Category Archives: Asian Art

BOOK REVIEW: Gouthière’s Candelabras

Gouthière’s Candelabras (Frick Diptych Series)

Charlotte Vignon and Edmund de Waal

UK£14.95 / US$19.95
Hardback ISBN 978-1-911282-47-1
D Giles Limited in association with The Frick Collection, New York, 2019

Frick

The combining of the contemporary artist and writer Edmund de Waal with the Frick’s Charlotte Vignon brings the tale of these candelabra to present day life. Two small white Meissen vases were mounted in late 18th century France by the remarkable chaser and gilder Pierre Gouthière and transformed into stunning candelabra that were originally purchased by the celebrated collector the duc d’Aumont.

It is a tale which considers the desire and wish for such objects in that 18th century period and then goes on to examine how that desire was turned into a reality that endures to the present time. It’s a great story beautifully told.

gilesltd.com

Masterpiece London 2018, Royal Hospital Chelsea, South Grounds, London SW3 4LW, 28th June – 4th July 2018 (Preview: Wednesday 27th June)

Chelsea Pieta RW (1) a

A CHELSEA PIETA Circa 1761 Modelled by Joseph Willems (born in Brussels, 1715, died in Tournai, Belgium, 1766) 38.5 cm high Gold Anchor mark to reverse. E & H Manners

It really shows how time flies when one considers that the first Masterpiece was held in 2010 and hasn’t it continued to provide a scintillating cross-section of all the arts whether ancient, contemporary, fine or decorative? This year’s Fair, with its ‘reworked layout’ will no doubt see many collectors, curators and first-time buyers visit as well as those who just want to experience seeing the best on offer.

I have included a small selection of pieces which have particularly caught my eye.

hurst

An 18th Century German ormolu mounted marquetry commode in the manner of DavidRoentgen, the marble a later replacement, c. 1780. Measurements: w: 52.8” (134cm), h: 34.6” (88cm), d: 28.7” (73cm). Edward Hurst Ltd

 

Opening hours:

Preview (by invitation) on Wednesday 27 June, 11am – 9pm

Thursday 28 June, 11am – 9pm

Friday 29 June, 11am – 9pm

Saturday 30 June, 11am – 7pm

Sunday 1 July, 11am – 7pm

Monday 2 July, 11am – 9pm

Tuesday 3 July, 11am – 9pm

Wednesday 4 July, 11am – 9pm

RBC are the Principal Sponsor of Masterpiece London 2018.

New Art Centre 1

William Turnbull, Pandora, 1958-62, 156.2 x 120.6 x 22.9 cm. New Art Centre

 

3. SJP - 18th century German carved gold mounted quartz box, attributed to Hoffmann

An 18th century German gold mounted quartz box, attributed to Friedrich Ludwig Hoffmann, Berlin c.1760. S. J. Phillips

 

Mario_Dilitz_No174_2_S

Mario Dilitz, Austrian, b.1973 Boxing Boy with long Shorts (Artwork No. 174), Oak and red glue, 2018, 6 unique versions 96cm h x 35cm w x 20cm d, Sladmore Contemporary

 

Egyptian bust of bes

An Egyptian Limestone Bust of Bes Ptolemaic, Circa 3rd – 2nd Century BC? Kallos Gallery

 

49 - Monet

Claude Monet Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas Painted: circa 1918-20 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 381⁄4” x 51” / 97cm x 130cm. Gladwell & Patterson

 

4. KRA - Pair of Louis XVI dishes on stands, Paris, 1785

A striking pair of Louis XVI dishes on stands made in Paris in 1785 and 1789 by the French silversmiths Henri Auguste and Robert Joseph Auguste. Engraved with the coronet and monogram of the infamous Harriet, Duchess of St Albans. Warmers added by Paul Storr in 1811. Koopman Rare Art

 

Apter-Fredericks

An exceptional and large pair of nodding figures which are one of a very small number of known pairs retaining their original costumes. Chinese, Circa 1821-1850. Height 26” 66cm. Apter-Fredericks Ltd

 

http://www.masterpiecefair.com;

Instagram: @masterpiecelondon; Twitter: @MasterpieceFair;

Facebook: Masterpiece London

Weapons across the centuries

The Olympia Arms Fair, The Pillar Hall, Olympia London, Hammersmith Road, London, W14, 30th September 2017, 9:00– 15:00

Patrick Mestdagh
Mughal jade handle dagger, from the Jaipur region, India, circa 1680

The Pillar Hall’s smart neo-classical inspired interior provides the backdrop for this exciting new fair. Organised by Thomas Del Mar, whose antique arms and armour auctions take place at nearby 25 Blythe Road, the fair has attracted forty dealers from the UK, USA and Europe. The pieces on view range from Bronze Age axes to First World War items.  So expect armour, firearms, pistols and swords as well as tribal weapons and a Mughal jade handled dagger.

The Pillar Hall Olympia home to the Olympia Arms Fair on 30th September 2017

It really promises to be a special event whatever your level of interest and collecting. The Arms and Armour Society and the Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association will also be attending.

Alban Arms & Armour
A fine hand-and-a-half sword, South German or Swiss circa 1550

http://www.olympiaarmsfair.com

Masterpiece London 2017 – Introduction

Masterpiece London 2017, South Grounds, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London SW3, 29th June – 5th July 2017

MASTERPIECE PRESENTS
Iván Navarro
Impenetrable Room
2017
Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery

Since its inception this fair has grown into one of the most must-visit events of the art and antiques year. Some thirty-seven thousand visitors last year! It attracts museum directors and private collectors from all over the world to see the artworks shown by a hundred and fifty international dealers. The artworks range from antiquity to the present time. The Royal Bank of Canada is once again the principal sponsor

This year the new MASTERPIECE PRESENTS will reveal a large-scale dedicated exhibition space at the entrance which has been transformed by a special artwork – Impenetrable Room, 2017. Created by the Chilean artist Iván Navarro it has been commissioned by the New York-based Paul Kasmin Gallery who are new exhibitors.

Over the coming days I look forward to sharing blogs on some of the leading dealers taking part.

www.masterpiecefair.com

A great celebration of Art!

MAYFAIR ART WEEKEND, Mayfair & St James’s, London (various locations), 30th June – 2nd July 2017

 

I am grateful to John Kirkwood for attending the press conference and writing about this:

 

Max Mara
Ludovica Gioscia – Infinite Present, 2017. C-print on archival fuji matt paper
Courtesy Ludovica Gioscia

Now in its fourth year this celebration of Art in Mayfair features over 60 galleries, auction houses, fashion houses and restaurants who will all in their own way have something to offer the visitor.

Mayor Gallery
Tadaaki Kuwayama – Untitled (Yellow)1969, acrylic on canvas, 90x90cm.
Courtesy of Mayor Gallery

 

Moretti Gallery
Guido Reni, Bologna – Two Bacchantes 1639-1640.
Courtesy of Moretti Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Royal Academy of Arts will be the hub of this celebration and its courtyard will offer a place in which to relax and recover your strength to carry on through the many events planned.

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Gilbert & George
Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Photo Nikolai Saoulski

There will be temporary, site-specific artworks from up and coming artists and workshops led by groups such as the Bedroom Artists’ Collective as well as informal conversations with artists, gallerists and local Mayfair figures.

Burlington Arcade
Mathilde Nivet – Birds

The Burlington Arcade has commissioned an installation by Mathilde Nivet of 300 paper birds in-flight motion in two positions – wings fully stretched or slightly bent.  Not unsurprisingly the installation is called Birds!

GAFRA
Nelson Makamo – Cool Moments 2017
Courtesy of the Gallery of African Art (GAFRA)

 

Hignell Gallery
Ben Russell – Cactus House, Alabaster 2017
Photograph courtesy of Tanya Dolver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday there will be a workshop for kids to create their own Gallery.

Bowman Sculpture
Le Baiser (The Kiss), 2nd Reduction – Auguste Rodin.
Courtesy of Bowman Sculpture

 

David Zwirner
Lisa Yuskavage – Stoned 2016
Courtesy David Zwirner New York-London

 

Victoria Miro
Milton Avery – Young Couple (Husband and Wife), 1963. Oil on canvas. 50 x 60 in
© Milton AveryTrust

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Cube
Wayne Thiebaud – Green Dress 1966 – 2017
© Wayne Thiebaud DACS, London, VAGA, New York 2017

 

Simon Dickinson Gallery
Domenico Conti – Portrait of Antonio Canova in his studio completing the La Touche ‘Amorino, 1792.
Courtesy of Simon Dickenson Gallery

 

Partners & Mucciaccia_
Cristiano Pintaldi – Untitled,2016, acrylic on canvas, 101x105cm.
Courtesy of Partners & Mucciaccia

 

Pace
Nathalie du Pasquier
© 2017 Nathalie du Pasquier. Photo by Bruno Lopes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halcyon Gallery
Dale Chihuly – Maize Persian Set with Obsidian Lip Wraps
Courtesy of Halcyon Gallery

 

Marlborough Fine Art
Victor Pasmore – The Cloud in the West,1987
Courtesy of Marlborough Fine Art

 

Stoppenbach & Delestre
Andre Derain – Collioure
Courtesy of Stoppenbach & Delestre

 

Mount Street Gardens
Benjamin McMahon (2014)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mayfairartweekend.com

 

The 2017 Summer Olympia Art & Antiques Fair

The Art & Antiques Fair Olympia, Olympia London, Hammersmith Road, London W14, 26th June – 2nd July 2017

Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill who will be speaking at The Art & Antiques Fair on ‘Incorporating Antiques in Design’ on Thursday 29 June at 12.30-13.30.

This is this fair’s forty-fifth year and as ever potentially offers much to its visitors. There is no doubt that change is inevitable and that emphasis and focus changes as one generation of collectors is succeeded by another. Styles of living change and what may have been our ideal does not necessarily resonate with our children and grandchildren.

It is therefore probably a sound idea to launch an Interior Design Talk Series at this year’s fair. The speakers include Henrietta Spencer Churchill, Douglas Mackie, Christopher Vane Percy, April Russel, Emma Burns from Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, Susie Rumbold and Caroline de Cabarrus from Hotspur Design and the wide-ranging topics covered include Incorporating Antiques in Design and how to Decorate your House in a Day.

The fair’s director Mary Claire Boyd said, ‘We are excited about our new Interior Design Talk Series. There is a strong demand for advice from experts on how to incorporate art and antiques into interiors and previous designer talks have been very well attended. We are taking it to the next level this year by hosting top designers throughout the run of the fair.’ Perfect for inspiration to go out into the fair afterwards and buy!

It is also interesting to note that the number of picture dealers attending this year’s fair will be double that of last year’s. This increase is made up by new and some returning former exhibitors. The Chicago-based show, Sculptural Objects Functional Art and Design Fair (SOFA) who first showed three-dimensional contemporary art and design last year also returns.

Galerie Boccara
Sonia Delaunay.
Serpent Noir’, wool tapestry,151 x 308cm

As these changes evolve over the Fairs I wish this Olympia Fair a fair wind in its voyage to different waters.

http://www.olympia-art-antiques.com

Bouke de Vries

Bouke de Vries -“Fractured Images”, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery Ltd., 533 Old York Road, London SW18, 8th June – 15th July 2017 

 

Grown from Chinese clay, 2017
18th century Chinese porcelain fragments and mixed media
150x120x580

I believe that we owe a great debt of gratitude to Bouke de Vries for his belief, which reflects that held in China and Japan, that broken important ceramic pieces are worthy of repair. He has said “I wanted to give these objects, which are regarded as valueless, a new story and move their history forwards. A broken object can still be as beautiful as a perfect object.” It is a great philosophy and thanks to his artistic imagination and great skill – he is a ceramics conservator – he has created some wonderful pieces.

Map of china of China, 2017
18th and 19th century Chinese porcelain fragments and mixed media
11220×960 mm

This show of works reflect the enduring role of China in the production of ceramics worldwide over the centuries. His works are thought-provoking, sometimes humorous, but always engrossing. He has specially created a new non-ceramic work for the exhibition – a plaster doll of a Chinese dancer which combines the old with the new through his use of computer circuit boards.

Jar carrier, 2017
Han dynasty figure and 15th century Chinese porcelain marine archaeology jars and marble
250x250x109 mm

 

www.kristinhjellegjerde.com

 

 

PS: You can also see:
Bouke De Vries: War and pieces, Berrington Hall, Herefordshire
Until 05 November 2017

 

Stories Unfold!

Every Object Tells a Story, 5 Cromwell Place, London SW7, until 5th July 2017

Installation view
(photo credit: Exhibition Design and Photograph by Charles Marsden-Smedley)

In May 2015 I shared with you the eponymous exhibition Oliver Hoare held at 33 Fitzroy Square, London W1 (Curiosities, 12 May 2015).  This new edition in the former studio of Sir John Lavery RA is even larger, beautifully displayed and crammed with some four hundred intriguing objects which you just do want to learn more about. There is a wonderful catalogue to help achieve that.

Installation view
(photo credit: Exhibition Design and Photograph by Charles Marsden-Smedley)

I shall let Oliver Hoare sum it up: “What is assembled here might look like a modern ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, an assemblage of the exotic and curious from the four quarters of the world. There is an intention behind it, however, that goes beyond presenting a wide variety of curiosities. We are today linked up to all those four quarters, and while a huge amount of information is available to us, unlike to those who awaited the ships in the ports of Amsterdam, Genoa, Lisbon, London, Marseille, Seville or Venice, the horizon of what interests us seems to have shrunk. The art market is an interesting barometer of this shrinkage. The point is, therefore, that we can connect with the whole world on a more profound level than can be gained from package touring, through the possession of, and study of even the most modest objects of different cultures. The purpose of collecting, as Molière might have put it, should not be limited to becoming rich through the investment in one’s purchases, but to become enriched through the intelligent possession of what one has acquired.”

 

Installation view
(photo credit: Exhibition Design and Photograph by Charles Marsden-Smedley)

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm
(Closed on Mondays (except by appointment))

www.everyobjecttellsastory.com

Tribal Art and Ceramics in London’s New Bond Street

I take pleasure in sharing these two shows with you. They are at The Fine Art Society 148 New Bond Street, London W1.

 

Gordon Reece – The Art of Collecting, until 16th June 2017 

DSC_6706
30 Zula People, Democratic Republic of Congo
Female caryatid stool
First half of the 20th century
Wood
Height 18 1/2 in (47 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Rwanda

This collaboration with Gordon Reece the esteemed dealer in Asian and African artefacts is a veritable treat.  His love of the objects is reflected in what he buys and they are eminently liveable with as this show which sees them displayed among the Fine Art Society’s furniture and artworks skilfully proves. A great celebration of Tribal Art.

‘Installation view, including two Lega masks and a Suku standing figure’

 

DSC_6725
41 Bembe People, Democratic Republic of Congo
A rare standing reliquary figure (Muzidi)
First half of the 20th century
Cane, fibre, cloth and buttons
Height 41 in (104.1 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, USA; purchased by Gordon Reece Gallery in New York in 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hylton Nel – For Use and Display, until 16th June 2017

Hylton Nel
Cat with Pope’s shoes

The South African ceramicist Hylton Nel shows his flair for creating both useful and decorative objects. You will discern influences from Chinese, Staffordshire and European ceramics in them and he uses many ideas in their decoration whether sexual, whimsical or written prose.  A delight and one understands why his works are eagerly snapped up.

Hylton Nel
Green Tree and Figures

 

Hylton Nel
A Game of Notes

 

 

www.thefineartsociety.com/

A Gallery Selection!

Anya Gallaccio – Beautiful Minds, Thomas Dane Gallery, 3 Duke Street, St James’s, SW1, until 25th March 2017

Installation view, Anya Gallaccio, Beautiful Minds, 2015 -2017.
Thomas Dane Gallery, London, 2017. Photo: Todd White Art Photography

Paisley-born artist Anya Gallaccio follows in the gallery’s tradition for large-scale works in this space as the whole gallery space is given over to a giant 3D clay printer which will for the course of the exhibition be printing a scaled effigy of the monolithic Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.  It is an interesting exercise because slip clay is not a reliable material and it is that which factors into the artist’s creative process for this fascinating project.

 

http://www.thomasdanegallery.com/

Printing times: 1-3pm, Tuesday to Saturday (subject to change)

 

Kazuo Shiraga, Lévy Gorvy, 22 Old Bond Street, London W1, until 25th March 2017

Installation view of Kazuo Shiraga
Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy

It is quite surprising that this is the Japanese artist’s first London solo exhibition for a decade. Shiraga (1924-2008) was a founder member of the avant-garde group Gutai and was well known for his method of foot painting while suspended from the ceiling and using his feet to spread the paint across the canvas to create the powerful abstract images.  The works on show are chiefly from the early 60s; a period when he was attaining international interest.

http://www.levygorvy.com

 

Tim Noble and Sue Webster – STICKS WITH DICKS AND SLITS, Blain|Southern, 4 Hanover Square, London W1, until 25th March 2017

Installation view, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, STICKS WITH DICKS AND SLITS, 2017,
Courtesy the artists and Blain|Southern, Photo: Peter Mallet

For their third exhibition at the gallery Tim Noble and Sue Webster have produced a completely new body of work with a series of giant self-portraits created in twisted bronze.

Normally the artists react to their everyday urban environment but this time the electrical wire maquettes for these works were started while they had a residency on the island of St Bart’s. The sculptures depiction of their naked forms reflect their artistic personae and do so in a direct, possibly to some, challenging way.

 

http://www.blainsouthern.com

 

Shinkichi Tajiri, The Mayor Gallery, 21 Cork Street, (1st Floor), London W1, until 31st March 2017

Installation shot from Shinkichi Tajiri,
Courtesy of The Mayor Gallery.

Shinkichi Tajiri (1923 – 2009) was born in the USA the child of immigrant Japanese parents.  Following Pearl Harbour the war saw him and his family in an internment camp and to escape this he enlisted in the American Army’s all-Japanese regiment.  The horrors of war that he experienced are reflected in the violence tinged with eroticism that are a feature of his pieces. The works on view date from between 1955 and 1963.

http://www.mayorgallery.com

 

Matt Stokes: ‘Dead Sea Deaf Sea‘, Workplace London, 61 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London W1, until 1st April 2017

Installation view: Matt Stokes: Dead Sea Deaf Sea – Workplace London,
Courtesy of the artist and Workplace, UK

This is Matt Stokes’s first solo exhibition at the London gallery and it is a very thought-provoking one for by looking at HMS Standard, the WWII psychiatric rehabilitation camp and at both its main purpose – to heal and help – and the less obvious one – to deal with malingerers trying to avoid active service – the viewer is confronted by their own ‘fragility’ and the socio-political influences on our daily lives.

 

http://www.workplacegallery.co.uk/

(Open Thursday – Friday 10 am – 5pm, and by appointment)