Product Description
Ingegerd Torhamn Art Deco / Modernist rug c. 1930 (Exhibited: Stockholm Exhibition 1930)
INGEGERD TORHAMN (1898-1994) Sweden
Modernist rug c. 1930
Hand-knotted wool
Signed: it (Ingegerd Torhamn) lower left
Exhibited: Stockholm Exhibition 1930, Stockholmsutställningen 1930, Villa 42; V.I.P. in Swedish Design, Kalmar Konstmuseum 1996.
Illustrated: Katalog Över Bostadsavdelningen: Stockholms Utställningen 1930 (illustrated in situ) Stockholm Exhibition1930 (Stockholm: Tryckt Hos Bröderna Lagerström, Boktryckare, 1930) p. 149
Drawing illustrated: V.I.P. in Swedish Design: Axel Larsso, Ingegerd Torhamn, Inga Linden & Paula Sokolow, Arkiv for Svensk Formgivning, Kalmar Konstmuseum
For more information see: Svenska Textilier 1930, Stockholm 1930, Nils G. Wollin, plate nr. 50
Dimensions: 7’2” square
One of the ten rugs of her designs (including this rug as part of the music room) exhibited at the important Stockholm Exhibition of 1930 is now in the permanent collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
Ingegerd Torhamn Art Deco / Modernist rug c. 1930 (Exhibited: Stockholm Exhibition 1930)
Walter Nichols Chinese Art Deco rug c. 1935
WALTER NICHOLS China
Chinese Art Deco rug c. 1935
Walter Abner Burns Nichols was one of the most colorful of the American adventurer/entrepreneurs in 1920s China. The Nichols name has come to be used almost synonymously with the ‘Chinese deco’ rugs manufactured in Tientsin, China in the 1920s and 1930s. Nichols did not originate the Chinese deco style, but he did a great deal to popularize it and to maintain its high standards of manufacture.
Nichols began in his youth as a first-class wool grader who went to Tientsin around 1920 to work for the Elbrook family of wool merchants. Nichols started his own business a couple of years later. In a brochure he produced in the late ’20s, with the assistance of Pande-Cameron, he announced: “In 1924 W.A.B. Nichols of Tientsin, North China, introduced the Super Chinese Rug which has become world famous. It is known in every market as the most durable and beautiful product of the modern Chinese weavers art and adorns the homes of people all over the earth.”
KATHERINE S. DREIER (1877-1952)
“International Exhibition of Modern Art 1926” 1926
Arranged by The Societe Anonyme for the Brooklyn Museum
Published by Societe Anonyme, New York
Dimensions:
Book: H: 10 1/16” x W: 7 ½”
Custom leather box: H: 11 ¼” x W: 8 ¼” x D: 1 9/16”
Custom silk slipcase: H: 12” x W: 8 5/8” x D: 2 1/8”
Katherine Sophie Dreier was born on 10 September 1877 in Brooklyn, New York to Dorothea Adelheid and John Caspar Theodor Dreier, both immigrants from Bremen, Germany; she was the youngest of five children. Early on, Dreier manifested her dual interests in social issues and art. She was treasurer of the German Home for Recreation of Women and Children and helped to found the Little Italy Neighborhood Association in Brooklyn, New York. She studied art privately, then at the Brooklyn Art School and at Pratt Institute, and then with Walter Shirlaw (with whom Dreier’s sister, Dorothea, also studied). There was a strong identification in the Dreier home with German culture, and the family often traveled to Europe to visit relatives. Between 1907 and 1914, Dreier spent much of her time abroad, traveling, studying art, and exhibiting her work in one-artist shows. In New York, in 1916, through her work with the Society of Independent Artists, Dreier met Marcel Duchamp. He was to become a close friend and colleague, and an important figure in the history of the Societe Anonyme. In January 1920, Dreier, Duchamp, and Man Ray met in Dreier’s apartment in New York City to found the Societe Anonyme, a society to promote modern art among the American public. Dreier had wanted to call the society “The Modern Ark,” but Man Ray later claimed that he was the one to suggest the French phrase for “incorporated” instead. Dreier added the subtitle “Museum of Modern Art: 1920.” The Societe Anonyme sponsored many lectures, concerts, publications, and exhibitions concerning modern art, including the International Exhibition of Modern Art at the Brooklyn Museum in 1926. In spite of a major membership campaign in 1925, the Societe’s headquarters in New York City closed in 1928, and from this point on, the Societe Anonyme existed only through Dreier’s efforts. She continued to organize events that were sponsored by the Societe, and she accumulated artwork to add to the Societe Anonyme’s collection. In 1939, Dreier began developing a plan to open the Country Museum at her house in West Redding, Connecticut (the Haven), which would house the Societe Anonyme’s collection of artwork, as well as her private collection. After little success with other potential investors, Dreier approached Yale University about funding and maintaining the museum. Yale was hesitant, because of the high costs of renovating the Haven and maintaining it as a fire-proof museum, and instead offered as a compromise to take over the Societe Anonyme’s collection if it were moved to the Yale Art Gallery. Dreier agreed, and she began sending the collection to Yale in October 1941. In 1942, Dreier was still adamant about her desire to open the Country Museum and to use her private collection as its basis. She continued her attempts to convince Yale to fund her project, but when Yale gave a final negative answer in April, Dreier decided to sell the Haven. In April 1946, she moved to a new home, Laurel Manor, in Milford, Connecticut. She continued to add artwork to the Societe Anonyme collection at Yale, through purchases and through gifts from artists and friends. In 1947, she attempted to reopen membership to the Societe Anonyme and printed a brochure, but Yale blocked distribution of the brochure because of the ambiguous connection between Yale and the membership campaign. In 1948, Dreier and Duchamp decided to limit the activities of the Societe to working on a catalog of the collection and to acquiring artwork. On the thirtieth anniversary of the Societe Anonyme’s first exhibition, 30 April 1950, Dreier and Duchamp hosted a dinner at the New Haven Lawn Club, where they formally dissolved the Societe Anonyme. In June, a catalog of the Societe’s collection at Yale, Collection of the Societe Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art 1920, was published. Dreier died on 29 March 1952.