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Penn's Landing, Philadelphia PA
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Fore & Aft – Philadelphia Collects Maritime
2008 Philadelphia Antiques Show Loan Exhibit
Curated by Independence Seaport Museum
The 2008 Philadelphia Antiques Show, which is relocating this year to a new home at The Navy Yard, invited Independence Seaport Museum to curate its prestigious Loan Exhibit, always a Show highlight and crowd favorite.
The Show takes place April 12-15 and features over 50 antiques dealers and galleries showcasing period furniture, folk and fine art, ceramics, porcelain, silver, jewelry and textiles.
The fascinating 2008 Loan Exhibit, titled Fore & Aft – Philadelphia Collects Maritime, was researched and composed by Independence Seaport Museum Curator Craig Bruns.
The result is a never-before-seen assemblage of maritime art and antiques culled from public and private collections across the region.
In putting together the Loan Exhibit, Bruns found that Philadelphia's essential role in America's maritime history has been quietly preserved through the centuries by individual citizens and collecting institutions scattered throughout the Delaware River Valley.
The Loan Exhibit brings together, for the first time, selections from these far-flung collections that include fine art, sailor-made crafts, industrial maritime artifacts, and fragments, fixtures and fittings from historic vessels that have sailed the world.
It reveals insights into the seafaring lives of sailors, captains' roles as cultural and civic heroes, shipboard experiences of passengers and cargos, commodities traded via ocean routes around the world, and naval battle power.
The survey of these public and private collections, viewed as a single exhibit, recognizes Philadelphia's past as a principal colonial port city, illuminates how deeply the maritime world reaches into our everyday world, and serves as a reminder of the wealth of regional maritime material available for future exhibits.
The Loan Exhibit is dedicated to the memory of Independence Seaport Museum founder J. Welles Henderson (1920-2007), who appreciated that Philadelphia's maritime history was central to the founding of the city and the nation and believed Philadelphia should join the ranks of other port cities with museums celebrating that maritime heritage.
The Show will be housed in the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal at Pier One of the Philadelphia Naval Business Center at The Navy Yard, 5100 S. Broad St. For more information or to purchase Show tickets, call 215.387.3500 or visit www.philaantiques.com »