There is nothing that says luxury more than this gracious Louis XV beechwood bergère. It can be recovered to suit your taste. Look closely at the grace of the curves and the quality of the joinery.
Tête de Jeune fille tenant une rose
Pet’ka Quasar, 2011
This glorious drawing by François Boucher on Galerie Katrin Bellinger’s stand at the Salon du Dessin in Paris this year was breathtaking. Boucher used three chalks in The Head of a girl holding a rose (black, red and white chalk on buff paper) to capture the light particularly well and stretch the precision and tonal range of a quick sketch. The result is an astonishingly vivid depiction of a fleeting moment, the subject seen in profile, lost in thought with her fingers distractedly plucking at a rose.
Over on Galerie Kewenig’s stand, there was a wonderfully whimsical watercolour by Pavel Pepperstein entitled Pet’ka Quasar. We loved the mixture of colors and ethereal shapes, and it made us look again at the 1972 Russian film Peter in Cosmos (Pet’ka Quasar) to which the drawing alludes.
We’ll be in Mallorca next week and are excited to see the Kewenig Galerie there in Palma Old Town as well as the CCA in Andratx. We’ll keep you posted!
Oscar Graf stand at PAD Paris 2012
Charles Trevelyan’s Outside Within lamp
Wendell Castle’s Moonless night chair
There was an outstanding array of talent at PAD in Paris this year. Oscar Graf’s stand was sublime in its simplicity, his stunning chairs taking centre stage in what was a true homage to the art of late 19th and early 20th century European chair design. Outstanding works by Frank Lloyd Wright, Hoffmann and Ruhlmann were displayed among others. We weren’t surprised to discover it was voted best stand this year by Architectural Digest.
Charles Trevelyan’s sculptural lamp, Outside Within, on the Carpenters Workshop Gallery really caught our attention. He works with the London design group Viable. The clever play of light and shade is remarkable, with light radiating back towards the floor from within its amorphous free-standing ‘shade’.
We also loved this amazing chair by Wendell Castle on the Carpenters Workshop Gallery stand, with its solid arched legs suggesting movement and stability at the same time.
We recently had the opportunity to stay a few nights at the amazing Pongara Ecolodge (www.pongara-lodge.com) on Le Pointe, an island 30 minutes from Libreville, the capital city of Gabon. We were drawn to these masks, which have been cleverly transformed into stylish lamps that can withstand the elements on this outdoor terrace.
Realizing that African ‘art’ stems from cultural ceremonies and traditions, these masks and sculptures should not be seen by way of the western concept of art for arts sake, but the African one of rites, spiritual world and ancestors’ worship.
With this perspective in mind we note that this is an original mask of the Ogooue, of the Kota and Mukudji tribes. Known as punu in Gabonese, they are carved from hardwood and decorated with white and red kaolin- based pigments. The temporal scarifications in the form of nine small diamonds together forming one large diamond evoke the notion of perfection and wisdom for this tribe. The mask itself represents their ideal of female beauty as well as the wisdom and serenity of the Ancients who protect the tribe from the kingdom of the dead. These masks are often referred to as ‘spirit guides’.
Recently in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, we were thrilled to be invited to visit a private collection of traditional African art. This sculpture of a female head we found to be entrancing. She emerges from Mbigou stone, which is a type of soapstone mined in a town by the same name a few hundred kilometers from Libreville. It’s malleability initially made it well known in certain circles of sculptors. It has a gray tone with hints of green and garnet that give an ethereal glow to the polished surface. Some say that this stone is used to peddle the spirits of the Ancients.
Also in this fabulous private collection in Libreville we admired these stylized figures, which to our Western eyes were immediately reminiscent of Alberto Giacometti’s (Swiss sculptor b.1901 – d.1966) surrealist figures through the similar usage of elongated form. However, this male and female pair comes from the Ivory Coast. Unlike Giacometti’s sculptures, these smooth wooden figures are represented by protruding bellies, pensive stances and birds poised atop their heads.
An exhibition entitled Giacometti and the Etruscans just closed in January at the Pinacotheque de Paris. The catalogue is still available at the museum (www.pinacotheque.com/?id=707) and in it are discussed Giacometti’s long fascination with the ’primitive arts’ of the Aztecs, Maya and African civilizations. Ultimately it was Etruscan (modern-day Tuscany in central Italy) sculpture, that informed his elongated figures.
Lebanese designer Majd Bazerji is an independent designer based in Paris. He founded his own design studio ‘mb-designlab’ in 2004. This 2011 example of his work has us spellbound. It is made from wengé (a dense wood originating in West Africa) and polished steel. The geometrically informed design is luxurious yet restrained, super elegant and modern. It is also quite comfortable – and light!
Edition of 25
Made to order
Each signed and numbered
Height/Hauteur: 47 cm (18.5 in)
Width/Largeur: 31 cm (12.2 in)
Length/Longueur: 46 cm (18.11 in)
Photos courtesy of the Patrick Fourtin Gallery
We spotted this beautiful Philippe Hiquily guéridon while in Dior on Place Vendôme last week. Click on the photo for a better view of this beautiful showroom.
During work on a recent project, we found ourselves in a stunning apartment overlooking the Place Dauphine to one side and the Pont Neuf to the other. From this second floor apartment we were completely enchanted to be able to enjoy the very view Camillle Pissaro felt compelled to record in this painting, which is now housed in the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois. Pissaro painted numerous works from different rooms he rented in Paris. Many were painted here on the Ile de la Cité showing this little park with a statue of Henry IV in the center. Here is the view from that same window today!
Painting:
Camille Pisarro (1830-1903)
‘Statue of Henri IV, Morning, Winter sunlight, 1900’
Oil on canvas 29 x 36 3/4 inches
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois.
Photo: taken from 2nd floor appartment of 28 Place Dauphine, 75001. February 2012.
Painting:
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
‘Le Pont Neuf, naufrage de la ‘Bonne mere’
Signed and dated C. Pissarro 1901
Oil on canvas
25 7/8 x 32 inches (65.8 x 81.3 cm)
Christie’s King Street, London, Impressionist Sale, 18 June 2007.
Photo: taken from 2nd floor appartment of 28 Place Dauphine, 75001. February 2012.
