St. Louis artist Virginia Davis, it stayed behind in Chicago, now showing off on a new wall.
The 19th century European skull and crossbones pediment was lucky enough to find a new residence in the Windy City.
The soft whites of the walrus tusk and the shells play so well against the warm browns and grey color tones on the 18th century Russian table. Click on image to enlarge.
The brass swan sculpture on the wall is by Curtis Jere. To the left of the Jere are two French manikin forms, both the manikins and the Jere represent the variety of objects I bring to show and fortunately seem to be what I sell at the Mart as both stayed behind in Chicago.
The rare advertising poster behind the manikins announces Herman Miller’s opening of a store in New York City that would sell their furniture as well as fabrics by Alexander Girard and “sympathetic” decorative objects (those objects I would be curious to see.) The poster must date from the late 1960s to early 1970s and is in mint condition.
My booth is on a corner so I have an outside wall to decorate. At the beginning of the show the wall looked like this, and then after several things sold it evolved to the wall pictured below. Click on images to enlarge.
The wallpaper stamps shown in the previous photo got replaced with a collection of vintage dog photos. Part of the fun of being at the show for so many days is seeing the other booths at the show change as items are sold and moved out and new things are brought in from storage and the booth redesigned.
I brought one of the showcases from the shop for displaying collections of objects. The shelf has a collection of 19th century plaster heads and hands.
“Just say ah.” Which is appropriate for this sculpture and is also a cool website showcasing the work of Adam Hughes. You can check it out here. The object in the image above was made as a European medical teaching aid in the 1930s.
One of my favorite pieces that I brought to the show was this balustrade from the Chicago Stock Exchange building designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler and completed was in 1894. Click on images to enlarge.
Staying in downtown Chicago is an experience, however staying on the 33rd floor of a downtown hotel is a better experience. This was our view from the Hotel 71. Wacker drive is on the left and the Merchandise Mart is on the right past the wonderfully ’60s Marina Cities twin towers. Every morning starts off with a nice brisk walk to the mart with a quick stop for a morning shot of caffeine and then to the 8th floor for a visual feast for the eyes as the elevator doors open and the day of selling begins. There is something about the energy of downtown Chicago and the Mart that makes going to the show a time to remember and something I very much enjoy. Photos from other booths at the show as well as images from Art Chicago will follow in this blog soon. Click on images to enlarge.
