The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

ART enthusiasts will be able to travel back in time when an exhibition that takes a look at Bahamian art spanning 100 years opens this Friday. 

Jay Koment of New Providence Art & Antiques is holding a two-day exhibition called “Looking Back: One Hundred Years of Art in the Bahamas” that showcases antique, vintage and contemporary works covering the last century.

The show is being held at 22 Howard Street in Chippingham, on the same property as Popopstudios. It is open on Friday, November 28, from 10am-6pm and Saturday, November 29, from 10am-5pm.

Mr Koment told Tribune Arts and Entertainment that he has been repatriating art work in order to present a unique collection during the upcoming show on.

“Part of what I have been doing is repatriating art. Many of the pieces that will be exhibited during the show dates from the 1900s to the 1950s. There are also some occasional pieces that were done in the 19th century. So that is what I have been doing as far as my gallery is concerned,” he said.

“Some of the pieces in the show may only be 20 years old, and I have been collecting them and bringing them back to the Bahamas. Normally I do not have enough of this kind of work to show, because whenever I do get the art pieces, I would call a client and they would come get the pieces and it goes. But this time around I went on a spree and I had a lot of stuff and I wanted people to see all of this in one setting at one time.”

Works include pieces by Harry Hoffman, Frederic Soldwedel, Armin Buchterkirch, Woodi Ishmael, Phil Brinkman, Guy Hoff, Rupert Conrad, Hildegarde Hamilton, Ethel Blum and Dianne Pullinger.

“When I named it ‘Looking Back: One hundred Years of Art in the Bahamas’ I was merely thinking about my antique, vintage Bahamian pieces. But then I said if I do this I need to encompass more, and I have my own collection of Bahamian art that includes John Beadle, John Cox and Amos Ferguson. I am going to put them into the show as well,” he said.

Mr Koment said during the show people will get to see a variety of works that deal with a number of subject matters. 

“There are art pieces in this show that are beautiful to look at but are also sensitive to the Bahamian population, and so I have been lucky to have them. Right now in this show I have some work by an artist name Frederic Soldwedel and he was living in Nassau from the 1920s. He died in the 1950s. So he was literally a resident here and I find his work to be very sensitive and beautiful to the people. You know he did portraits of older Bahamian women that are gorgeous and I have two pieces in the show. Another one is of a spear fisherman. I have been thinking about his work recently and what I’ve come to like about it is his selection of subject and the fact that he keeps things very simple. He does not try to add more to the subject,” he said.

For more information, please call Jay Koment at (242) 424-0074 or e-mail him at bahamasart@gmail.com. 

Catalogue and price list available upon request.