Antiquarianism Isn’t Just for Octogenarians
Last week, I returned to The Winter Show Young Collectors Night, where Manhattan’s art-obsessed under-40 set had descended on the Park Avenue Armory to prove that antiquarianism isn’t just for octogenarians. Armed with champagne and impeccable taste, youngsters were there to covet. With my trusted Instax Mini in hand, I was there to capture the glamour—I photographed guests who caught my eye with pieces that caught theirs from the seventy or so exhibitors who presented fine and decorative arts from all over the world.
Founded in the mid-1950s as a benefit for East Side House Settlement, the show has become the premier event of its kind in the United States. All ticket proceeds, including those from the dazzling evening, support East Side House’s education and workforce development programs, helping communities in the Bronx and Northern Manhattan break the cycle of poverty and enter the economic mainstream. If this year’s Young Collectors Night proved anything, it’s that the next generation takes both philanthropy and antiques seriously.
Dancer and Lowell Libson & Johnny Yarker intern Lydia Layden gravitates toward a John Flaxman pencil and ink drawing from the 1790s—Athena restraining a hero—explaining how the classical forms remind her of choreography. When I ask what else I shouldn’t miss, she enthusiastically points us toward artistic post-war jewelry.
Owner Didier Haspeslagh of Didier Gallery specializes in exactly that—jewelry by painters, sculptors, architects, and designers. I chat him up and force him to choose a favorite from his astounding collection of rare pieces by George Braque, Wifredo Lam and Larry Rivers among many others. He relents and produces a signed cast gold brooch by Lucio Fontana, pierced from behind with a rusty nail to form five horizontal rows of holes. A wearable Fontana slash.
Unbearably chic Vlad Philips’ favorite piece was a white and pink onyx bust by contemporary sculptor Massimiliano Pelletti at Bowman Sculpture. His friend and gallery owner, Mica Bowman, explains to us that the Pietrasanta native was trained by his grandfather, who worked on the restoration of Michelangelo’s Pietà following a hammer attack by a crazed geologist in 1972. Heir to his grandfather’s talent and glyptotheque, Pelletti carves classical forms from antiquity but in impossibly difficult stones—rough, porous materials with colorful striations and crystalline fissures that would make most sculptors weep. The result is what Bowman calls “a tension between the careful craftsmanship of ancient sculpture traditions and the unformulated chaos of the natural world.”
In another part of the booth, the statuesque Charlotte Sethness contemplated an Auguste Rodin sculpture, her cut-out dress making her nearly as sculptural as the bronze itself. While, at the bar, nightlife princes and DJ duo Jack Busa and Daniel Walters (aka The Muses) held court with their signature disco-noir smolder, casting a spell over everyone in orbit.
At The Winter Show, with pieces spanning 5,000 years, one can easily find objects that pair with one’s favorite historical period. 18th-century history enthusiast Russell Grant introduced me to S.J. Shrubsole, a gallery specializing in antique English-American silver, jewelry, and objets d’art, one of his long-time favorites. He commissioned his wife’s engagement ring here from jewelry designer Jane Humphreys, who is married to the owner. We admire a silver ram’s head rhyton cup and agree we both desperately need one for our next cocktail. The parrot concurred.
Among all the fashion-forward collectors of young Manhattan, interior designer Blake Funston was the crowd favorite in a French diplomatic dress uniform—black velvet with gold brocade embroidery—adorned with three 19th-century portrait miniatures. A French officer circa 1815, painted in oil on shell. An officer in the 72nd Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders by Frederick Cruickshank, oil on ivory. And a New Jersey gentleman, Thomas Shinn Ridgeway, also oil on ivory, with his locks of hair interwoven with his initials in gold on the reverse. History never goes out of style.
The Winter Show was on view January 23-February 1, 2026, at Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue New York, NY 10065, and will return next year around the same time.
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