A research project investigating the history of the antiques trade in Britain in the 19th & 20th centuries
Mark (Sparky) has now begun to populate the interactive project website with real data, and we can begin to see what the website might look like (still work in progress) but it does give you a sense of how the data will be visualised….
The small coloured circles are all numbers of dealerships in particular towns and cities..we will have literally tens of thousands of data sets we reckon, by the end of the project in a couple of years!….
Mark
We have a new volunteer research helping on the Antique Dealer Project – Alix Brodie-Wray, has been doing fabulous work on gathering data on dealer names and addresses ready to upload into the interactive website….here’s Alix!
Alix is a part-time PhD student at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, and an experienced Higher Education Administrator. Her PhD research examines the production of ‘Vintage’ as part of larger markets in second-hand clothing, motivations of second-hand and vVintage shoppers, and the cultural implications of Vintage in an age of austerity (so she is already keyed into aspects of the current Antique Trade project!)….Alix has considerable experience of working with data and spreadsheets, and has all the right skills we need from project volunteers…Thanks again Alix…fabulous work!
Mark
We are making good progress on the project interactive website. ‘Sparky’ (Mark) has been building and testing the website during the past few weeks and he’s composed a short video to illustrate how the site might work….
More updates soon.
Mark
Bluett & Sons exhibition of the George Eumorfopolous Collection; advert from Connoisseur, March 1935.
Dominic Jellinek, formerly of the major Chinese Works of Art dealership Bluett & Sons, contacted the project last week – thank you Dominic!
Bluett & Sons were one of the most significant dealerships in Chinese Works of Art; the firm was established c.1884 and continued trading until 1992.
Dominic has composed an extensive essay on Bluett & Sons, based on the archives of the dealership, with extracts from letters in the archive and overviews of the history of the firm. The essay is part of another Arts and Humanities Research Board (now AHRC) funded project called CARP (Chinese Art – Research into Provenance).
You can read the full essay HERE
There has been a groundswell of support from the trade itself following the article about the project in the Antiques Trade Gazettte – with more support coming in daily – thanks indeed, so far, to Guy Apter, John Bly, Robin Butler, Geoffrey Godden, Edgar Harden, Dominic Jellinek, Christopher Payne, Andrew Whittaker, and Mark Dodgson at BADA
Thank You!
We had a really productive project team meeting at the Royal Festival Hall in London yesterday. Very productive (and mind-bending) discussion about data-sets and ‘authority terms’ re the forthcoming interactive website for the project. Sparky also amused us all with his ‘Lovejoy’ question….
Here’s the project team – left-to-right: Lizzy Jamieson (Research Fellow, University of Leeds); Mark Wales (smallhadroncollider.com) the software programmer for the interactive website, and Lovejoy fan; Me (Mark Westgarth, Principal Investigator, University of Leeds); Tim Banks (University of Leeds, PVAC Faculty IT Manager); Eleanor Quince (Co-Investigator, University of Southampton).
We’ve made front page news in the Antiques Trade Gazette; we’ve had loads of responses to the project, so thank you to Mark and Ivan at the ATG!
You can read the full story on the ATG website: http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/
We are finding some fabulous published resources for the Antique Dealer project – much of which is very kindly being sent into the project by the trade itself!…here’s some fantastic early 20th century dealer catalogues from Phillips of Hitchin –
thank you Jerome Phillips!
The Antique Trade is certainly changing – the Thames Valley Antique Dealers’ Association (TVADA) is to disband by the end of this year – so the Antiques Trade Gazette reports, see:
http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/
More reason for the history of the antique trade to be captured and archived!
Welcome to the Antique Dealers AHRC project blog – we’ve set up the blog to allow anyone, anywhere, to follow and to contribute to the research project, so do sent us a note to antiquedealers@leeds.ac.uk for an invitation to post a blog entry!
Mark, Eleanor and Lizzy (Project Team)
Invoice from Adams, Antique Dealer, Edinburgh and New York, 1907
a working group dedicated to the display of art in the private interior, c. 1715-1914
An International Conference hosted by The Bowes Museum and The University of Leeds
A research project investigating the history of the antiques trade in Britain in the 19th & 20th centuries
'Museum Studies Now?' is an event which aims to discuss and debate museum and heritage studies education provision.
art writing * art works * art market
A research project investigating the history of the antiques trade in Britain in the 19th & 20th centuries
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