Emile Galle, Majorelle and Lalique, Sotheby’s

Posted on by February 17, 2014

The Sotheby’s Art Nouveau sale in Paris yesterday yielded some interesting results. Out of 137 lots, 15 remained unsold. The glass vases by Emile Galle sold consistently above their estimates (lot 8, a carved and marquetry-de-verre vase, 1900,  pictured above sold at €192,750 with a pre-sale estimate of €80,000-120,000). Galle’s furniture however didn’t fare so well with 4 lots remaining unsold. Lot 45, the Majorelle ‘Miroir aux Nenuphars’ pictured in our pre-sale post sold at €54,750 (estimate €15,000-20,000) while the star lot, Rene Lalique’s 1900 sculpture in bronze of a woman, lot 98 pictured above, far over reached its estimate of €200,000-300,000 and went for €1,240,750.

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Hector Guimard and Louis Majorelle, Sotheby’s

Posted on by February 17, 2014

The Sotheby’s Art Nouveau Sale in Paris on 16 February has some spectacular offerings including this beautiful pair of pearwood and leather chairs (circa 1900-1910) by Hector Guimard (1867-1910). A true exponent of the Art Nouveau style, his work is characterized by sensuous lines and vegetal curves of which these chairs are a truly outstanding example.
Lot 92 with an estimate of €30?000-50,000.

The magnificent baby grand piano by Louis Majorelle (1859-1926) took our breath away. In carved mahogany and fruitwood marquetry inlay depicting ‘the death of the swan’ on one side, it is signed, dated 1903 and numbered. The ornate carving and sweep of the legs perfectly balances the solidity of the body of the piano.
Lot 55 with an estimate of €500,000-700,000.

Also by Majorelle is this theatrical mirror (‘Miroir aux Nenuphars’) in mahogany and gilt bronze. Circa 1900.
Lot 45 with an estimate of €15,000-20,000.

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Gerrit Rietveld light 1922

Posted on by February 17, 2014

Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1965) designed this iconic hanging lamp around 1922 for Dr Hartog who lived near Utrecht. It hung over his office desk until the interior was completely destroyed in 1939. Created while Rietveld was a member of the De Stijl group, the clean undecorated lines and simplified palette perfectly reflect the modern aesthetics of the group, in sharp contrast to the flowing lines of the Art Nouveau style before WW1. In this lamp, Rietveld stripped the fixture down to its essential of four lighting tubes and wires, and then reconstructed it into a three-dimensional hanging light sculpture. A true icon of 20th century Modernist design, it looks astonishingly modern today as it did when it was created. There are two original versions of this hanging lamp in the Utrecht Central Museum and the Amsterdam Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

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Warren McArthur – Seating

Posted on by February 17, 2014

Warren McArthur’s furniture, recognizable for its curved metal tubing design with customized washer joinery, was popular with the Hollywood crowd during the 1930s Art Deco period in the U.S. It was used on numerous movie sets and in the interiors of Warner Brothers Studios and the legendary Ambassador Hotel.

This tête-à-tête is one of our favorites. Its glamour proceeds’ it. However, this yellow painted chair sold at Wright in 2009, is absolutely spectacular for the 1930s. It displays the cutting-edge coloring technique MacArthur used whereby metal is made porous through an anodic process. This enables the dye to combine with the metal. The color doesn’t chip.

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Christopher Dresser silver teapot

Posted on by February 17, 2014

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904), an English botanist and scholar of the decorative arts was probably the first industrial designer in the modern sense of the term. He embraced all the implications of industrial mass-production, unlike his Arts and Crafts Movement contemporaries,  aligning this to the design of bold and highly visionary crafted objects. This teapot (1879) is unbelievably ahead of its time.

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Artsy.net’s definition of Design

Posted on by February 17, 2014

Artsy.net’s definition of design:

‘Since the beginning of the 20th century, “design” has generally been used to refer to either functional objects that are appreciated for their aesthetic qualities, or the plans for the creation of functional objects. (Previously, the Western usage of the term largely referred to drawing or the overall look of a composition or object.) Importantly, design is often used in combination with the term decorative arts, a preferred term for describing pre-19th century (and pre-industrial revolution) functional objects. Among the many historical design movements—to have contributed significant design forms to the canon or challenged the role of functional objects in daily life—are the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Deutscher Werkbund, and the Bauhaus.’

We were excited to see Artsy.net start to define ‘design’ because it is indeed a word that is often misused/overused these days.  We believe more discussion and further clarification is needed though and we will be grappling with this issue more and more in the coming posts.

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Paola Antonelli

Posted on by February 17, 2014

“While an artist can choose whether or not to be responsive and responsible towards other human beings, by definition a designer must be.” —Paola Antonelli

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Link

Paris Design Week article Nominated for Golden Key Award!

Paris Design Week article Nominated for Golden Key Award!

Artecase’s coverage of Paris Design Week has been nominated for the Golden Key Award on AAD. The article is about the importance of contemporary design! Please have a look. We would love your support! Thanks so much!

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