Heritage Auctions’ Senior Vice President brings more than 40 years of experience to historic club

Nick Dawes, Senior Vice President for Special Collections at Heritage Auctions, has been named Chairman and CEO of Salmagundi Art Club after serving on the board of the non-profit club for several years. Salmagundi is the oldest artists’ club in New York and one of the oldest in the nation.

Founded in 1871, the club offers programs that include art classes, exhibitions, painting demonstrations and educational events throughout the year and offers three galleries where members and outside clubs can exhibit work, a historic dining room, bar and  library.

“Salmagundi is a rare place of quiet and relaxation right off Fifth Avenue,” Dawes said, “with an excellent dining room for members and the oldest active pool tables in New York, not to mention our fine permanent collection of American works of art and superb events.”

Salmagundi members purchased 47 Fifth Avenue, between 11th and 12th streets in the heart of Greenwich Village in 1917. Today Salmagundi has over 1,000 members internationally, and affiliations with prominent art clubs in the United States, Europe and Australia. 

A litany of great artists like Childe Hassam, William Merrit Chase, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Guy Wiggins, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Norman Rockwell were members, and honorary members include Sir Winston Churchill, Buckminster Fuller, Paul Cadmus and Al Hirschfeld. 

Nick Dawes began his career in his native England and brings over 40 years of experience in the antiques and fine art auction business. He emigrated to New York in 1979 and has pursued his career there as an auctioneer, appraiser, author, lecturer, and antiques dealer. Nick is a former Department Head and auctioneer at Phillips and at Sotheby’s in New York and has organized his own auctions at several prominent auction houses.  He held annual exhibitions of Lalique glass hood ornaments at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance for over twenty years since 1993 and is considered this country’s leading authority on the work of Rene Lalique.

Nick is the author of four standard works on decorative arts, together with scores of articles, and lectures widely internationally.  He has been a faculty member of Parsons School of Design since 1984 and has taught Luxury Marketing at Columbia Business School and courses on English and French furniture at Bard Graduate Center. Nick is active within many charitable organizations and is the Chairman and CEO of Salmagundi, the oldest artist’s club in New York City founded in 1871.  He first appeared as an appraiser on "Antiques Roadshow" for PBS in the second ever broadcast of the show, and has appeared regularly ever since, discussing ceramics, glass, silver, and other decorative arts.