Steven S. Powers: Antiques in Manchester Teaser

STEVEN

S.

W O R K S O F & a n t i q u e s

P OW E R S

A R T

360 Court Street #28, Brooklyn, NY 11231 | 718.625.1715 or 917.518.0809 | stevenspowers.com | member: ADA

STEVEN

S.

P OW E R S

Beat the dog days of summer. Americana Week in NH is one of my favorite times of year–it is New York in January except with more green and less winter. Lots of great art and antiques to be seen, touched, bought and sold.

Antiques in Manchester is generating a lot of buzz with a sensational exhibitor list—it is also less than a mile away from the venerable NHADA Show. The show will open Wednesday afternoon (after the Midweek in Manchester show in Concord, NH) and then resume Thursday morning and stay open until 6:00pm—which will allow visitors enough time to visit the nearby NHADA show and return to Antiques in Manchester.

Following are a few select objects that I tucked away and plan to bring to the show—however, please note that objects will become available upon the release of this teaser. Enjoy!

NHADA SHOW

A.I.M SHOW

SHOW LOCATION JFK Memorial Coliseum 303 Beech St. Manchester, NH 03193 SHOW DATES AND HOURS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8 | 3–7PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 | 11–6PM

W O R K S O F & a n t i q u e s

A R T

360 Court Street #28, Brooklyn, NY 11231 | 718.625.1715 or 917.518.0809 | stevenspowers.com | member: ADA

Exceptional Folk Art Dog Circa: 1890 Medium: Wood, paint and sawdust Size: 25" L x 9" H x 4" D

This important inventive piece of American folk art hung in the window of a Southeastern Michigan store. The dachshund is playfully portrayed with artful whimsey and a loop-de-loop which leaves an indelible impression.

The body is constructed of wood blocks glued end-to-end, while the legs, tail and face are carved pieces joined to the body. The whole is covered with a textured mix of paint and sawdust— giving it the look of redware.

Large Folk Art Figure of Young Man with Hands in Pockets Circa: 1890 Medium: Wood, paint Size: 24 1/2" H Carved from the solid, this large folk art carving is well executed with an expressive face and clothing details—the artist captures a slight sense of movement with a bend to the knees and the figure’s hands going into his pockets.

Found in Kentucky.

John Samuel Blunt (1798-1835) Lake Winnipesaukee Signed lower left: ‘J.S. Blunt Pinx 1822’ Oil on canvas Dated: 1822 Size: 21" H x 26" L (sight)

Exceptional rendering of the bucolic New Hampshire lake from the Portsmouth, NH painter. Though Blunt painted portraits for commission, his true skill and passion comes through in these hard to find landscapes.

J

ohn Samuel Blunt (1798-1835), aka as John Sherburne Blunt, J. S. Blunt and The Borden Limner, was an accomplished painter of landscapes, marine subjects, and commissioned portraits who lived and worked mainly in Portsmouth, NH in the first quarter of the 19th century. Though a respectable body of his work has been identified, details of his short life and full oeuvre are limited.

The first critical examination of Blunt’s work was by Nina Fletcher Little, who published “J. S. Blunt, New England Landscape Painter,” The Magazine Antiques, September 1948. Little, through a small body of signed and dated works revealed Blunt as an enlightening landscape painter. Little also traced Blunt’s early American pedigree to include Edmund March Blunt, author of Coast Pilot and to Captain John Blunt, who is credited with steering Washington across the Delaware on December 25, 1776.

Robert C. H. Bishop in his 1975 book, “The Borden Limner and His Contemporaries,” took a large and growing body of unsigned portraits attributed to an artist dubbed “The Borden Limner,” and made a strong case that John Samuel Blunt was the unidentified artist of these related works.

In 2007, Deborah M. Child authored the first monograph on Blunt, which principally focused on two sketchbooks that had recently been uncovered. Child builds on the work of Little and Bishop and rounds out his biography and puts the sketchbooks in context of his landscape and marine paintings.

fig a: Announcement from The Portsmouth Journal, November 8, 1828. Note the mention of “a View of Lake Winnipissiogee [sic]” (possibly the work herein).

Central to the mystery surrounding John Samuel Blunt and The Borden Limner story is the curious fact that though Blunt took pride in signing his landscape and marine paintings, there is not one signed portrait by Blunt. The case for Blunt being The Borden Limner hangs on studies in graphology, overlapping accounts in his daybooks and stylistic approaches and execution of the paintings themselves. I see this disparate approach as a sign that Blunt took seriously the work of a fine artist and not as much that of a painter for hire (ornamental work for trade signs, fire buckets, masonic aprons, etc. and commissioned portraits). From an early age the precocious Blunt was exposed to both the fine art of painting and the practical side of commercial painting. Blunt in his early twenties often signed his paintings with his name followed by “pinx” (Latin for pinxit - “he painted this”)—the mark of someone serious, if not a little pretentious about their work. Blunt was practical however and advertised in the local Portsmouth papers that he was available for ornamental works and portraits. Though, in separate advertisements Blunt promoted his finer achievements in gallery like exhibitions—he does not overlap the two. Blunt may not have signed his commissioned works, simply to not muddy his body of fine art.

Blunt was ahead of the curve in the American landscape tradition of the Hudson River School and White Mountain School, which came into vogue just after his death in 1835. Portraits attributed to Blunt greatly outnumber his signed landscapes and marine works (which are seldom available).

fig b: Lake Winnipesaukee (Center Harbor), 1838, engraved by William Henry Bartlett. Very similar composition to the view herein.

Paintings by John Samuel Blunt are in many fine private and public collections, including the American Folk Art Museum, New York; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA; and the Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH.

Folk Art Carved and Painted Portrait Circa: 1860-80 Size: 5 1/2" H x 5" D x 2 5/8" W

Goateed man with a sunburned head (top of head is noticeably redder than skin tones of the face and neck), sensitively carved with great attention to detail (proportions, nose and adam's apple). Pegged into original base.

Early collection number on top, base back "74."

Exceptional Ash Burl Mortar Circa: 1780 Size: 6 3/4" D x 6 1/2" H This exceptionally large mortar escapes expectations of the form— Great sculpture!

Best of category.

Illustrated and discussed: Powers, Steven S. North American Burl Treen, Brooklyn, NY, 2005, p. 78

New England Candle Box with Large Scalloped Back Great early covered wall box with a large scalloped backboard. Pine with Circa: 1780 an early, thin Spanish brown finish. All Size: 13 3/4" H x 11 1/4" W x 7" D original including snipe hinges.

English Horn Beaker by Nathaniel Spilman Circa: 1784 Size: 5" H Spilman is regarded as the best horn artist and this is regarded as his finest beaker. The Society of Universal Goodwill was a friendly society founded by Dr. John Murray of Norwich. It was originally called the Scots Society and was funded to aid distressed families of Scottish origin, however in 1784 they changed the name and charter to be inclusive of all.

The armorial on the front displays a sheep (representative of Europe), an elephant (Asia), an ostrich (Africa) and a beaver (America). The back illustrates a man consoling a widow in a room.

English Horn Beaker by Nathaniel Spilman Dated: August 11, 1788 Size: 5 1/4" H The front with a view of the Newcastle Exchange Spire, the reverse with barber scene, inscribed "Ino [John] Cubitt, HairDresser, No. 25 London Lane, Norwich, Aug.t 11 1788, N. Spilman, Fecit." The hairdressing scene is wonderful and quite unexpected.

Other horn beakers by Spilman are in the National Maritime Museum, London, U.K., and the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton, U.K.

Cast Iron Boston Bull Terrier Circa: 1900-1920 Size: 12" H x 9 1/4" W

Great cast iron Boston bull terrier with original paint and surface. Mounted on metal base.

Momento Mori Circa: 1860-1880 Size: 2 1/2" H x 1 1/4" W x 3/4" D

Tintype of a woman housed in a small single carved block of wood fashioned into a pendant. Paired with a woven hair chain. Very cool and unique object.

STEVEN

S.

P OW E R S

NHADA SHOW

A.I.M SHOW

SHOW LOCATION JFK Memorial Coliseum 303 Beech St. Manchester, NH 03193 SHOW DATES AND HOURS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8 | 3–7PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 | 11–6PM

W O R K S O F & a n t i q u e s

A R T

360 Court Street #28, Brooklyn, NY 11231 | 718.625.1715 or 917.518.0809 | stevenspowers.com | member: ADA