09/01/2026
I’ve always said that my alter ego is a tyrannical editrix of a shelter magazine! Well, I got my dream assignment and have guest edited the September/October Issue of The Magazine ANTIQUES - I hope you enjoy the read! The subject of our cover story, shot by the legendary Dominique Nabakov, is a striking, carved gilt bat residing in the West Village townhouse of Matthew Marks and Jack Bankowsky. The quest to learn more about this nocturnal creature and where it came from drew me into the complex, inspiring worlds of three generations of collectors: Matthew and Jack, Andy Warhol and his business manager Fred Hughes, and Robert de Montesquiou and his literary alter ego Des Esseintes.
Along the way, I got ahold of an article by the incredible writer and critic Ingrid Sischy, in which she asks Fred Hughes, “How would you describe your decorating style?”, and Hughes replies, “ghost chasing.” I am calling this the “ghost chasing” issue, a term I propose we bring into the lexicon. By my definition, ghost chasing is the act of hunting down objects that once belonged to people with whom you wish to have a kind of spiritual and energetic contact. Everyone that was involved in making this issue can be considered a ghost chaser. Their relationships to antiques are fueled by research and a heightened ability to see and feel the constellation of meaning that gives objects, and the rooms that house them, soul. These are people who look at a gilt bat, or a loose bookplate, or a Victorian pink opaline glass vase, and converse with an endless sea of associations.
I am very excited for you to discover the amazing stories by Amy Fine Collins on Helena Rubinstein (photographed by seandavidson), David Lê on Joe D’Urso, on Taxile Doat, Louis Bofferding on things he’d never sell (photographed by Pieter Estersohn), Mitch Owens on Alexandre Serebriakoff, and Jason Wigginton on antiques in modernist interiors. Thank you!! ❤️
Available at CASA MAGAZINES NYC and Iconic Magazines - or subscribe at the link in bio!
