4 minute read
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Sanford Smith and French architect and designer Charlotte Perriand at Modernism in 1997
Sanford Smith has been at the forefront of American art fairs for over 40 years. We look back at how his influential journey led to the creation of Salon Art + Design
Having recently celebrated his 82nd birthday, fair impresario Sanford Smith has been in the business of creating niche fairs for 43 years. Although the term “influencer” didn’t exist in 1979 when Smith started his first fair, in the ensuing decades, he has certainly become one.
His first fair, The Fall Antiques Show held at the Park Avenue Armory, opened Americana collecting to the wider public. Cigar store Indians, weathervanes, samplers, textiles, American furniture and folk art were shown together in a wholly new way, becoming a strong and popular collecting category. The fair moved to the pier at 12th Avenue and 52nd Street in its second year, the first event ever to make use of the pier. People scoffed at the idea that anyone would travel that far west for an antiques show, but Smith proved them wrong – the fair ran for over 20 years, and dozens of fairs later followed suit.
The Fall Show, as it came to be known, was followed in quick succession by Modernism, Works on Paper, The Outsider Art Fair, Art of the 20th Century, The Great American Quilt Festival, and the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair – all of which took place in New York. At the high point, Smith ran 11 fairs a year, including events in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago.
The fairs were born out of a funeral home on the Lower East Side. Smith had inherited his family’s business, but he never liked it. His greatest pleasure at that time was working the booth he and his wife, Patricia, inhabited at the 26th Street Flea Market. On Saturdays, they would go on the hunt; on Sunday, they sold their wares. As a participant in his first antiques fair, Smith thought he could do it better – and so the Fall Show was born.
Sanford Smith with Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass at Modernism in 1996
His second fair, Modernism: A Century of Style and Design, founded in 1983, is the true precursor to Salon Art + Design. Prior to Modernism, the word “design” had not been part of the fair vocabulary. It is, of course, ubiquitous today. At that time, though, fairs were known as antiques shows, a parlance that started to become musty as collectors looked for pieces made in the 20th and 21st centuries. Hence the design fair was born – and Smith became a visionary in the world of decorative arts.
A surprising number of dealers have participated in both shows; Robert Abel of Moderne Gallery showed Art Deco before turning to American Studio work. Nilufar and Galleria Rossella Colombari, both of whom have exhibited at Salon, brought mid-century Italian material to the fair. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts presented the same high-quality American paintings and design that he shows today. Dealers – then just starting out, now seasoned – such as R & Company, Patrick Parrish Gallery, Todd Merrill Studio, Donzella, and Lost City Arts also exhibited.
Modernism began with material made in the 1860s through to the 1960s, including Greek and Egyptian revival furniture and decorative arts, Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts, Wiener Werkstätte, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, and Deco through to mid-century Modern. Over its 25-year lifespan, the timeline extended to material made in the 1990s, the contemporary work of the decade.
What is the difference between the two fairs? Modernism, although it had excellent European galleries, was far more American than Salon. The bigger difference, however, is that as Salon has progressed, contemporary material has become the mainstay of the fair. Dealers from 11 countries participate, showing the best of international contemporary design works by world-class masters of design, along with up-and-coming talents. And while 20th-century French, German, Italian and Scandinavian work is presented at Salon, the Revival, Aesthetic Movement and Arts and Crafts movements are less represented. “Salon both predicts and reflects changing tastes,” says Smith.
Asked what his best and worst moments in the past 40 years have been, Smith replies that the great thrill is seeing crowds lined up around the block to attend the fair. The worst moments, he says, are when the construction doesn’t go fast enough and booths are still being installed as the preview is about to begin.
And what about the funniest moment? “At the Great American Quilt Festival, a sponsor of the fair came running up to me and said, ‘Sandy, Sandy, there’s a dead body on the next pier. Do something about it.’” Smith’s reply? “That’s not in my contract.”
