Vignettes from The Winter Show’s Young Collectors Night



Together with Louise Fitzgerald, armed with a Polaroid camera, I visited The Winter Show for their Young Collectors Night to see and be seen. This is our report.
“Let’s do our first photograph here,” Fitzgerald beckoned the group to an interior by John Koch. Her friend, the architectural historian, David V. Griffin, of Landmark Branding, had been admiring and speaking to Elizabeth Feld, an Hirschl & Adler associate, about it. Koch is known for his interesting depictions of interiors, mostly of his apartment, where he hosted salons with his wife, the pianist, and piano teacher Dora Zaslavsky. In the 1950s they moved to the El Dorado, an elegant Manhattan apartment building, occupying the whole block between 90th and 91st Streets overlooking the 106-acre Central Park Reservoir. “One of the few art deco buildings on the Upper West Side,” Griffin mused. He has organized tours there. We all loved how Koch captured light and exchanged imaginary stories about the two figures in the picture’s foreground.

Event committee member Grace Astrove sparkled in a gorgeous gown that matched the billowing waves of a Montague Dawson piece at dealer Richard Greene London. “It’s just a beautiful by the British artist,” commented the gallery associate. Astrove serves as the Director of Corporate Relations at The Governors Island Foundation. Lovely to see cross-pollination between New York organizations. The painter Dawson led an exciting life honing his skills as a Second World War painter to become one of the greatest living marine artists by the 1930s, whose patrons included two American Presidents, Dwight D Eisenhower, and Lyndon B Johnson, as well as the British Royal Family. The painting depicts a tilted clipper, dramatically on edge, in stormy seas.

A very elegant Claudia Fanaro and Zacharie Vallois, the dashing Frenchman leading his family gallery Galerie Vallois in New York, caught our eye as they were handling a gorgeous 1930s sugarloaf emerald and diamond ring. An American masterpiece, it was giving Hollywood. Fitting for Fanaro who works in the law profession but jokingly said that she was representing Galerie Vallois for the evening, having learned about PR from growing up in the Hollywood film industry. Chic. They also looked at an intricate marquis piece with a row of emeralds: “No dishwashing or gardening,” the gallery associate explained. Perfect for young New Yorkers who eat most of the time and who hardly even see soil, yet touch it in this vibrant concrete jungle.
Specializing in antique jewelry the New York gallery James Robinson Inc is 112 years old, a family affair in its fifth generation, with a special emphasis on Victorian pieces “characterized by archeological revival,” Robinson explained. “We focus on quality and condition rather than signature and names,” he continued as his pre-pubescent daughter tugged at his sleeve. “She can work with whatever she pleases,” he said earnestly, “if it’s jewelry she will be welcomed, if she chooses another path we will support her.” We loved the beautiful intergenerational vibes that surfaced at our visit at the booth, fitting for jewelry, heirlooms which are often passed down within families.

Interior designer Blake Funston, founder of Blake Funston Designs, dressed to impress sporting a ruby, sapphire, and diamond encrusted art deco brooch. “It was initially a clasp for a pearl necklace that belonged to my mother,” he explained with exuberance. He was visiting the fair together with Alexia Rempoutzakou, a jewelry publicist and marketer at Graff, and the architect Christos Sevastides from the firm MBDS. Our photographer exclaimed: “We’ve been to your hotel Le Grand Mazarin in the Marais in Paris—gorgeous.”
We had a lovely chat with Frank Levy who was in a great mood having discovered a very special piece that he brought to audiences for the first time at the fair, and subsequently sold to the Chipstone Foundation for an undisclosed but probably over seven figure (or did he say eight?) sum. The table is carved by John Welch, a Boston carver, and is further proof (in addition to a clock and secretary) that the American carver was more avant-garde than his 1750s contemporaries in London and Paris. It has a four-clawed foot (three is the standard) and the carving is extremely ornate. “There are only a handful of American pieces made in this way,” he explained. The tall boy on the right wall by cabinet maker Benjamin Frothinghan has an ornate carving by John Welch on its frieze. Wow.
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We have one grievance with Macklowe Gallery whose gallerists were curt to one of our writers when she visited the fair earlier in the week. She is a fiber artist and certified art appraiser—an expert in the field. They audibly spoke ill about her as she walked away. Their stellar (and unmatched) Tiffany lamps and French nouveau decorative art and jewelry do not make up for their rude behavior; fairs are tiring but decorum is important. Next year we expect better.
Other than that, the Winter Show’s Young Collector Night, a benefit for East Side House, is always a dazzling evening (guests put their best outfits forward, many wearing sparkles) amongst new and old friends. We ran into Laura Day Webb who is the Gallery and Institutional Relations Director of the Americas for Angus Montgomery Arts, an art fair operator, “let’s have lunch after I return from Delhi,” she said warmly. They run the India Art Fair, which Cultbytes covered last year. We ran into our favorite African and Asian arts specialist and dealer Cole Harrell—whose itinerant gallery puts on shows with interesting new angles on history—and the sweetest Sara Ciliberto, of New York’s Swedish candy empire BonBon, whose Upper East Side location is a jewel box of a store. Abigail Knight, from 5-50, who was on our 2025 Power List and whose most recent group show I reviewed for WhiteHot, stopped me to say hello. I chatted at length about art and classical music with the quant mathematician and pianist Daniel Glickman, who resurfaces sheet music by French female 18th-century composers, and painter Carrie Elston who is planning a Zoom event to speak about the intersection of different art forms, including music. Patrons of the arts looking, talking, and thinking about beautiful things, it’s a great setup.
The Winter Show is open at the Park Avenue Armory through February 2, 2025. The Young Collectors Night is a yearly event—come next year.
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Anna Mikaela Ekstrand is editor-in-chief and founder of Cultbytes. She mediates art through writing, curating, and lecturing. Her latest books are Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects of the 1980s and 1990s and Curating Beyond the Mainstream. Send your inquiries, tips, and pitches to info@cultbytes.com.