Stair Galleries is pleased to offer property from the collections of William Frawley’s apartment in Soho, Phillips Hathaway’s historic Greek revival home in Salisbury, Connecticut, and the New York apartment of Kenneth Paul Block and his partner Morton Ribyat, on Saturday, September 24th, starting at 11am EDT.
William Frawley, a notable New York shoe designer, has an affinity for textured surfaces, animal skins, skeletons and bones. His collection also includes a group of academic figural paintings, prints and drawings. Frawley filled his tastefully decorated apartment with ostrich eggs, metal skulls, carved bone crayfish and Staffordshire transfer printed pottery, all in soft black, brown, cream and white hues. There is an industrial edge to the interiors of his Soho loft including large chrome floor lamps placed around a leather sofa, chairs and parchment colored tables, and a silver tray with a group of unusual table articles. Also peppered around the apartment are faux leopard and sheep skins pillows.
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Phillips “Pete” Hathaway, an international “best dressed” list recipient and a former Sotheby’s expert, transformed the Ragamont Inn, Salisbury, Connecticut, into a grand showhouse of European taste. He chose French Boussac curtains to mix with black and white photographs of palm fronds by Guido Orsini, a whimsical faux marble and gilded papier mâché pedestal, a watercolor of a Pompeiian ruin and a 19th Century soldier from the Bill Blass Collection. It is a treasure trove of eclecticism. Included in the collection is a colorful Turkish Oushak carpet, an 18th century Georgian silver flatware service, a pair of Louis XVI ormolu candlesticks, and an exotic portrait of the Newab of Arcot. Also included in the auction are a pair of decorative Thai metal hands, a pair of coral branches on stands, a bromoil print by society favorite, Gerald Incandela of Russian Wedding Crowns, and a pair of French provincial armchairs upholstered in Boussac fabric.
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Kenneth Paul Block was one of the most notable fashion illustrators of the 20th century. Block worked for Women’s Wear Daily and W Magazine for nearly forty years. He painted The Duchess of Windsor, Jacqueline de Ribes, Gloria Guinness in glamorous clothes by Norman Norell, Givenchy, Coco Chanel, Pauline Trigere, Halston, and the like. Mr. Block and his partner of many years, Morton Ribyat, lived in an art-filled apartment in The Normandy, an Emory Roth designed building on the upper west side. The apartment was filled with watercolors, paintings and drawings by their creative friends in the fashion, theatre and art worlds, as well as paintings and drawings by Block and Ribyat. We have for offer a rare Bill Cunningham designed feathered mirror, a three panel painted Marcel Vertes screen, a fantastical domed collage by Paul Fisher and a six-panel mirrored screen. Also included are four decades’ worth of fashion magazines and books from their library.
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All purchases are subject to a 22% buyer’s premium discounted to 20% for cash or check.
We accept absentee and phone bidding for this sale. The necessary forms can be found on our website under “For Buyers” and can now be filled out electronically and emailed directly to us. To register for bidding by absentee or phone, click here. For more information on bidding, click here. We must insist that all bidding be arranged by noon the Thursday before the sale.
We also accept online bidding via Invaluable.com or Bidsquare.com. Click the preceding links or click on the logos at the bottom of our homepage. All internet bidding requests must be approved the day prior to the auction. Information: 518-751-1000.
For inquiries regarding the items in this sale please contact us at 518-751-1000 or info@stairgalleries.com.