Tuesday

May - Exhibitions, new literature, stolen miniature

Arkansas Exhibition
A traveling exhibit that features Chas. Fagan’s miniature oil paintings of the 43 presidents, along with archival photographs and audio recordings of presidential speeches, opened recently at the Arkansas State Capitol.

“American Presidents: Life Portraits” is the only complete collection of American presidential oil portraits by a single artist, exhibit creators C-SPAN and the White House Historical Association say.

For more about it see Presidents on ‘exhibit’ at Arkansas Capitol It runs until June 27.

London Exhibition
For the next two weeks there is an exhibition of miniatures in London. It is at Philip Mould Fine Paintings and has been arranged by Emma Rutherford. It is described as follows:

"Philip Mould will host an important loan exhibition of British portrait miniatures at his London gallery from 28th May to 14th June 2008. The exhibition, ‘‘Secret Faces – Unseen Portrait Miniatures from Public and Private Collections’’, will focus on portraits of major historical figures that are not normally on public display. Works will be on loan from private collections as well as from the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Ashmolean Museum and the National Portrait Gallery."

"The exhibition will reveal a number of forgotten but captivating treasures by the masters of the genre including works by Nicholas Hilliard, Peter Oliver, Samuel Cooper and John Smart. It will present for the first time a number of re-discovered miniatures, including an unrecorded portrait of Elizabeth I. 'Secret Faces' will be on view from 28th May to 14th June, from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Saturday."

I can only endorse the following comment: "As curator of the exhibition, Emma hopes to lift the genre from its niche status to reflect its true historical importance."

For further details, see News or http://www.philipmould.com/news.php

New Book on Silhouettes
From the same website, there is comment that Emma Rutherford, previously with Bonhams, has completed her first book, due to be published autumn 2008.

Entitled "Silhouette", this will be the first major history of the subject written since the 1970s and is to be published by the prestigious New York publisher Rizzoli.

Silhouettes are very collectable, but a thin wallet precludes them from appearing in this collection, apart from the large frame of twenty silhouettes of the Garrigues family which were cut at the Peale Museum. They can be seen at View

Stolen Miniature

Dealers and collectors should be aware of this miniature portrait in the form of an etui, which has just been reported stolen in late May, whilst in transit from the United States to France.

The theft is thought to have taken place while the miniature was being cleared through French Customs.

If it is sighted, please let me know via my email address under "About Me" and I will pass the information on to the owner.

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