Product Description
Alfred Grenander / W. Kummel 1904 St. Louis Exhibition cabinet, unique 1904
ALFRED GRENANDER (1863-1931) Sweden / Germany
W. KUMMEL Berlin, Germany (cabinetmaker)
Cabinet (unique) c. 1904
Flamed mahogany, ebony, ivory and fruitwood inlays, brass hardware and details, textured glass
Marks: American import label (from Germany) for the St. Louis exhibition
Exhibited: The 1904 St. Louis Exhibition, German Section in the Herrenzimmer
Illustration of Grenander room: Deutsches Kunstgewerbe St. Louis 1904, Hugo Nachtlicht, 1904, p. 80.
Commentary on Grenander’s display at St. Louis Exhibition: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Band XV Oktober 1904-Marz 1905, “Die Wohnungskunst auf der Welt –Austellung in St. Louis”, Dr. Hermann Muthesius, p. 213-16.
Related bookcase-cabinet illustrated: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Band XVI April-September 1905, p. 426.
For other works by Grenander see: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Band XVI April-September 1905, p. 395-407, 426, 427, 671-73, 694, 695; Das Deutsche Kunstgewerbe 1906, 111. Deutsche Kunstgewerbe-Austellung Dresden 1906, (München, Verlagsanstalt P. Bruckmann A.G., 1906) p. 129-133, 232, 261
H: 79 1/2” x W: 57” x D: 23”
Price: $95,000
Alfred Grenander was born in June 1863 in Skövde, Sweden, and came to Berlin in 1885 to study. The city became his home, and he built his first buildings here together with his brother-in-law Otto Spalding. In 1897 Grenander began teaching at the Unterrichtsanstalt des Berliner Kunstgewerbemuseums (college attached to Berlin’s Museum of Arts and Crafts). His involvement with underground railway architecture began in 1900 and came to dominate his life’s work, with more than 80 buildings. He died on 14 July 1931 in Berlin.
From the turn of the century through the early 1930s, Alfred Grenander provided the emerging metropolis of Berlin with an extensive net of subway stations. He was an architect, draughtsman, and city planner; as well as a remarkable furniture designer. Grenander was the celebrated German representative at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, where he was being honored as “the renewer of German art.” This mahogany cabinet inlaid with pewter, ebony and ivory was exhibited in the elegant Herrenzimmer of the German pavilion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904, was bought in 1904 by a Kansas City, Missouri family and the piece descended in the family.
Alfred Grenander / W. Kummel 1904 St. Louis Exhibition cabinet, unique 1904
WOLFGANG GESSL (b. 1949) Austria
Arc pitcher – unique 1990
Hand wrought silver in a rounded arching form with a cylindrical luminous yellow-green acrylic handle
Marks: Wolfgang Gessl (script impressed signature), WO.GE (in a rectangle), Swedish assay mark for Stockholm, 925 (silver guarantee in a rectangle), Q10 (in a rectangle)
Illustrated: Gold and Silversmith Wolfgang Gessl: Exceeding Geometry, Kerstin Wickman, p. 17, cover.
H: 13 1/2″ x W: 10 ¼” x D: 4 ½”
Price: $27,500
Wolfgang Gessl was born in 1949 in Vienna, Austria and trained as a goldsmith with Professor Hans Angerbauer. Upon moving to Sweden, Gessl studied under the eminent silversmith Sigurd Persson at Konstfack, the National University of Art, Craft and Design in Stockholm, Sweden.
Wolfgang Gessl has had fifteen solo exhibitions including shows at The National Museum, Stockholm and The Royal College of Art in London. His metalwork has been widely exhibited in Sweden, Europe and the U.S and his pieces can be found in many private collections throughout the world. He has taught at Konstfack for more than twenty-four years, and continues to live and work in Stockholm.
W. P. HARTGRING
ROZENBURG POTTERY The Hague, The Netherlands
Blackbird mantle clock 1904
Handpainted earthenware with exotic foliage and a bird, porcelain face, gilt bronze surround, original clock mechanism.
Marks: H (artist’s monogram) 534, Rozenburg den Haag trademark, date mark symbol for 1904
For more information see: Art et Décoration, vol. 8 (1900) 193, illus. p. 189 (A. Sandier, La ceramique à l’Exposition); Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, vol. 3. (1900) 395, illus. p. 392; Art et Décoration, vol. 9 (1901) 56 Abb. S. 54 (A. Sandier, La Ceramique à l’Exposition II); Der Moderne Stil, Julius Hoffmann, Vol. 3, (1901) Taf. 53.; La Kunstgewerbeblatt Neue Folge, Vol. 12. (1901) p. 95, Abb. S. 82,89; “The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art at Turin – The Dutch Section,” Enrico Thovez in The Studio, vol. 26 (1902), pp. 204-6; Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, Vol. 7 (1904), p. 568, Abb. S. 574-5, (K. Ruge, Kunst und Kunstgewerbe auf der Weltausstellung zu St. Louis); Art et Décoration, vol. 17 (1905) p.86 Abb. S. 77, 88 (G. Mourey, L’Art Decoratif Hollandais); Sprechsaal, Vol. 38, (1905) p. 517 (W.H. Zimmer, Die Weltausstellung in St. Louis; Rozenburg, Monographie einer Manufaktur 1883-1917, Marjan Boot et al. (Munich: Verlag Künst & Antiquitäten, 1984); Sammlung Bröhan: Kunsthandwerk 1-Jugendstil, Werkbund, Art Deco, Glas, Holz, Keramik, (Berlin: Karl H. Brohan, 1976) p. 367-380.
H: 15″ x W: 10″ x D: 5 1/8″