I wed art. It is my husband, my world, my life dream, the air I breathe. I know nothing else, feel nothing else, think nothing else.
Rosa Bonheur
Ralph (1920 - 2008) and Terry (b. 1928) Kovels' influence on the world of collecting is incalculable and their accomplishments innumerable. The couple married in 1950 and wrote their first book together, now titled Kovels' Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, 1650-1850, in 1953. In 1986, they released a new book, Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, 1850 to the Present. As the definitive source for collectibles and values, the Kovels are renowned for their eye for antiques, art, and design.
When the Kovels began their collecting journey they were complete neophytes. Terry remarked in an interview: "In the beginning, we were always doing it together. He was a super salesman and I was a good researcher... So it was fun for me. We found subjects that no one else was doing." They learned by looking, researching, and collecting. The success of their first book led Ralph to pitch a column on antiques and collectibles to the Cleveland Press, "Know Your Antiques," which became the longest-running syndicated column in the country. Their secret, as Terry has said, was making it approachable: "We always include definitions on the things we don't know. We make it easy for people to understand what we are writing about." For perhaps the first time, at least in the United States, antiques and collecting were made accessible to the masses.
The Kovels were also incredibly diversified in their interests, collecting everything from banana stickers and textiles to furniture and American art pottery; as Ralph used to say when asked why he only collects: “If we own it, it’s priceless.” Over the decades that followed the publication of their first book their business developed into a multi-million-dollar enterprise. They wrote over 100 books, one of which, the Kovels' Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, has sold over four million copies and is considered one of the bibles of the field. They have been consulted numerous times for their expertise in court cases and various newspapers; wrote the "Collectibles" entry for the Encyclopedia Britannica; appeared on talk shows and starred in three TV series, “Know Your Antiques” for PBS, “Flea Market Finds with the Kovels” for HGTV, and "Collector's Journal with Ralph and Terry Kovel" for the Discovery Channel; and won two Emmy Awards. Their eponymous website, Kovels.com, was created in 1998 and to this day remains a priceless resource for collectors worldwide where one can check over 1,000,000 prices.
Terry remarked recently: "Building a great collection takes a lot of time, extensive knowledge and some luck, too. I am thrilled to pass our legacy of great finds onto the next generation of passionate antiques collectors." It is with great pride that Rago and Toomey & Co. offer a selection of Ralph and Terry's impressive collection here.
We came from Nowheresville as far as the experts were concerned. Maybe that’s why we can write what we write, because we think like beginners and write in plain language.
Terry Kovel
Rosa Bonheur 1822–1899
"Why shouldn’t I be proud to be a woman? My father, that enthusiastic apostle of humanity, told me again and again that it was a woman’s mission to improve the human race… To his doctrines I owe my great and glorious ambition for the sex to which I proudly belong, whose independence I’ll defend till my dying day. Besides, I’m convinced the future is ours." - Rosa Bonheur
Unconventional, trailblazing, and unapologetically feminist, Rosa Bonheur was born in Bordeaux and became one of the most acclaimed female artists of her time.
Bonheur trained with her father, a painter, from a young age and proved to be a precocious and gifted student, exhibiting at the Salon for the first time at the age of 19. Her love of animals, especially horses, provided inspiration for most of her art. She worked from a variety of sources: direct observation in nature, her small, private menagerie, slaughterhouses, copying paintings at the Louvre, and even dissection for the purpose of gaining anatomical knowledge. Her preference was direct observation, allowing her a close, personal view of her subjects and the ability to draw them in a variety of positions as they naturally moved.
In 1855, at the age of 33, she completed what is considered to be her masterpiece, The Horse Fair, a monumental painting now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The piece was an enormous success, putting her name on the map and garnering her a meeting with the Queen of England. Though her art was traditional in nature, her life (by Victorian standards) was far from it. Bonheur was a lesbian with a long term partner, Nathalie Micas, and she wore men’s clothing for which she required, and was given, formal permission from the local police. She is famously noted as saying: “As far as males go, I only like the bulls I paint.”
Bonheur became one of the most successful female artists in the 19th century thanks to her masterful depictions of the natural world and all its creatures. In 1865, she was the first female artist to be awarded the French Legion of Honor, one of many accolades she achieved in her life including prizes at the Paris Salon, a gold medal at the 1848 World’s Fair, and finally, a promotion in 1894 to Officer of the Legion of Honor. Her legacy lives on in her paintings, housed in esteemed collections worldwide, and Château de Rosa Bonheur, her home and studio which is now a museum.
Auction Results Rosa Bonheur
