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Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 43, NO. 35 FRIDAY AUGUST 31 , 2012
“Inventing” The Moder n W orld F
map with expanding cir- Boucheron were notable for their technical cles, it illustrates the cen- virtuosity and inventive combinations of tral importance of the materials, colors, and new processes. The United States, dynamic pattern of the diamonds, rubies, and especially sapphires, and emeralds in a bracelet by KDKA Pitts- Boucheron demonstrates the firm’s progresb u rg h , sive designs and metalsmithing capabilities, t h e illustrating historical and crossworld’s cultural styles popular first commerduring the early cial radio sta20th century. The tion. It reads impressive Art “ R a d i o Deco brooch from Broadcasting As Keller Frères; Initiated By Pitcher, 1900, gildKDKA Has ed silver; Les Arts Décoratifs, Musée Made The des Arts Whole World A Décoratifs, Neighborhood Paris; Photo: 1 9 2 0 . ” Westinghouse Jean Tholance; Westinghouse Manufacturing and Shown at the used innovaElectric Company; Exposition tive materiRadio Broadcasting Universelle, als to propanel, 1933, Micarta Paris, 1900. and dyed aluminum; mote the The Wolfsonian-Florida company’s prodTiffany & International University, Miami ucts of mass comCo.’s 1939 Beach, Florida, The Mitchell munication, in this installation feaWolfson, Jr. Collection; Photo: Bruce White; Shown at A Century of Progress International Exposition, Chicago, 1933. instance, Micarta - a tures an unusual Note that Pittsburgh is envisioned here at the center of the world, with the first commercial radio station, KDKA. Text: new laminate comcombination of emer“Radio Broadcasting As Initiated By KDKA Has Made The Whole World A Neighborhood ….. 1920. posed of canvas, paper, alds and newly fashand fiberglass niques. A major co-production of Carnegie service of improving the human ionable champagne diawith accom- monds. Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and The condition.” The exhibition panying Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, “Inventing highlights this conThe 1925 exposition also displayed the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the stant exchange, major innovations in glass, such as the World’s Fairs, 1851-1939” assembles more with extraordicenterpiece and bowls by J. & L. than 200 art objects from world’s fairs, nary works that Lobmeyr. These striking objects remarkable not just for their common pedi- demonstrate how a showcase the technical gree, but for what they represent: the height certain amount of and aesthetic expertise of both science and artistry in the late 19th c o m p e t i t i o n , of the Austrian firm. In and early 20th centuries. Carnegie Museum u l t i m a t e l y, what was known as the of Art will supplement the traveling portion accelerates “Rare Earth Series,” of this exhibition with a treasure trove of its the pace of Lobmeyr actually incorpoown objects from fairs, making it the largest artistic innovarated uranium into the venue of the four-city tour, which also tion around the glass, causing the colors to includes the New Orleans Museum of Art world. change under different types of Marianne Rath (designer), Karlsbader Examples of new light. and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Kristallglasfabriken A.G. (manufacturer), J. & L. techniques first show- Lobmeyr (retailer); Centerpiece with bowls, from the Rare Earths A papier-mâché pianoforte and Carolina. “Inventing the Modern World” showcas- cased at the fairs are series, circa 1925, glass; J. & L. Lobmeyr, Vienna; Shown at the Exposition stool (1867) epitomize the remarkable inventiveness of the manufaces objects painstakingly assembled from countless. The simple Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris, 1925. turers of decorative arts. Although European and American collections. For co- forms of Leó Valentin curator Jason T. Busch, the exhibition repre- Pantocsek’s vase and ewer from around designs in aluminum and steel, two materi- papier-mâché had been used in Europe for 1860, for example, belie its als that deeply resonate in Pittsburgh. more than a century, the English firm sents a true achievement, innovative genesis. since “the exhibiOne of the most popular works displayed Jennens & Bettridge introduced a dazzling The fascina- at the 1900 fair was the 1897 Five Swans array of complex techniques. Shown at the tion checklist tion with the tapestry designed by the German painter and 1867 Paris fair, this instrument is made of comprises i r i d e s c e n t printmaker Otto Eckmann. Influenced by seemingly fragile but highly durable glued decorative surfaces of both 19th-century Japanese and 15th-centu- and compressed paper pulp, applied sheet arts unattaina n c i e n t ry German woodblock prints, Eckmann’s after sheet to a wooden core. Embellished able as a group in with an ebonized surface adorned with gildany one museum in the Pittsburgh Greek and tapestry embodies Plate Glass Co., R o m a n the cross-culing, motherworld.” Co-curator Catherine United States g l a s s t u r a l of-pearl, and L. Futter Futter adds, “We (Pittsburgh, PA), p r o m p t e d exchange of panels of looked at literally thousands of 1 8 8 3 – p r e s e n t ; many man- the reverse-paintdecorative arts from around the fairs. Table, circa 1938, u f a c t u r e r s E n h a n c e d ed glass with globe…We kept refining our Glass; The to re-create foiled aluchoices to find the objects that by bold conCorning Museum minum decoreally spoke about innovain of Glass, Corning, it, but it was trasts t h e color, the ration, the tion.” New York. Hungarian f l a t t e n e d pianoforte The decorative arts chemist Pantocsek who a stands out as a made for world’s fairs n d succeeded, applying a b s t r a c t e d significant often display an unusual metallic oxides to the hot subjects and integration of tension: the use of tradiglass surface to produce an the meanmany decorational styles as a vehicle iridescent coloring. The dering lines tive arts techfor progress, employing preeffect puzzled the minds of fair- are rendered niques. viously unknown materials and The Sèvres methods to craft works that evoke the aes- goers at the 1862 London International with a strong Porcelain thetics of prior art movements. Because Exhibition, as it was believed that only age g r a p h i c Manufactory early world’s fairs were a gathering of could produce the effect. And, because the c o m p o s i Vase des nations in a less globalized time, works typ- fairs spurred technological exchange, the tion. Binelles, designed ically exhibited a nationalistic pride - while technique soon spread. Two decades later, The 1925 by Hector Guimard, they showcased the most cutting-edge Louis Comfort Tiffany applied the same Paris exposition closely relates to craftsmanship of a given country, they also technology to his popular Favrile line of boasted a dazzling Paris’s most distincspurred unprecedented exchange in industri- glassware, which will also be on display. array of exquisRalph Widdicomb, designer, Pittsburgh, long a center of technologi- ite jewelry and American, 1898–1951; John Widdicomb tive Art Nouveau al and artistic methods. According to Lynn structures - the Zelevansky, The Henry J. Heinz II Director cal innovation, is well represented in the luxury goods. Company, manufacturer, United States station of Carnegie Museum of Art, “Inventing the exhibition, notably by the Westinghouse Works from (Grand Rapids, MI), 1897–2002; Cabinet, circa 1933, Metro Modern World” embodies an inspirational Radio Broad-casting Panel shown at the French jewelry Birch, plastic, chrome, and aluminum; The (Continued on vision, showcasing inventive design that 1933 Century of Progress International firms such as Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami page 2) marries art, science, and technology in the Exposition in Chicago. Featuring a world Cartier and Beach, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection. rom their inception in 1851, the world’s fairs showcased, obsessed over, and enthralled the visiting public with the cutting edge of industry, production, new materials, and methods, for creating everything from tools to jewelry, furniture to textiles. In doing so, artists and manufacturers used breakthrough scientific innovations to create art objects that embodied the latest aesthetics and tech-