Reggie Out & About: Glenda Ruby Book Signing Party at Olana

Not long before the Holiday Season Madness descended upon us, Boy and I were invited to and attended a book signing party held at Olana, the celebrated, exotic fantasy of a stately home built by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900).  As readers of this blog are well aware, Mr. Church was one of our Nation's most revered and talented artists and one of the founders of the Hudson River School of landscape painters.  In his day he was as famous as a rock star, became rich as Croesus, and built Olana as a trophy of his well-deserved success.

Frederic Church's Olana at twilight

Olana sits on the top of a hill commanding a magnificent view out over the mighty Hudson River.  The house, which was designed in collaboration with Calvert Vaux (1824-1895), another creative Titan of the nineteenth century (he co-designed New York's Central Park), has been beautifully preserved and restored (with much of its original contents intact), and is open to the public.  Olana is one of New York's—no, this country's—historic treasure houses.  If you haven't made a pilgrimage to see it yet, Dear Reader, I highly recommend that you do so.  But be sure to book your tickets well in advance, as Olana is a popular destination and its tours frequently sell out.

The view from Olana's piazza, overlooking the Hudson River Valley

The book signing party was held in Olana's visitors' center, an attractively converted former carriage house on the estate's property.

The featured book was written by a dear friend of ours, Ms. Glenda Ruby, and is a delicious read.  It is a murder mystery, titled Death at Olana—which explains why the party was held there (although there is no formal connection between the author and Olana).  The book is very clever and amusing, and it marvelously captures the spirit and the doings of those of us who variously inhabit the surrounding Columbia County, an area known for its gorgeous rural scenery, a jumble of city folk and locals, and all the crafty shenanigans that one would expect in an area where such cultures (sometimes) collide.

One enjoyed a 20% discount in the Olana gift shop!

Here's what the book's dust jacket says:

"Most of the charming people and the ne'er-do-wells, the heroes and the villains in this tale, abide in Columbia County.  While this is still very much the country, agricultural and rural, about thirty years ago there began a diaspora of New York cognoscenti who chose to spend time in quaint hamlets and villages, rather than amid the haute bourgeois excess of say, Long Island, to choose a random example."

The book party's attendees, enjoying themselves

"And so among the apple, pear, peach, and cherry orchards, the dairy farms, and the good local people who run them, you will increasingly find upper middle, indeed wealthy families, singles, straights and gays, painters, writers, publishers, lawyers, media types, and investment bankers [editor's note: such as Reggie] who have migrated to this historic area.  We all believe we live in the most beautiful place in the world.

"Some of us are murderers."

Ms. Glenda Ruby

"Christmas at Olana, Frederic Church's Moorish fantasy castle . . . a new Church painting unveiled . . . beside a naked body hanging by a noose.

"So begins the first of the Hudson Valley Murders, a new series for lovers of mystery and malicious wit."

Our copy of Death at Olana

We arrived at the party on the later side after what I understand was a veritable crush of well-wishers and friends of the author.  Food and drink was plentiful, and I enjoyed myself immensely.  So much so, in fact, that I gleefully bought half a dozen copies of Death at Olana as Christmas presents, and had them inscribed by Ms. Ruby.  She gamely complied, I am happy to report.

Boy speaking with a strange bird at the party

One runs into and meets all sorts of people at parties I find.  I had a brief and pleasant conversation there with Mr. Stephen Shadley, the noted interior designer, who is someone I first met thirty or so years ago.  Goodness!  I find that I am saying things like "more than thirty years ago" more frequently of late than I care to admit!  Where does the time go, I ask you?

Mr. Boy Fenwick having fun with Ms. Ros Daly

One of the other guests at the party was the divine Ms. Ros Daly.  You can see her in the preceding photograph holding my copies of Death at Olana, which she graciously agreed to hoist while I snapped her picture with the admiring Boy Fenwick at her side.

The Lady Authoress, hard at work

I am beyond fond of Ms. Ruby, who is a wit, a bon vivant, a raconteur, and makes the best Boeuf Bourguignon that I've ever had the pleasure of eating.  Plus, she's a Southerner and has the most marvelous whiskey and cigarettes voice imaginable.  She is Heaven!

Ms. Ruby does a superb (and quite humorous) job of depicting (some would say skewering) the insulated little world we live in during weekends up in Columbia County, among the fields and orchards, and—occasionally as it turns out—naked dead bodies swinging from ropes!

"Oh, hello Reggie, so glad you could come!"

After reading Death at Olana, I sincerely hope that Ms. Ruby follows through on her threat that it will be the first in a series of Hudson Valley Murder Mysteries.  I want more!

If you are interested in a light and entertaining read (and who isn't?) full of colorful characters, amusing situations, and a healthy dose of keenly observed insights into the human condition (at least as it is found two hours north of Manhattan in the county where Reggie spends most of his weekends), then I highly recommend Death at Olana.  I assure you, Dear Reader, you will not be disappointed!

A parting view of Olana

Oh, and while you're at it, do buy at least several copies of the book to give to your friends and loved ones, too, as I'm sure they'll enjoy it as well!

You can order copies of Death at Olana here.

Please note: Reggie admits that he received a copy of Death at Olana as a gift from Ms. Ruby many months ago.  However, he insists that isn't why he wrote this review (or why he bought six copies of it at the party—at full retail price he might add).  No, he has written this post solely for the amusement of his readers and to encourage them to buy Ms. Glenda Ruby's book based upon its own many merits.

All photographs by Reggie Darling

Antiques Week At Last! The 2014 Winter Antiques Show Opening Party

This past Thursday Boy and I attended the opening party for the Winter Antiques Show ("WAS"), held at New York's Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

A spectacular arrangement of roses
at the entry to the Winter Antiques Show

The WAS opening party is one of the highlights of the New York social season and attracts a large crowd of sleek and moneyed New Yorkers.  This year marked the show's sixtieth anniversary.  It's one of the longest running and most prestigious antiques show in the country, Dear Reader.

Fortunately a full bar was set up right at the entry
so Reggie didn't have to wait for a cocktail!

The WAS opening party is a lot of fun.  One can spend the entire evening boozing and schmoozing, as there are food and drink stations at every turn, and one runs into all sorts of people one knows—or would like to know better.

The crowd entering the show

Every year the WAS hosts a loan exhibition from a noteworthy cultural institution.  This year's show features one from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, also known as "the PEM."  The PEM's exhibition was designed by Mr. Jeff Daly, the former Chief of Design at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who now has his own museum and design consulting company.  I was very pleased to meet and speak with Mr. Daly and his partner at the party, both of whom I learned are sometime readers of this blog!

The Peabody Essex Museum loan exhibition at the WAS

The PEM has a number of masterpieces from its collections on display.

The PEM's Derby Dressing Table, ca. 1800-1810

Prominently (and rightly) featured is this dressing table by the cabinet makers John and Thomas Seymour of Boston, made for Mrs. Elizabeth Derby West, the daughter of the immensely rich Mr. Elias Haskell Derby.  Boy and I attended the landmark Seymour exhibition that the PEM mounted ten years ago.  I shall never forget it.  It was spectacular.

The PEM's portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne, ca. 1840
Charles Osgood, artist

Also displayed is this portrait of a young and handsome Nathaniel Hawthorne in the PEM's collection.  I have a postcard of this portrait, bought at the PEM when we toured the Seymour exhibit, that I have slipped into the frame of a mirror hanging above my chest of drawers at Darlington.

Mr. David Patrick Columbia

One of the first people I ran into at the show was Mr. David Patrick Columbia, of New York Social Diary fame.  I am a devoted reader of and sometime contributor to NYSD, and I owe Mr. Columbia a story that I've been working on for him some time now.  We had a pleasant conversation, and the picture he took of us appeared in his next morning's post.  Thank you, sir!

Pork, vegetable, chicken or beef?

The food offered at the Winter Antiques Show this year was delicious and varied.  The dumpling station shown in the preceding photograph was very popular.

I stopped in my tracks when I turned around and noticed this exotic-looking mid-nineteenth-century marble bust of an American Indian.

And I was also quite taken by this full-length statue of a young Indian by the same sculptor, in the same booth.

The Peter Pap Oriental Rugs booth

My next stop was to say hello to Mr. Peter Pap, the San Francisco-based dealer of oriental rugs.  Mr. Pap's mother and mine were great pals when we were both lads, and we share a mutual friend in common today in Mr. Guy "Pickles" Gurquin, the noted San Francisco decorator.

Son and Father Pap

Mr. Pap was joined at the party by his son, Master Jared Pap, whom I enjoyed meeting.  I'm afraid the younger Pap may have thought me one of those "I knew your grandmother . . ." old fogey blowhards, but he seemed pretty game about it.

The Old Print Shop booth

We next peeked into the booth of the Old Print Shop, where we admired an early depiction of Alexander Hamilton . . .

. . . and then made a beeline to the booth of Stephen and Carol Huber, America's preeminent dealers in antique schoolgirl needleworks.

The Stephen & Carol Huber booth

I have a weakness for mourning pictures, Dear Reader.  Actually I need to clarify that: I have a weakness for almost anything made with a mourning theme in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in America or England.  I especially liked the mourning needlework picture on display in the Huber's booth, shown in the following photograph:

Who should I then run into next but Mr. Michael Henry Adams, man about town and bon vivant!

Mr. Michael Henry Adams

Mr. Adams has kindly invited me to spend a day with him taking in the noteworthy historical sites in Harlem, and I look forward to doing so soon.  Taking my leave of him, I briefly paused to admire this pulchritudinous ancient statue . . .

Hello gorgeous!

. . . on my way to the back bar to replenish my flute of champagne.  A number of my Dear Readers may remember another, also pulchritudinous ancient statue, that I featured in my last year's post on the WAS opening party, shot from the—ahem—rear.  It was also from the same dealer, Safani Gallery.

I needed a refreshment of champagne in order to bear the excitement of the prospect of next visiting the booth of Hirschl & Adler, where I found Boy shamelessly flirting with the lovely and fun Ms. Liz Feld.

Mr. Boy Fenwick and Ms. Liz Feld

And why not?  Ms. Feld is divine, and we like her and her family immensely.  The Felds have the most mouthwatering goods on display in the Hirschl & Adler booth at the WAS, including this spectacular desk attributed to Duncan Phyfe, shown in the following photograph.

The Hirschl & Adler Duncan Phyfe desk
with a George Washington gilt bronze clock

They also had—not one, but two—George Washington clocks on display.  It almost made me faint!

Another gilt bronze George Washington clock!

I immediately needed another glass of champagne in order to collect myself.  Fortunately there was a bar set up close at hand for just such an emergency.

Boy at the Bar

Our next stop was the booth of Jeffrey Tillou Antiques, of Litchfield, Connecticut.  We have been customers of Mr. Tillou, both at the WAS and his Litchfield shop, ever since we bought Darlington.

I was quite taken by this large, early-nineteenth-century still life painting in the Tillou booth.

"Let me tell you about where I found this painting . . . "

Boy briefly considered this small landscape.

I suspect that butter wouldn't melt in his mouth

And we both liked this Ammi Phillips portrait in the Tillou booth of a rather haughty young gentleman.  I thought it one of the better portraits by the artist that I've seen in recent years.  It was already—not surprisingly—sold.

Leaving the Tillou booth we stopped and chatted with Ms. Mary Dohne, seen on the right of the preceding photograph.  Ms. Dohne works at Liz O'Brien, a dealer in exquisite, sophisticated, bench-made mid-century furniture of the Maison Jansen/Samuel Marx/Francis Elkins school(s).  Ms. Dohne is really rather jolly.  I loved the outfit she was wearing at the party.

Ms. Liz O'Brien

We then made our way to the Liz O'Brien booth, where we stopped and chatted with the charming and gracious Ms. O'Brien.  I've admired Ms. O'Brien's eye for many years, starting from when she first had a shop in SoHo.  Ms. O'Brien is shown in the preceding photograph standing next to a commode made by Maison Jansen for the Duchess of Windsor.  It was exquisite.  I am tickled pink that Ms. O'Brien and I are now Facebook friends.

I'll have one of everything, please!

Taking a break from the visual overload, I fortified myself with several helpings of tasty Peking Duck rolls at the nearby food station.

Mr. Will Motley with the Dyckman punch bowl

I next stopped into the booth of Cohen and Cohen of Reigate, England, to admire their magnificent offerings of (positively) ducal Chinese export porcelain.  Mr. Will Motley was kind enough to show me the heart-stopping punch bowl Cohen and Cohen had on display that was (thought to be) commissioned by States Morris Dyckman (1755-1806), ca. 1805, for his house, Boscobel, in the Hudson River Valley.

Unlike the rather foul-humored dealer at the Ceramics Fair who wouldn't give Reggie the time of day, Mr. Motley was more than pleased to let me examine a truly superb Chinese export punch bowl, ca. 1800, decorated with Masonic emblems.  It was large enough to bathe an infant!

The Cove Landing booth

Our next stop was to visit the extremely popular Cove Landing booth.  I did a post about attending an exhibition sale at Cove Landing this past fall.  We've become rather addicted to Cove Landings' exquisite offerings, Dear Reader.

Across the aisle from Cove Landing, I was entranced by this impressive suite of watercolors of the stages of operations of a silk factory in China, from the early nineteenth century.

The Moderne Gallery booth

Not everything at the WAS dates from pre-1900.  The dealer's booth shown in the preceding photograph was positively brimming with the wildly collectible, wildly expensive mid-century furniture made by the Japanese-American cabinetmaker and architect George Nakashima (1905-1990).

Betty Grable, eat your heart out!

Not all the "nudies" at the WAS were from the Ancient era, Dear Reader.  I was quite taken by this early-nineteenth-century pinup in all her unclothed glory.

Which inspired Reggie with yet more of an appetite for the party's tasty finger food.

The Carlton Hobbs booth

I always make sure to stop at the Carlton Hobbs booth at the WAS.  He has magnificent things to ogle, including this show's truly fantastical pair of enormous Adam-style mirrors (although I suspect the English Mr. Hobbs prefers to call them "looking glasses").

"What are you looking at?"

Yet more food was to be had.

I believe the toothy fellow in the yellow tie was on a reality show

And yet another photograph of another beautiful booth at the show.

"Be it ever so humble . . . "

I thought the grisaille wallpaper at Kentshire Galleries, seen in the preceding photograph, was beyond sublime.

Another photograph snapped of yet more benefitters milling about the drinks station at the center of the Armory.

And another!

Is that Miss Miller Gaffney I see in the Maison Gerard booth?

The Maison Gerard booth was very chic, I thought.

The Carswell Rush Berlin booth

And the Carswell Rush Berlin booth of American Classical furniture was definitely worth a gander!

I wanted everything!

I particularly liked the bookcase along the wall.  I wish I had a place for it at Darlington House.

Elle Shushan's booth

Our final stop at the show was the always-marvelous booth of Elle Shushan, the best American dealer in fine antique miniature portraits.

Every year she and her friend, the designer Ralph Harvard, come up with a different inspiration for her booth's design.  I think this year it may have been the Egyptian-revival architecture of Henry Austin (1804-1891), but I could be mistaken.

With dinner plans beckoning us at the nearby L'Absinthe Brasserie, and the delightful company of Ms. Maureen Footer and Ms. Emily Evans Eerdmans to look forward to, Boy and I then retrieved our coats and made our way out the main door of the Armory and into the chilly January night.  And just like that, we were gone!

Next: Reggie goes shopping for Duncan Phyfe games tables at Sotheby's and Christie's

All photographs by Reggie Darling