Jean Despres, French Art Deco Modernist Covered Centerpiece c. 1940
Jean Despres (1889-1980) France.
Modernist covered centerpiece, circa 1940.
Hand-wrought and hand-hammered silver plate.
Marks: J. Despres (script incised signature on the edge on one handle),
JD French Jean Despres touchmark (2x).
For related works see: Jean Després: Maestro Orafo Tra Art Déco e Avanguardie, Melissa Gabardi (Milano: IDEA Books, 1999) Metallkunst: Kunst vom Jugendstil zur Moderne (1889-1939) Band IV, Karl H. Brohan (Berlin: Brohan-Museum, 1990); Silver of a New Era: International Highlights of Precious Metalwork from 1880 to 1940 (Rotterdam: Museum Boymans van-Beuningen, 1992)
Lucien Lelong / French Art Deco Handpainted Porcelain Vase circa 1935
LUCIEN LELONG (1889 – 1958) Paris, France
“Metaphysical” vase c. 1935
Hand painted and glazed porcelain with aqua, black and silver tones.
Marks: LL monogram, AB
H: 13 3/4″
Lucien Lelong was born in Paris, France on October 11, 1889. Lucien learned his trade from his father, Arthur Lelong, who owned a textile factory in 1896, and his mother Eleanore, a dressmaker. He discovered his vocation in the family business and as soon as World War I was over, he expanded the family business by creating his own fashion house in the late 1918.
He became immediately famous due to the neat tailoring of his designs and his skill in choosing and manufacturing fabrics. He did not actually create his own designs but hired the most prominent designers of the moment to design his collections such as Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain and Hubert Givenchy. Lelong was one of the first designers to diversify into lingerie and stockings. He introduced a line of ready-to-wear in 1934 which he labeled “editions.” In 1939, Lelong’s collections showed tightly waisted, full skirts; a style which became the “new Look” in Dior’s collection in 1947. After the war, in 1947, Lelong showed pencil-slim dresses; pleated, tiered, harem hemlines; and suits with wasp waists, cutaway fronts and square shoulders.
After a trip to the United States where he learned everything pertaining to the working methods in the mass production of clothes, he returns to France and creates a line of pret-a-porter (ready-to-wear) collection, branded “LL” Edition. Lelong used his double” LL” logo to influence his designs as well as refining the packaging design of his perfumes and cosmetics. He was a master of the use of knits and bias to shape the body in the most complementary way. His house’s trademark was their unique ability in designing with fur.
He was married to Natalie Paley who was the daughter of the Grand Duke Paul of Russia that assisted him with his business. Lelong was an active member of high society; socialized with the women he dressed, and did not miss the opportunity to capitalize on his name. From 1937 until the end of the war in 1948, Lelong was President of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, in which role he was able to fight and hinder the transfer of the Parisian fashion houses to Berlin during the German occupation. It was largely due to his efforts that ninety-two houses stayed opened during the war.
Poor health caused the end of his career; Lelong retired in 1952, and died in 1958 of a heart attack.
Willem Brouwer Dutch Art Nouveau / Arts & Crafts Pottery Vase c. 1905
WILLEM COENRAAD BROUWER (1877-1933) The Netherlands
POTTERIJ VREDELUST Leiderdorp, The Netherlands
Vase with handles c. 1905
Brown glazed red clay with tan light brown cut out overlaid and sgraffito decoration in a stylized organic motif, two applied looping handles
Marks: Brouwer 139 (incised)
For similar work see: Dutch Decorative Arts 1880-1940, eds. Titus M. Eliëns, Marjan Groot, Frans Leidelmeijer (New York: Battledore Ltd.,1997),p. 56; Leven in een verzameling: Toegepaste kunst 1890-1940 uit de collectie Meentwijck (Laren: Singer Museum, 2000), illus. 76, 77, p. 74.
For more information on Brouwer see: Art Nouveau en Art Deco in Nederland: verzamelobjecten uit de vernieuwingen in de kunstnijverheid van 1890 tot 1940, Frans Leidelmeijer and Daan van der Cingel (city unknown: Meulenhoff/ Landshoff, 1983), pp. 80-82.
Rose Cabat/American Studio Ceramics Rare “Feelie” Porcelain Vessel, c. 1980-85
ROSE CABAT (1914-2015) USA
Rare and important large scale “Feelie” c. 1980-85
Thin walled porcelain vessel with a silky satiny matte drip glaze
Signed: incised CABAT on bottom
For more information on Rose Cabat see: Rose Erni Cabat Retrospective 1936-1986 (Tuscon, AZ: Tuscon Museum of Art, 1986)
H: 3 5/8″
Price: $1,650
Rose Cabat was an American studio ceramicist living in Tucson. Considered one of the most important ceramic artists of the Mid-century Modernist movement, Cabat is best known for her innovative glazes on small porcelain pots called “feelies” which she developed in the 1960s. Her organic forms often resemble the shape of onions and figs, and her glazes range from organic to jewel tones. Cabat was born in 1914 in the Bronx, New York, began to work in ceramics in the late 1930′s, and moved to Arizona in 1942, where she continued to make innovative ceramics.
Feelies:
Feelies are described as onion, fig, cucumber, and saucer-shaped ceramic vases terminating in an upward closed neck. Bruce Block, an avid collector, has described them as sensual and tactile with a very specific unforgettable texture, spiritual seeming to contain a type of energy. Rose Cabat had developed a silky satiny glaze, and it wasn’t until around 1960 that she had hit upon the first of the appropriate form, svelte and sleek to match the glaze. She exclaimed, “Now this one’s a feelie.”, coining the term. Upon developing the new glazes, she felt that she needed new forms to apply the glazes to, different from what she made before, “craft fair” style coiled heads and wind bells. She is quoted as saying, “The old things did not look good … I wanted simpler shapes that went with the glazes.”They are typically globular in shape, tightening down to a minuscule neck glazed to a satin surface. The tactile experience is most important. The nature of the neck is such that it is closed, so narrow that it cannot hold anything. Cabat would reply when asked why the necks of her feelies are so narrow, “A vase can hold weeds or flowers, but can’t it just be a spot of beauty?”
Borek Sipek Bagatti Valsecchi Art Glass Goblet c. 1994
BOŘEK ŠĺPEK (1949-2016) Prague, Czech Republic
Goblet “BAGATTI VALSECCHI” c. 1994
Blown clear glass with blue bow details
Exhibited: The Twenty One (Millenium) Exhibition, Arzenal Gallery, Prague, 2000
For more information see: Sípek, Philippe Louguet, Dagmar Sedlická (Paris: Éditions Dis Voir, 1999); Borek Sipek and Christian Tortu: Collection Twentyone 2001 (Prague: Arzenal Edition, 2001)
H: 12″ x Dia: 4 1/2″
Price: $1,150
The Czech architect, furniture designer, and glass artist Borek Sípek was born in Prague in 1949. From 1964 to 1968 Borek Sípek studied furniture design at the Prague School for the Applied Arts. In 1969 he began to study architecture at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg. In 1973 he studied philosophy at Stuttgart University. From 1977 until 1979 he was an academic assistant at the Hannover University Institute of Industrial Design. Borek Sípek took his degree in architecture at Delft Technical University. Then he taught design theory at Essen University until 1983. In 1983 Borek Sípek also opened an architecture and design practice in Amsterdam. He founded Alterego, a design business, with David Palterer. In the 1980s, Borek Sípek designed Postmodern furniture and glass objects, which brought him international renown. Borek Sípek’s designs are formally distinctive, both ingeniously conceived and sumptuous, and are often executed in unconventional materials and combinations of materials. Borek Sípek views design as an interpretation of culture. For this reason, he rejects the functional and rational approach to design and does not want striving for technical perfection to lead to disregard of individuality. In 1983 Borek Sípek designed “Bambi”, a fragile-looking tubular steel chair with brass fittings and a back covered in silk. In 1991 Borek Sípek designed the “PCSS” table with blue glass legs and metal fittings. Borek Sípek’s superlative glass objects are executed by glassblowers in Murano and Novy Bor. Borek Sipek is also known worldwide as an architect and has received prestigious commissions. Between 1993-2002 Borek Sípek worked on the Het Kruithuis Museum in ‘s Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands). In 1994 Borek Sípek designed the Kyoto Opera Houseentsteht das Opernhaus in Kyoto. In 1995 Borek Sípek designed a Paris boutique for Karl Lagerfeld. In 1990 Borek Sípek became a professor of architecture at the Academy for the Applied Arts in Prague, where he taught until 1998. Since 1999 he has taught at the Universität for angewandte Kunst in Vienna.
His works are included in major international museum and private collections throughout the US and Europe including Museum of Modern Art, Stedelijjk Museum, Denver Art Museum, The Corning Museum of Art, The Hauge Municipal Museum, Kunstmuseum in Düsseldorf and Design Museum in London.
Marcel Bouraine, Pair of French Art Deco “Dove” Bookends c. 1930
Marcel Bouraine (active 1925-1930) France.
Pair of Art Deco “Dove” sculptural bookends, circa 1930.
Silvered bronze (sand cast technique) in the form of doves with openly displayed and fan shaped tail feathers perched on roof pan tiles.
Marks: Bouraine (2x), #’s 52 and 53.
For more information and other works by Bouraine see: Les Echoes D’Art (May 1927), p. 21; Art Deco Sculpture, Bryan Catley; The Art Deco Style, Selected by Theodore Menten (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), p. 172; Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, E. Bénézit, vol. 2 (Paris: Librarie Grund, 1976), p. 231, An Encylopedia of Art Deco, Edited by Alastair Duncan (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1988) pp. 26,28-29,31,104; Art Deco, Victor Arwas (New York, Harry Abrams,1980) pp. 163, 269.
Liberty & Co. / Leonard Wyburd Egyptian Revival Four-Legged Mahogany Thebes Stool c. 1890-95
Leonard Wyburd UK
Liberty & Company London
Four-legged Thebes stool circa 1890-95.
Mahogany, woven wicker seat, turned details.
Comparable Liberty stools illustrated: Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux and Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1994), pp. 465-66.
H: 15 3/4″ x D: 15″ x W: 15″
One of the driving influences of the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century was an informed interest in authentic ancient designs inspired by recent archaeological discoveries. Both the three- and four-legged Thebes stool were inspired by actual furniture and wall paintings unearthed from royal tombs in the ancient Egyptian city for which they are named. Leonard Wyburd, who was one of the principal designers for Liberty, patented his designs for the Thebes stools in 1884. Liberty & Co. continued to make the popular stools into the early 1900’s.
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