Piccolo Art (Little Blog)

Pastel in Philadelphia

2010-03-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Piccolo Art just completed a successful show in Alexandria Virginia. We enjoyed the show "Antiques in Alexandria" having met with some old friends and meeting new clients.

Piccolo Art's next show is the 23rd Street Armory Show in Philadelphia. In Philly we will be presenting a number of new pieces. I think the most interesting is the portrait of Ms Godfrey by
Francis Cotes. \

" English painter, born in London on 20 May 1726. His father was an apothecary, while his younger brother Samuel (1734–1818) was also destined to become an artist. He trained under George Knapton (1698–1778), a successful portrait painter. Soon after, Cotes became established as a highly fashionable painter. He concentrated on portraits in pastel and crayon, which are generally high quality and appealing works. He frequently had engravings made after his portraits, which enabled them to reach a far greater public and gain him widespread recognition. Cotes extended his working practice to incorporate oil painting, resulting in some successful works, such as the portrait of Taylor White (1753; National Maritime Museum, London). By the 1770s he was referred to as the most fashionable portrait painter in London and to increase his output he employed Peter Toms, a drapery painter. Successful and established, Cotes was among the founding members of the Royal Academy and he went on to become Director of the Society of Artists, at whose shows he had exhibited since 1760. He married in 1765 but died in London five years later, on 16 July 1770.

African American folk Art

2009-11-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Piccolo Art is pleased to be able to move into a new area of African American Art from the 18th & 19th centuries. In our move to North Carolina we ahve become aware of the African American community and the role it played in our nations history.

Since portraitture was often a symbol of status and wealth very little portraiture of African American was created or surives. There are of course some notable exceptions including the first professional African American portrait artis Joshua Johnson.

Johnson:The earliest documented professional African American artist, Joshua Johnson (whose last name sometimes appears as Johnston) worked as a portrait painter in Baltimore, where he produced more than eighty known works between 1795 and 1825. He may have begun life as a slave, but Johnson was certainly a free man by 1795, when he advertised himself as a self-taught "genius" in the Baltimore Intelligencer.

We saw his work at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Piccolo Art has acquired a number of pieces through the years and the current primative is certainly an exciting find.

American primitive school. Oil on canvas. An amazing historic document in the form of a portrait of an African-American share-cropper. The 19th Century portrait, which is in very good condition, was quite incredibly found in a barn in Maine. The portrait depicts a woman, standing by a cabin, in a vividly painted landscape, reminescent of Western North Carolina, with crops, a cabin, mountains, and a sunset beyond

There are a number of

Self Portraits (Heres looking at me)

2009-08-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

The self portrait has been a way fro artists through history to capture a true view of how they see themselves and how that view is contextualized into the period. A new work by Laura Cumming explores the use of self portrait to explain the painters role and their world view. The work was reviewed in the Financial Times on July 17th on page 14 and I highly recommend the book.

Piccolo Art has an excellent self portrait of very rare and unusual miniature, witch is attributed to Friedrich Ludwig Vieth von Goldenau (German), c. 1800. The water color on ivory portrait depicts a miniature painter, and is very possibly a self-portrait of von Goldenau. The artist, with brown hair and brown eyes, is wearing a bright yellow waist-coat, white chemise, and a loosely tied blue craval. He is holding a paint brush, and there is a miniature resting on a table to his left

Watercolor's are the next big thing

2009-08-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

It has been an exciting suummer for Piccolo Art. The summer was kicked off by the Wilton Ct. Summer antique show. The weather was great and we had a really great time in seeing Connecticut. We particularly enjoyed a wonderful museum in New Britain which had a great number of American artwork(including portraits of course)

The next trip was to England for the show at the NEC and the first day was very busy with customers and a number of items being sold. John Downman was well represented on our stand and we sold a number of his pieces along with two pastels and a lovely oil painting of a lady with a pink dress.

John Downman studied under Benjamin West and was one of the finest artist of the period

his bio can be seen on the link below

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/downman_john.html

We were very glad to see a number of old clients and sell to a couple of new ones.

During the trip we also had time to go to Norway and saw one of our favorite museums the Munch museum in Oslo. It was fantastic to see the scream in person.

http://www.munch.museum.no/?lang=en

The summer has is 2/3 gone and we are now getting ready for Baltimore Summer Antique show. The show is the largest on the east coast and we are at booth 1817. If you are interested in reduced tickets send us an email.

Piccolo Art is bringing a number of new pieces to the show!!

John Stewart Curry

2009-05-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am really pleased that upon completion of a succesful show in Philadelphia we have acquired a new work by John Setwart Curry. It combines our love of figurative art with one of our favorite works of fiction.

The illustrations for the 1944 version of Red badge of courage were done by John Stewart Curry one of the regionalist artist of the 20th century.

John Steuart Curry (November 14, 1897–August 29, 1946) was an American painter whose career spanned from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, he was hailed as one of the three great painters of American Regionalism of the first half of the twentieth century.

If you are interested in discussing the work of art or obtaining additional information please let us know.

Philadelphia loves art

2009-04-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

The Philadelphia shows were a big hit this year. Even with the economy down a bit customers still seemed to appreciate the items dealers had on offer.

Piccolo Art sold a number of paintings, with us having to say goodbye to the wonderful pair of Scottish Portrits of the Forbes -Gordon painted in 1830.

Additionally we sold the Jarman miniature of Othello and the Loring piece of a woman sewing which was a great small oil.

Piccolo Art is keen to have a discussion with other collectors regarding the portrait miniatures if you have any interesting pieces and would like to have a chat contact us at

piccoloart@aol.com

Piccolo Art has gone to the dogs

2009-03-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Piccolo Art the leading dealers in small portraits and portrait miniatures
has decided to expand an area of interest and add dog portraits to our area of expertise.
So if your interested in antique paintings of dogs or just want to discuss your breed let us know.
leave a post or give us a call at 252 312 7251
Mark and I have had a few portrait miniature of dogs in the past but recently found some of the small portraits fascinating. We currently have a couple of early 20th century watercolours of Pekinese.
Also if you have dog paintings you are trying to sell let us know!! We are always loking for new stock.

Philadelphia Armory show

2009-03-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

Piccolo Art is pleased to announce it will be attending the Philadelphia Armory Antique Show

This Spring, Barn Star Productionswill celebrate its 15th anniversaryin Philadelphia by bringing youThe 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show.This exciting show features 43 nationallyrecognized American and Continentalantiques specialistsdisplayed in room-like settings.Located at The 23rd Street Armory22 South 23rd Sreet(between Market & Chestnut Streets)Philadelphia, PAThis Spring, Barn Star Productionswill celebrate its 15th anniversaryin Philadelphia by bringing youThe 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show.This exciting show features 43 nationallyrecognized American and Continentalantiques specialistsdisplayed in room-like settings.Located at The 23rd Street Armory22 South 23rd Sreet(between Market & Chestnut Streets)Philadelphia, PA

There is also an interesting exhibit going on at the Philadelphia show

see article attached http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/27/arts_culture/doc49cc9d4733992087574064.txt

Portraiture Great Investment Opportunity

2009-03-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

The Financial Times of London has done a number of articles on the Art of Portraits

The latest dated March 14/15 refers to latest exhibit of Constable portraits at the National Portrait Gallery London. to June 14th Constable was one of the greatest painters of the early 19th century.

Piccolo Art can advise you on acquiring portraits and portrait miniatures for your collection

Philadelphia Armory show

2009-03-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

We just finished the DC Spring show and are now getting ready for the Philadelphia Antiques week. We will be exhibiting at the Philadelphia Armory Show

http://www.barnstar.com/philfall.htm

We will have a number of new miniatures and some great new paintings. Piccolo Art has never done this show before but we have really great momories of Philly.

Piccolo Art completes successful DC Antique Show

2009-03-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Piccolo Art is pleased to have finished a successful Inagural Washington DC Antique Show. The show had over 300 dealers including a good deal of international dealers. It was a stunning hall with high quality merchandise.

Piccolo Art had a good if not great show (we sold a number of paintings) but we did meet a many nice people. Also had a number of Portrait miniature collectors who we had not met before.

Sols 3 paintings 2 pastels and a watercolor to 4 really loveley people (who found our quirkiness appealing. see what they had to say below:

"At the DC Spring Antiques Show yesterday, someone I know happened on a 19th century watercolor at a stand called Piccoloart. When our small group of visitors descended, proprietor Nancy Christman Reilly was so charming--even reciting a stanza from Robert Burn's Address To A Haggis in front of portraits featuring two tartan-clad worthies--that we bought three smaller 19th century pictures right off the wall. The mom-and-pop Reillys hail from Ohio, spent years in England, Nancy trained at Sotheby's, and they now live and work in Edenton, North Carolina, of all places...If you are interested in British portraits and miniatures--or the poetry of Robert Burns--the DC Spring Antiques Show is open today until 6 pm at the Washington Convention Center. "

Our next show is Philadelphia we will update the details soon

The picture above is a midshipaman english scool 1810 C.

www.piccoloart.com

2009-02-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the Antique show in DC next week. We are adding a lot of new pieces for the show booth 615

Portrait miniature of Child with Dog, Attrib. William Douglas.William Douglas was born in Fife on the 14 April 1780. He exhibited at Edinburgh in 1808 and 1809, and at the Royal Academy, London, from 1818 until 1826.

We seem to have a good deal of Scottish pieces at the moment see our website

http://www.piccoloart.com

2009-02-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

There is a new show in town(DC). Piccolo Art is just getting ready for the new Washington DC. Spring antique show. It is amazing that in this time of economic malaise anyone is beting on a new Antique show venue.

D.C. Spring Antiques Show
The inaugural D.C. Spring Antiques Show will be held on March 6-9, 2009 at the state-of-the-art Walter E. Washington Convention Center in the heart of the nation’s capital. 400 highly respected and renowned international exhibitors are expected to showcase an extensive selection of fine art, antiques, and jewelry with something for everyone from the novice to the serious collector.

The D.C. Spring Antiques show promises to achieve the same incredible diversity and outstanding quality as the highly acclaimed Baltimore and Palm Beach shows. Over two hundred thousand individual items will be on display for purchase. Come see the extensive selection: Silver, Asian Art & Antiquities, Furniture, Porcelain, Ceramics & Pottery, Objets D’Art, Antique & Fine Jewelry, Paintings, Textiles, Sculpture, Watches, Clocks, Oriental Carpets, Art Glass, Bronzes, Political Memorabilia, Antique Armor, Nostalgia, Other Antiquities & 20th Century Design…

“It would take a lifetime of travel to experience all that the D.C. Spring Antiques Show has to offer, all in one place, all at one time … in our nation’s capital!”

Come see us in booth 615 if you need tickets or just want to chat about portraits and portrait miniatures feel free to contact us at piccoloart@aol.com