H. Blairman & Sons Ltd

Martin Levy

Martin Levy has, since the 1980s, lectured in the U.K. and the U.S.A.  He has also contributed articles, exhibition reviews, book reviews and letters to numerous publications.

A selection includes:

 

 

 

 

 

• [book review] Anne Stutchbury, Tessa Wild, Stephen Ponder and Alice M. Strickland, Standen: Philip Webb, Morris & C. and the Creation of an Arts and Crafts Home, The SPAB Magazine, Spring 2026
• [Study Day contribution] ‘Provenance Revealed: Silver from Toro, Spain’, V&A, 26 May 2026
• ‘Obituary – Charlotte Gere (1937-2026)’, Antiques Trade Gazette, 21 March 2026
• ‘Michael Whiteway (1948-2024) and his shop at 105 Kensington Church Street’ [with Charlotte Gere], Decorative Arts Society Journal, 49 (2025)
• ‘Alfred Morrison at the 1862 London International Exhibition’ in Caroline Dakers (ed.), Millionaire Shopping.  The collections of Alfred Morrison 1821-1897 (2025)
• [Seminar contribution] ‘Ivory and the Antique Trade: the impact of recent international legislation’, Huguenot Museum, Rochester, 4 June 2025
• ‘Tribute: Michael Whiteway 1948-2024’, Furniture History Society Newsletter 237, 2025
• [roundtable discussion] ‘The Past, Present and Future of the Study of Collections’, hosted at UCL by the Journal of the History Collections, 10 September 2024
• ‘Thoughts on the Twentieth-Century Reception of Regency Furniture’, Furniture History, LX, 2024 Click here for PDF
• ‘Tribute: Hugo Burge’, Furniture History Society Newsletter 232, 2023
• ‘Pictures, Furniture and Works of Art: The Goodison Collection’, in Christie’s, The Collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison.  British Art: Innovation and Craftsmanship, 25 May 2022, pp. 8-15
• [lecture] ‘The Market for Arts and Crafts’, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, as part of London Craft Week, May 2022
• [with Simon Swynfen Jervis] ‘Tribute: Christopher Monkhouse (1947-2021)’, Furniture History Society Newsletter 224, 2021
• [lecture] ‘From John Coleman Isaac to H. Blairman & Sons: Two Centuries of Commerce and Friendship’, Furniture History Society Annual Lecture, 2021
• ‘Remembering Sir Nicholas Goodison (1934-2021), the City grandee with a scholar’s eye for the decorative arts’, Apollo (online), 20 July 2021
• ‘Promoting and Selling Modern Majolica: A Victorian Phenomenon’, in Susan Weber, ed., Majolica Mania, 2021
• ‘Lamps, Lanterns and Lustres: Lighting Designed by George Bullock (d. 1818)’, Furniture History, LVI, 2020 Click here for PDF
• ‘A Tribute: John Scott (1935-2020)’, Furniture History Society Newsletter 218, 2020
• Notes on John Coleman Isaac, Edward Holmes Baldock and H. Blairman & Sons, in Mark Westgarth, ed., SOLD! The Great British Antiques Story, 2020
• [book review] Alistair Grant & Angus Patterson, ‘The Museum and the Factory: The V&A, Elkington and the Electrical Revolution‘, Decorative Arts Society Newsletter 118, Spring 2020
• ‘Susan Weber, Godwin, and Bard Graduate Center: Onwards and Upwards’, in Bard Graduate Center at 25: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, 2019
• ‘A Tribute: John H. Bryan, Junior (1936-2018), Furniture History Society Newsletter 212, November 2018
• ‘A Royal Visit to George Bullock’s Workshop, 1814’, Furniture History Society Newsletter 211, August 2018
• ‘Works of Art and ivory: what are the issues?’, Curator: The Museum Journal (61:1), 2018 Click here to view
• ‘The Apotheosis of Charles Lepec: his participation at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867’ [with Olivier Hurstel], Decorative Arts Society Journal, 41 (2017). Click here for PDF
• [lecture] ‘Alfred Morrison (1821-97): an Overlooked Patron and Collector of Decorative Arts’, Art Institute of Chicago, May 2016
• Charles Lepec and the Patronage of Alfred Morrison’ [with Olivier Hurstel], Metropolitan Museum Journal 50, 2015
  Click here for PDF
• ‘Why is Christopher Dresser so Admired’ in Christopher Dresser: Ceramics, Glass and Metalware, Chicago, 2015
• ‘A recently Identified Thomas Hope Chandelier in New Orleans’, Furniture History, LI, 2015
• [exhibition review] ‘George Hoentschel and French decorative arts’. The Burlington Magazine, August 2013
• ‘Manufacturers at the World’s Fairs: The Model of 1851’ in Jason T. Busch and Catherine L. Futter, Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs 1851-1939, New York, 2012
• [book review] ‘The Napoleon of Shopkeepers’, Apollo, December 2011 – review of Caroline Dakers, A Genius for Money: Business, Art and the Morrisons
• [book review] ‘Susan E, Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840: Cabinetmakers and International Merchants: A Furniture and Business History’, Decorative Arts, XVII, no. 1 (Fall-Winter 2009-2010).
• ‘Of Beauty: Aspects of the Horace Wood Brock Collection of Decorative Arts’ in Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2009
• Catalogue entries on the furniture in David Watkins and Philip Hewat-Jaboor (eds), Thomas Hope: Regency Designer, New Haven and London, 2008
• ‘Ralph Bernal and John Coleman Isaac: Some Correspondence’, in Makers, Dealers and Collectors: Studies in Honour of Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Leeds, 2007
• Beauty and Vitality: Masterpieces of English Furniture at Grosvenor House’. Grosvenor House Art & Antique Fair Handbook, London, 2006
• [review of Christopher Dresser exhibition, Cooper-Hewitt, New York], ‘Shock of the Old’ Apollo, October 2004
• John Coleman Isaac, ‘Importer of Curiosities. An outline of his life, and the 1846 Continental Diary’ [with Elaine Moss], Journal of the History of Collections, 2002
• Catalogue entries on furniture in Derek Ostergard (ed.), William Beckford 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, New Haven and London, 2001
• ‘Living with antiques: A collection of Victorian Decorative Arts’ [the Peter Rose and Albert Gallichan collection], The Magazine Antiques, June 2000
• ‘Napoleon in Exile: The Houses and Furniture supplied by the British Government for the Emperor and his Entourage on St Helena’, Furniture History, XXXIV, 1998
• The Roman Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and some Tripods by William Bullock and George Bullock, Furniture History, XXXIII, 1997
• ‘Some Silver by John Hardman & Co for Charles Lygon Cocks’ The Decorative Arts Society Journal, 20, (1995)
• ‘Nineteenth-century English Gothic revival decorative arts in a private collection’ [the John Scott collection], The Magazine Antiques, June 1995
• ‘Abbots Wood, Barrow-in-Furness. Furniture by Gillow for Sir James Ramsden, Apollo, June 1993
• ‘Regency’ in Huon Mallalieu (ed), The Illustrated History of Antiques, Philadelphia, 1991
• ‘Architectural By Design’ [furniture by Alfred Wickham Jarvis], Country Life, 4 July 1991
• ‘Napoleon’s fauteuil de malade. A new discovery’, Apollo, May 1991
• ‘Ditton Park, Berkshire’, Country Life, 11 January 1990
• ‘George Bullock’s Partnership with Charles Fraser, 1813-1818, and the Stock-in-Trade Sale, 1819’, Furniture History, 1989
• ‘Sincerest Form of Flattery’ [furniture by Louis Le Gaigneur], Country Life, 15 June 1989
• ‘George Bullock, a Regency cabinetmaker reassessed’, The Magazine Antiques, June 1988
• ‘George Bullock: Sources for identifying Furniture from his Workshop’, Apollo, June 1987

• 2026-present: Council, Society of Antiquaries of London
• 2024-2026: Trustee, Strawberry Hill Collection Trust, and Strawberry Hill Trust
• 2024-present: Chairman, The Pugin Society
• 2022-present:  Co-opted member, Trustees Collections Committee, V&A
• 2021-2025: Trustee, The Emery Walker Trust
• 2019 Society Medal awarded by Society of Antiquaries of London
• 2019-present: Trustee, The Gilbert Trust for the Arts
• 2017-2023: Chairman, Decorative Arts Society; Patron 2014-2017, and 2023-present
• 2017-2025: Chairman, Kelmscott Manor Campaign Group
• 2017-present: Trustee, Bard Graduate Center, New York
  
• 2014-2025: Member, Kelmscott Committee (from 2017-2023 Project Board), Society of Antiquaries
• 2014: Iris Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Decorative Arts
• 2005-2009: Chairman, Vetting Comittees, Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair
• 2002-2013: Treasurer, Furniture History Society, and Council member (1994-96) www.furniturehistorysociety.org
• 2000-present: Member, Spoliation Advisory Panel
• 1998: Elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
• 1997-2007: Member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art
• 1997-2012: Trustee, Jewish Museum, London
• 1997-2008: Trustee, The London Historic House Museums’ Trust
• 1997-2026: Trustee, Oliver Ford Trust
• 1993-1994: Chairman, British Antique Dealers’ Association