Tags
Art Nouveau, Céramique Massier, Dominique Alonzo, Goldscheider, Gustave Gurschner, Japonism, Loetz Witwe, Meissen, Nicolaas van der Waay, René Lalique, WMF
Yesterday, I visited Art Breda, where specialist art and antique dealers, mostly from The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, show their finest pieces. It was my first time at this fair, and I was pleasantly surprised by the vast amount of Art Nouveau galleries. I spent hours at the fair and took hundreds of pictures. Here’s a short review with some of my personal favourite items. Please enjoy! If you want to visit the fair, you can still go. It is open until sunday the 19th of May 2019.
Antes Art 1900
I have known Rachel Reijers for a few years now, since we met at the International Art Deco & Design Fair in The Hague in January 2016. As she is also one of the founding members of the Haagse Salon, we meet regularly. It is always a pleasure to see Rachel as she has a wonderful collection including prints, paintings, glass, ceramics, metalworks and sculptures. Today, the highlight for me was this extremely rare vase by Loetz Witwe with a pewter mount by Gustave Gurschner executed by the Parisian firm of Boudon & Klähr. The ‘Papillon’ decoration has a very strong iridescence varying from yellowish pink at the bottom to cobalt blue in the upper region of the vase. (Klostermühle, ± 1900). More details can be found here….
The first time I learned about Lennart Booij was in 2013, when he was the guest-curator for the Lalique exhibition at Gemeentemuseum The Hague. Later, we met at the PAN Amsterdam in 2015. Lennart always brings an impressive collection of Lalique glass. Personally, I am not a big fan of Lalique’s pressed glass objects. But I do find his detailed perfume bottles charming. I have photographed a few today.
Maybe the nicest surprise for me was Galerie des Beaux Arts from Zurich, Switzerland. They brought a spectacular collection of terracotta sculptures, bronzes and cache pots, mostly from Wiener Manufaktur Friedrich Goldscheider and Céramique Massier. Owner Simon Waks turned out to be a very nice man, and we had a really interesting conversation. He told me about a large (private) collection of terracotta sculptures in Germany that is still fairly unknown. The collection can be found at the Skulpturen & Miniaturen Museum in Ransbach-Baumbach. I checked-out their website, and it is just unbelievable. Definitely worth the trip I think. (If you have ever visited this museum, please let us know in the comments about your experience.)
Tiny Esveld has been in the business for a long time and has become a leading expert in French Art Nouveau glass. She has written several books on the subject, so if you wish to learn more I strongly recommend her books. Since Tiny announced that this would be her last fair, I really wanted to talk with her and get an update. When I walked by her booth, she was busy with a customer, so I decided to come back later. Unfortunately, when I came back, she had left. So, no update from Tiny yet… The booth was filled with eye-candy (as allways) and I just shot a few pictures for you can get the idea. More information can be found at her website here…
Galerie Stylo has been on my radar since the International Art Deco & Design Fair in The Hague in January 2016 as well. And since last year they have joined the Haagse Salon. Rob van Vulpen’s collection contains works by leading graphic artists such as Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges de Feure and Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen to name just a few. Besides posters, there are beautiful books and periodicals (Das Plakat, Arts et Metiers Graphiques) as well as prints. As I personally have a thing for Art Nouveau frames, I also shot some details of the beautiful frames.
Galerie Tamdem was new to me. But their collection is not to be missed! Lovely sculptures and glass objects, by all of the famous artists from the turn of the 19th century. My personal favourite in their collection was by far the bronze chryselephantine sculpture by Dominique Alonzo.
Also new to me was Passage Arts by Rob van Leeuwen en Hanneke Richel. Excellent collection with a few items that made my heart go faster. First item that struck me as very rare was this mirror by Kayserzinn. It was very hard to photograph; I hope you get the idea. Then, Rob pointed out to me his marvelous ladies writing desk by Émile Gallé that was made specially for the 1900 Paris World Fair. Just look at the details of that desk! More pictures of the desk can be found here…
Kunsthandel Dénes Szy from Düsseldorf always catches my eye with their beautiful Instragram posts. They carry a collection of extremely beautiful porcelain and metalware objects. Think Meissen, Henry van de Velde, Georg Jensen, Eisenloeffel, Riemerschmid, Behrens etc… You name it, they have it. I can drool over their instagram account for hours, just wishing I had a bigger wallet… As the cabinets were so full, and photographing was nearly impossible, I have taken the liberty to show you some of their own beautiful pictures. For more information, visit their excellent website here…
Walking around in a booth of Het Ware Huis is always a pleasure! They have a very versatile collection including prints, furniture, glass, clocks, paintings and so on. Today, I picked two clocks to share with you, both by Albin Muller (1871-1941). And I know they have been created in Darmstadt, but they look very English to me. What do you think?
This Amsterdam gallery was a complete surprise for me. Never seen them before at a fair, but their collection is very interesting. They had several paintings by Nicolaas van der Waay (1855-1936), a Dutch decorative artist, watercolorist and lithographer. One of those paintings (called ‘The Dutch Virgin’) was a study for the decorations on the Golden Coach of the Dutch Royal Family. The third painting I selected was nót by Van der Waay, but by Paul Rink (1862-1903).
Drawing for side panel Hulde der Koloniën (Tribute of the Colonies) of the Golden Carriage, van der Waay
Nohara Japanese Art
And last but not least, I would like to introduce you to the wonderful collection of Shinji Nohara-sama from Berchem (Antwerp). Japanese art, particularly the art from the Meiji era (1868-1912), had a great influence on Art Nouveau in Europe. And Nohara-san carried some exquisite objects clearly showing the characteristics that can also be found in Art Nouveau objects: beauty of nature, asymmetry, cloisonné, typical surface division with large empty spaces, etc. I selected a few small items that I found most charming. Should you be interested, Nohara-san pointed out that he will also be attending the more intimate Art & Antiques Event at Slot Zeist in June.
ART BREDA – THE NETHERLANDS
12 – 19 MAY 2019
Continue Reading:
Antes Art 1900
Art Breda
Booij Arts
Céramique Massier
Galerie des Beaux Arts
Galerie Tiny Esveld
Galerie Stylo
Galerie Tandem
Passage Arts
Dénes Szy Kunsthandel
Het Ware Huis
Kunsthandel Dolf D. Van Omme
Nohara Japanese Art
Wiener Manufaktur Friedrich Goldscheider
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