Balconies of Cartagena

Cartagena's historic center on Colombia's Caribbean Coast is an enchanting treasure trove of old architecture, preserved and protected by representation on UNESCO's World Heritage list. If McDonald's or Walmart comes to town, it will have to be on Cartagena's own terms, which means none of the beautiful old buildings in the cobblestone streets can be destroyed or even altered. This is one of the big reasons we enjoy the time we spend there at our vacation getaway, where just a simple, relaxing walk around the old city is pure pleasure.

One of the most romantic things about Cartagena is the abundance of Spanish balconies, often framed with year-round blooming flowers. Each "balcon" is unique and offers a perfect place for the residents of the house to relax and enjoy the soothing sea breezes.

The sidewalk vendors and souvenir shops in the old city offer a myriad of items, some of which actually rise well above the usual tourist kitsch.  For instance, we ignore the plethora of Botero-like "masterpieces" readily available for purchase, which are comparable to the plastic models of the Statue of Liberty offered in NYC's Times Square. 

 

Colorful handcrafted accessories are reasonably priced, and local artisans' works are often fascinating. Our ace photographer, Blanche Greenstein, loves capturing details, like a closeup of a stack of crisp straw hats for sale, and the brightly painted side of a sightseeing bus.

Faces of Cartagena

Besides the colors and old architecture in Cartagena's historic center, there are the wonderful people - the faces of a walled city that, in many ways, seems immune to the ravages of time. The vendors on the old town streets still ply their trades pretty much the same as they did a century ago. Beauty can be seen in the faces of members of the local community, dressed in traditional fashions, who sell mouth watering, home made candy. 

 

Food carts with fresh coconuts, fruit, and bread are wheeled up and down the cobblestones, with the proprietors shouting out today's specials so people inside their houses will hear them and come out to buy.

  

Shoulder bags and hats are popular with the tourists.

 

 

Cartagena is a legendary wedding and honeymoon destination, so we joined a crowd watching a beautifully dressed high society wedding party exiting the old Cathedral on their way to celebrate.

 

Two American tourists, our close friends Rebecca Chapman and Jim Duque, could not resist the hat stand. The same pair of travelers joined a  group of local kids for a photo op. 

It is always a joy to see our first and favorite friend in Cartagena, Maria del Socorro Pinzon, pictured to the right of Rebecca.  

Socorro appears regularly in the society pages of the local newspaper, El Universal, as a prominent fixture at all important Cartagena events involving the arts, antiques, and charities. Her energetic warmth epitomizes the vitality and the soul of this magical city.

Doors & Windows of Cartagena

Cartagena de los Indios, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, South America, is a magical city filled with color and mystery. The doors and windows in Cartagena's historic center are seductively painted in rich colors that come alive in the bright sunlit days, and in the romantic, lantern lit streets at night. UNESCO's designation as an important historic area has insured the preservation of the old city with all its architectural
charm. A walking tour of doors and windows is pure pleasure, during which one discovers colorful, fascinating entrances to places that have existed for centuries, glimpses of history literally at your doorstep.

 
Colonial costumed doormen greet you on the way into one of the restaurants in the legendary Hotel Santa Clara, once a nunnery in Colonial times.

Iron door knockers, seasoned with patina from the salty sea air, announce arrivals at many local houses.  If you come upon a round one like that pictured, give a knock, and I will invite you in to my vacation home, located in the 500-year-old walled city where NYC's bitter winter cold seems very far away.

Cartagena Vacation

On our recent visit to our vacation home in Cartagena, Colombia, South America, the visual excitement started immediately upon arrival as we took in a myriad of colorful, graphic signs advertising local businesses and products. 

In the old city, the 500-year-old wall has protected the historic center architecture while making room for its share of traditional, Spanish influenced trade signs. 

Outside the wall is the gleaming Plaza shopping mall with more contemporary style signs, still retaining a Latin beat. Among my favorites is the wordless No Honking sign showing a vintage horn in a circle with a red line crossing it out.

 
The party bus poster comes alive with an image of a big bowl of fruit balanced on the head of a lady in classic local costume.

Postobon, a favorite soft drink, is well represented in frequent festive signs inviting you to quench your thirst while satisfying your craving for sugar. If you don't have a craving for sugar, try the agua mineral con gas (sparkling) or sin gas (non-carbonated).
  

The Winter Antiques Show - Part 2

A second visit to NYC's Winter Antiques Show offered another opportunity to enjoy more outstanding exhibits, and a chance to chat with friends.

Visitors to the show included veteran show manager Sanford Smith, chatting with dealer Barbara Pollack, Ms. Velvor Rhone wearing her dazzling Hermes scarf, and a very young, smartly dressed collector of the future.

 

 

Peter Fetterman Gallery of Santa Monica, CA, exhibited wonderful photographs, including one of Jean Paul Belmondo and the American actress from Marshalltown, Iowa, who won the hearts of the French, Jean Seberg. Jean's grandmother and mine were sisters, which made me her fourth cousin. My parents used to sell hearing aids and batteries to her parents, Dorothy and Ed Seberg at their drugstore. Other photographs, "Hats at a Father's Day Picnic" and "Models in the Window" also added striking images to the exhibit.  (see our facebook page for images)

Suzanne Courcier and Robert W. Wilkins, Yarmoth Port, MA, are the ultimate authorities in the world of authentic Shaker furnishings. A major sale of the show was their spectacular Shaker case piece with an intense chrome yellow painted surface.

Al Katz has significantly raised the level of folk art connoisseurship with his outstanding discoveries, such as this irresistible Tobacco Shop Trade Stimulator: "The Comical Bust" (Sold) now inviting visitors into his exhibit.

Hannah, Gigi and Arthur Liverant displaying a copy of their 2013 calendar, "The Swimsuit Edition"

The Winter Antiques Show, NYC, January 25-February 3, 2013

Cold winds and grim weather are no match for the warm and glamorous Winter Antiques Show at NYC's freshened up Park Avenue Armory. Blanche and I exhibited at WAS, as we are wont to call it, for 19 years! The show was in its heyday then, before NYC became nearly overpopulated with year round antiques and art shows. Originally started 59 years ago (No, Blanche and I were not there then) as a way to cast away Society's January blues and raise money for the East Side House Settlement, it soon became one of a few world class antiques shows. It is pure pleasure to visit the event now as an attendee, although it is hard not to see the well masked fatigue in the dealers' faces that only those who have participated in this 2-week marathon can imagine. Still the show of shows, the event, like Tina Turner, just keeps on rolling.

Edwin Hild of Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, PA. is pictured in their booth filled with Americana treasures, including a pure form Windsor arm chair, an outstanding chest of drawers in original paint, and a smashing game board.

Elliott and Grace Snyder Antiques, South Egremont, MA., featured a bold theorum, New England, circa 1830, from a private collection.  An identical version, complete with a watermelon on a platter, is illustrated in Jean Lippman's American Primitive Painting attributed to the Holger Cahill Collection.

Elliott Snyder pretends he is not tired after a long day posting SOLD tags throughout his booth.  He is supported by a one-of-a-kind, elaborately veneered Vermont sideboard, made for the marriage of Sarah Smith, the daughter of a Revolutionary War General, circa 1817. The piece is signed Isaac Bucklan [later spelled with a d] Saxton River, Vermont. 

Frank and Barbara Pollack's booth always includes unusually beautiful American paintings, such as this charming oil on canvas portrait of a lovely young girl in an elegant white dress. Attributed to Thomas Ware, 1803-1826,  Pomfret, VT. A paper label affixed to the back of the portrait inscribed  "Harriet Newell Keyes. 1816-1832. Vershirre, Vermont", identifies her as the sitter.

Nathan Liverant & Son Antiques, Colchester, CT., the distinguished purveyor of 18th- and 19th-Century American furniture, paintings, silver and glass since 1920, provided importance and luster to the show, as always.

David S. Schorsch & Eileen Smiles, Woodbury, CT., exhibited one of our favorite pieces of textile folk art ever. Above the inscription "We's Free" two tiny figures dance among a peaceable grouping of wool applique animals and a little girl dressed in a pink dress of soft leather, probably a remnant of a kid glove. David, whom we have known since he was virtually a child prodigy in antiques, noted on the description tag that the piece, which we once owned, was published in our book, Crib Quilts and Other Small Wonders, 1981, E.P. Dutton, NY. Edited by Cyril I. Nelson.

Blanche photographed a happy, old home week moment, with youngsters Eliot(right) and Grace (seated) Snyder, and Barbara Pollack (center),  long time exhibitors at the prestigious show. The antiques business is rich with a wealth of knowledgeable experts in a variety of fields, people who also happen to make the best of friends.

A Tour of The Metro Antiques Show in NYC January 24-27, 2013

The Metro Show was a dazzling and impressive event beautifully staged by top dealers from nearby as well as faraway places. Full of energy and creativity provided by the knowledgeable, enthusiastic specialists in art and antiques, this event is a welcome breath of fresh air, replacing the show formerly sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art. The show has come into its own under the guidance of a professional team of organizers, retaining the best of past shows plus making new additions and greatly expanding the antiques and art show experience. Each of the various January show events in NYC has its own distinct, unique look and feel - this one is up there with the best.

The antique world's answer to Hollywood glam couples, Tim & Pam Hill,  Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, welcomed a fellow (former) Midwesterner to their outstanding gallery. Among the rare and intriguing pieces featured are a delightful painted carved folk art figure standing near an amazing pair of  carved limestone lions, circa 1870, from Southern Indiana.

Items that are guaranteed to make one smile are always a treasure to discover at antiques shows.  Also in the booth of Hill Gallery,  Bill Rauhauser's 1960's photograph entitled "Stone Burlesque, Woodward Ave, Detroit" is one of the funniest yet endearing images we have seen in along time.  

Stephen Score, sporting his all-checked ensemble, announced he had just returned from the Czech Republic. We quickly recovered our composure and admired the exciting late 19th-Century one-of-a-kind "Circles" quilt, a universe of appliqued and embroidered round motifs.

Jurassic Park was not nearly as intriguing as the enchanting booth of Il Segno Del Tempo of Milan, Italy

 whose mind boggling exhibit was both amusing and amazing.  When a dealer with imagination and a quirky eye puts together a collection of such unusual items, one is transformed way beyond the ordinary - exciting, oddball objects like a giant vintage black telephone, industrial lighting fixtures artfully hung from the ceiling to form a diagonal line, large metal letters which once lit up (and could again) to advertise "Service", an enormous carousel figure looking somewhat prehistoric - a wonderland of surprises.  Each item, some of rather humble origins, reflects the care with which it was chosen, and somehow conveys a positive message of simple, unadulterated cheer. 

Amy Finkel, the eponymous proprietor of  M. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia, PA, seems to have discovered the fountain of youth.  It seems like we have known Amy for many years, but looking at her today, that's impossible. Maybe being around all that school girl needlework keeps her looking like a vivacious recent graduate.  One of her numerous sold pieces was an outstanding New Jersey Sampler by Kiziah Sharp, 1825, Burlington County, complete with family history.

Jeff Bridgman of Jeff Bridgman American Antiques American Flags,  has raised the bar of historic, patriotic textile collections to extraordinary heights.  His lavish exhibit was museum-like, except better because the items were all for sale.  Detailed research information accompanies each piece, such as the elaborate silk banner with George Washington's famous "Prayer at Valley Forge" with gilded text and spectacular bullion trim in mint condition.