Date: Fri 13-Nov-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

ParkAvenue

Full Text:

Park Avenue Antiques Show

(with cuts)

NEW YORK CITY -- Of the several cosmopolitan antiques shows to set up in New

York during the second week of October, the one offering the most successful

combination of intimacy and glamour is the Park Avenue Antiques Show.

Organized by Wendy Management of Rye, N.Y., the four-day event at Wallace Hall

on 84th Street provides an alternative to large venue, high-stress shopping.

Arranged on one floor, with several exhibitors occupying the stage of the tiny

auditorium, the Park Avenue Antiques Show brings together a representative

assortment of Wendy dealers.

They offer a practical selection of furniture, accessories, fine arts, and

jewelry selected with living requirements and lifestyles of Upper East Side

shoppers in mind. Overall, the Park Avenue Antiques Show is highly decorative

and rather Continental in tone, but those looking for American paintings and

furniture were not disappointed.

Gallic flair prevailed. High style French design found expression at Lhomond &

Associates of Paris and New York. Faceted Venetian-style mirrors dating to

circa 1880 were $2,400. They complemented a Louis XVI marquetry coiffeusse,

$4,400.

At the other end of the spectrum was Xavier Bachelier, a Connecticut dealer

offering a charming assortment of furniture and accents for the French country

kitchen. Bachelier, who comes from a family of French art and antiques

dealers, mingled glazed earthenware pottery; colorful enamelware; brass, iron

and copper tools and utensils; waxed fruitwood farm tables; and cheerful bits

of clothing in his appealing display. "I'm doing a lot of shows and would like

to open a shop," says Bachelier, who lives in Marbledale.

Amidst much pomp and polish, a handful of Americana specialists stood out.

Roberta and Ray Van Orden of To The Point Antiques traveled from Richmond,

Va., to participate in the Park Avenue Antiques Show. Fresh from a successful

stint at the Mint Museum Show in Charlotte, N.C., the Van Ordens offered a

Federal secretary of New Hampshire origin, a Boston bowfront chest of drawers,

and an oil on canvas harbor view by Bucks County artist Melville Stark.

Over the years, Edie and Stan Rinehart have become known for creative

presentations combining formal and country furnishings from both the United

States and abroad, decorative accessories, and paintings. But the Katonah,

N.Y., dealers' first love was Americana. Returning to their roots, they

anchored their back wall with a carved fireplace surround. A New England

Chippendale walnut slant-lid desk with blocked interior was $10,500. Occupying

the center of the display was a handsome Empire tilt-top center table. The New

York piece dating to 1840 featured matched, pie-slice mahogany veneers. It

cost $10,500. Nearby, a curly maple stand was $2,800.

Several specialists in fine arts added dimension to a fair emphasizing

objects. New England regionalist painters were well represented by Nicoll Fine

Art. The Newcastle, Me., dealers combined a versatile selection of occasional

furniture, chairs, hooked rugs, glass, and lighting with attractive oils and

pastels by J.E. Enneking, Emile Gruppe, Reynolds Beal, and others.

John Frates of Frates Fine Art devoted his entire stand to American and

European paintings of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. One

wall highlighted the career of Michele Cafarelli, whose vivid landscapes and

marine paintings are handled by the Greenwich, Conn., dealer. "Cafarelli was

an Italian who lived in Teaneck, N.J.," Frates says. "He was a lithographer

who received WPA commissions." Prices for the Cafarelli canvases ranged from

$1,000 to $4,000.

Facing an increasingly crowded calendar, shoppers overwhelmed by too much

choice find relief in focused fairs. For these buyers, the Park Avenue

Antiques Show proved that small is beautiful.