Displaying items by tag: Decorative Arts

After successful stints in Oslo and Tokyo, “Norwegian Icons: Important Norwegian Design” is on view in New York City. The exhibition, which is currently taking place at the Openhouse Gallery in SoHo, explores Norway’s contributions to mid-century Scandinavian design. The show includes high-end decorative arts and furniture created between 1940 and 1975 as well as works by Norwegian artists, including Edvard Munch.

Mid-century Scandinavian design is well-known for its clean, simple lines and high functionality. However, there is often little distinction made between the contributions made by each country. While most design enthusiasts are familiar with Arne Jacobsen’s egg chair (Denmark) and Maija Isola’s bold, colorful textiles for Marimekko (Finland), Norway’s contributions to mid-century design often fly under the radar. Organized by Blomqvist, an Oslo-based auction house, and Fuglen, a Norwegian cafe/bar/vintage design shop, “Norwegian Icons” aims to educate the public about Norway’s contributions to Scandinavian design, including Hans Brattrud’s development of Alvar Aalto’s wood-bending technique and Sven Ivar Dysthe’s flat-packed, ready-to-ship furniture.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Director Gary Tinterow announced an unprecedented exhibition: Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House, which will be on view at the Museum from June 22 to September 21, 2014. The exhibition marks the first time the renowned collection of the marquesses of Cholmondeley, housed at Houghton Hall, the family estate in Norfolk, will travel outside of England.

The house and much of its collection were built in the early 1700s by Sir Robert Walpole—England's first prime minister and the ancestor of the current marquess. Renowned as one of the finest Palladian houses and one of the most extensive art collections in Britain, Houghton became notorious when Sir Robert's collection of Old Master paintings was sold by his grandson to Catherine the Great, in 1779. But the house and all of its furnishings, considered to comprise William Kent's Georgian masterpiece, remained intact; Walpole's descendants added considerably to the collection of paintings. From great family portraits by William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds and John Singer Sargent, to exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain, rare pieces of R. J. & S. Garrard silver and unique furniture by William Kent, the exhibition vividly evokes the fascinating story of art, history and politics through the collections of this aristocratic English family over three centuries.

The Delaware Art Museum will auction off one of its iconic Pre-Raphaelite paintings, "Isabella and the Pot of Basil" at Christie's in London next month, museum officials announced Tuesday. The William Holman Hunt oil painting, purchased by the museum in 1947, is one of as many as four works the museum will sell over the next several months to pay off construction debt and replenish its endowment. The Delaware museum boasts the most significant collection of Pre-Raphaelite works outside of the United Kingdom.

Museum officials have declined to release the names of the other works, explaining that it could hurt the market for private sales. They have promised not to sell any works acquired through gift or bequest. Winslow Homer's "Milking Time," one of the museum's most treasured works purchased in 1967, disappeared from its wall and collections database last month. Museum officials won't confirm that it is scheduled to be sold.

The Louvre announced that it will reopen its 18th-century decorative arts galleries on June 6 following an eight-year restoration and reinstallation. The Parisian museum’s sweeping collection of more than 2,000 decorative objects will be dispersed among 35 newly-renovated galleries in the north wing of the Louvre’s Cour Carrée. The galleries, which boast 23,000 square feet of exhibition space, were originally expected to reopen last year. Before this extensive restoration, the galleries had not been significantly updated since they were installed in 1966.

The Louvre’s collection of royal furniture, decorative bronzes, rugs, tapestries, gold and silver ware, porcelain, jewelry, and scientific instruments, will be grouped into three stylistic movements: the reign of Louis XIV and the Regency (1660-1725), Rococo (1725-1755), and the return of classicism and the reign of Louis XVI (1755-1790). The galleries also feature a number of period rooms including a drawing room from the nearby Hôtel de Villemaré, which was acquired by the Louvre in the 1800s but has never before been displayed in its entirety. Before being reconstructed in the museum, the room underwent a lengthy conservation.

Jannic Durand, director of the department of decorative arts at the Louvre, said in a statement, “We wanted to achieve a happy medium between period rooms and exhibition galleries. Each object benefits from being in relationship with other objects. In some cases, this means creating a period room so our visitors can understand how people lived with these objects or so they can appreciate holistically the elegance and refinement of the 18th century. In other instances, it means curating display cases devoted entirely to porcelain, silverware, and even some pieces of furniture to underscore the history of techniques and styles.”

The Louvre worked with the celebrated interior designer Jacques Garcia to create the new spaces for its collection of 18th-century decorative arts. The project was funded entirely by the patrons of the museum, including a $4 million donation from the American Friends of the Louvre.

Tony Fusco and Robert Four, the arts promoters and producers behind Boston’s marketing and PR agency, Fusco & Four/Ventures, LLC, are adding Boston Design Week to their roster of annual art and design shows. They are also the producers of the Boston International Fine Art Show, the Ellis Boston Antiques Show, and AD20/21, which will anchor events in the new Boston Design Week. Fusco said, “The goal of Boston Design Week is to increase public awareness and appreciation of all aspects of design and foster recognition of the vital role design and creative industries play in our lives. We want to offer the public an opportunity to explore architecture, urban design, interior design, fashion, graphic design, product and industrial design, and studio design such as furniture, decorative arts, sculpture, textiles, jewelry and more.”

The 10-day citywide design festival, which is scheduled to take place March 20-30, 2014, will include over 60 design events, exhibitions, lectures, receptions, behind-the-scenes tours, and other activities throughout greater Boston. Highlights include the American Society of Interior Designers annual awards gala on March 20 at the Mandarin Hotel; the Boston Preservation Alliance’s 2014 forum, which will take place on March 20 at the Modern Theatre in Downtown Crossing; and ongoing open houses, lectures and special sales in Park Square and on Newbury and Boylston Streets.

AD20/21: Art & Design of the 20th and 21st Centuries will take place March 27 through March 30 at the Cyclorama, Boston Center for the Arts, during Boston Design Week’s final days. Now in its seventh year, the show and sale will present modern and contemporary fine art, jewelry, vintage and contemporary studio furniture, sculpture, photography, fine prints and more.

For more information visit www.bostondesignweek.com.

Next year, the Frick Collection in New York will loan a significant group of paintings, sculptures and decorative objects to the Mauritshuis in The Hague. It will be the first time that the Frick has lent such a substantial portion of its collection to a fellow institution. The Frick recently welcomed a number of masterpieces from the Mauritshuis, including Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ that were presented in the exhibition ‘Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis,’ which attracted record crowds.

‘A Country House in New York: Highlights From the Frick Collection’ will present works acquired by the museum after founder Henry Clay Frick’s death in 1919. In his will, Frick stated that none of the artworks that he acquired, which make up about two-thirds of the Frick Collection, can be lent to another institution. The exhibition will include works by Jan van Eyck, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. ‘A Country House in New York’ will remain on view through May 10, 2015.

On June 27, 2014, the Mauritshuis will reopen following a two-year renovation and expansion.

Piers Wedgwood, who devoted his working life to the ceramic and decorative arts of the Wedgwood Brand as its international ambassador and keeper of the legacy of his fifth great-grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood, died yesterday of cardiac failure at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 59 and a long time resident of the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, PA.

In a career spanning four decades, Lord Wedgwood helped navigate the fortunes of a 255 year old luxury goods company in its struggles to remain viable amidst the changing life styles of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. A veteran of two major reorganizations of the firm, Lord Wedgwood remained positive and excited as it grew in the modern age, with Wedgwood now opening major new markets in India, China and Russia as well as new product lines such as Wedgwood Tea.

Piers Anthony Weymouth Wedgwood, Fourth Baron Wedgwood was born September 20, 1954 in Nakuru, Kenya outside Nairobi on his family’s farm. He assumed the Wedgwood peerage at age 16 upon the death of his father in 1970. Educated in England at Marlborough and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Lord Wedgwood was commissioned in the Royal Scots Regiment in 1973 seeing action in Cypress and retiring as a captain in 1980.

Lord Wedgwood did not view his peerage as an honorific, instead acting as a working member of the House of Lords with more than 25 years service on the Defense and Heritage Parliamentary Groups.

An active sportsman, Lord Wedgwood was a member of the Royal Automobile Club of England, the London Racquet Club and the Philadelphia Club.

Above all however, the Wedgwood Brand was Lord Wedgwood’s passion, beginning in the business in his teens cleaning the pottery kilns and learning production methods. It was soon clear, however, that his charm, speaking ability and uncanny resemblance to his ancestor Josiah made him the ideal and nearly irreplaceable spokesman for Wedgwood. For many years, Lord Wedgwood was closely identified with Wedgwood museums in England and Birmingham, Alabama, which includes the Buten Collection, formerly of Philadelphia.

In a reprise of another Philadelphia fairy tale, Lord Wedgwood met his wife, the former Mary Regina Quinn of the Fairmount section of Philadelphia, when he was presenting Wedgwood at the Marshall Field Company in Chicago where she ran the store’s public relations. The ‘old English lord’ she expected turned out to be both a dashing 26 year old and the start of a 34 year love affair. Lady Wedgwood, and a daughter, The Hon. Alexandra Mary Kavanaugh Wedgwood and two sisters survive.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Two erotically charged works by the French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard have been reunited at the Toledo Museum of Art for the first time in 25 years. ‘Blind Man’s Buff’ and ‘The See-Saw’ are the centerpieces of the exhibition ‘Love and Play: A Pair of Paintings by Fragonard,’ which is the first show in the museum’s ENCOUNTERS series that pairs exceptional works of art in new and inventive ways.

‘Blind Man’s Buff,’ which is part of the Toledo Museum’s collection, and ‘The See-Saw,’ which is on loan from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, were painted in Paris during the early 1750s and were most likely commissioned by Baron Baillet de Saint-Julien. The works passed through a number of private collections until they appeared on the market in 1954 and were ultimately separated. The companion paintings were reunited several times for temporary exhibitions in 1968, 1987 and 1988. In addition to the paintings, the Toledo Museum’s exhibition will include two engraved copies of the canvases, a Rococo terracotta sculpture by the French sculptor Clodion, and a small selection of French decorative arts.

Fragonard was one of the most celebrated artists of the 18th-century Rococo era of French painting and was known for his risque depictions of love and courtship. ‘Blind Man’s Buff’ and ‘The See-Saw’ epitomize the exuberance and hedonism that attracted Fragonard’s patrons.

‘Love and Play’ will be on view at the Toledo Museum through May 4, 2014.

The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT has received a $9.6 million gift from the estate of Charles H. Schwartz, a former museum member. The generous donation, which is the largest bequest in the Atheneum’s history, will help the museum establish an endowment to develop its collection of English and European art from the 18th century and earlier.

The Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States and boasts one of the most extensive European art collections in the country, with exceptionally strong Old Master and Impressionist holdings. The museum is in the midst of a $33 million renovation project and plans to reinstall its collection of European paintings, sculpture and decorative arts before the restoration wraps up in September 2015.  

Schwartz, who joined the museum in 1987, was a member of the Society of Daniel Wadsworth -- the Atheneum’s premier membership program -- until he passed away in 1995. Schwartz was an avid collector of Old Master paintings as well as European decorative arts. David W. Dangremond, the President of the museum’s Board of Trustees, said, “It is an honor to receive such a transformative gift from a man who was a visionary in his own collecting endeavors, and who was a dear friend to many in the Wadsworth family. Museums thrive on the generosity and foresight of donors like Charles Schwartz.”

The Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian museum dedicated to American craft and decorative arts, has embarked on a $30-million, two-year renovation project. The museum shuttered its 154-year-old building last month for its first renovation in 40 years. The Renwick will restore parts of its building, refurbish historic features and make technological updates to its Grand Salon.

The project is being helmed by the Cleveland-based architecture firm Westlake Reed Leskosky. Applied Minds, an interdisciplinary company based in Los Angeles, will be responsible for transforming the Renwick’s Grand Salon into a high-tech, interactive art space.

The project is a 50-50 public-private partnership. So far the Renwick has raised $10 million from private donors.