a b i a n n u a l m a g a z i n e f o r c o l l e c t o r s o f m a t e r i a l c u l t u re
State of the market: From Australia to London collecting trends are strong Review of a major Sydney auction New look for London fairs
Ancient crafts: new discoveries / fresh applications A recently uncovered ancient Roman mosaic floor on show in New York Tiffany’s mosaic glass screen a national heritage in Mexico From decorating jars to jewellery designs: Enamelling is taken to new heights in the UK
Fostering the arts: New titles reviewed
Celebrating Australian art Vida Lahey, one of Queensland’s best-loved artists
AUGUST 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011 ISSUE 79 AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95 SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £7.00 US $13.00 €10.50
Contents 142
AROUND THE AUCTIONS
100
108
Acquisition: Noel Counihan (1913-1968)
112
104
Marc Rambeau: The confluence of eastern and western art practices in landscapes
134
Helen Musa
138
116
124
Exploring the rich tapestry of Tibetan furniture Stephen Markel
Frederick Cayley Robinson (1862-1927): Paintings for Middlesex Hospital Sarah Herring
Tiffany’s monumental mosaic fire screen Margaret D McNiven
Alexandra Walton 68
The Ballet Russes and a revolution in theatre design Jane Pritchard
ART 64
The consummate craftsmanship of Fred Rich Amanda Stucklin
Auction highlights from the major houses
The long tradition and fame of Chinese ceramics Laurie Barnes
4
EDITORIAL
Vida Lahey (1882-1968): Exceptional flower studies Glenn R Cooke
HERITAGE
Salvatore Rosa (1615-1673): His bandits, wilderness and magic on show in London
74
Xavier F Salomon
The Anthony Shaw Collection John Christian
86
Horace Walpole’s Gothic castle on the Thames Judith Viscardi
ART NEWS 52
London fairs in June Tony Keniston
78
Colin Holden, The Outsider: Portrait of Ursula Hoff Reviewed by Alison Inglis
129
Bonhams sale of the Owston Collection Peter Fish
159
128
Brian Kennedy moves to the Toledo Museum of Art Helen Musa
92
LIBRIS
Dorothy Erickson, Gold & Silversmithing in Western Australia Reviewed by Glenn R Cooke
131
CONTRIBUTORS
Martin Kemp and Pascal Cotte, Leonardo da Vinci: ‘La Bella Principessa’, The Profile Portrait of a Milanese Woman Reviewed by Hugh Hudson
DECORATIVE ART AND DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
22
10
Commemorating the invention of European hard paste porcelain Theresa Witting
28
Collecting Japanese Satsuma ware Christopher Proudlove
36
Anton Bruehl and the Fabric Group Belinda Hungerford
23
Valerie Spark: El Dorado Springs Gael Newton
Acquisition: Germanic book case circa 1890s Glenn R Cooke
46
The Roman mosaic from Lod, Israel Christopher S Lightfoot
56
Acquisition: Teraike Toshu (1907-1980) Daniel McOwan
58
Cultural arts and the Solomon Islands Crispin Howarth
80
A meaningful survey of German goldsmithing masterpieces Ulrich Becker
2 WORLD OF ANTIQUES & ART
COVER Valerie Sparks (Australian 1961-), El Dorado Springs, 2007, mural size digital montage inkjet photograph, pigment inks on archival paper, 100 x 600 cm, ed 4/5. National Gallery of Australia Canberra
photography
Cut from a new cloth: Anton Bruehl and the Fabric Group Dramatic lighting and bird’s-
1
eye perspective were used to striking effect in the advertising campaign Anton Bruehl created for the American Fabric Group label. Elements that were extremely modern and tapped into the new imagination emerging in commercial photography
BELINDA HUNGERFORD
n the 1920s there was no place more
I
modern and glamorous than New York
and towards the end of the decade there were three debonair young men who were causing a sensation. Each week in The New Yorker their exploits were splashed across the page and the public eagerly awaited the next exposé. But there is a twist in this tale. The dapper trio were cut-out dolls, joined at the trouser cuffs and elbows, and were advertising Fabric Group suits from Manhattan men’s haberdashers Weber and Heilbroner. Australian-born American photographer Anton Bruehl (1900–1982)
New Yorker readership. The growing acceptance of
creativity in the medium with ‘new camera art techniques’1 employed to
was responsible for the award-winning
photography in advertising from the
individualise campaigns. Advertisers
long-running series that captivated The
1920s onwards led to enormous
were willing to use photographic
10 WORLD OF ANTIQUES & ART
decorative arts & design 1
Collecting
Japanese Satsuma ware
Satsuma ware originated in southern Japan in the late sixteenth century. It varies widely in quality, from mass-produced items of little value, to fine items by master potters which are highly collectable. There are still plenty of pieces available on the market. Identifying the best pieces requires a good eye and an intimate knowledge of the subject
CHRISTOPHER PROUDLOVE
However, not all Satsuma is of fine quality. Gaudy gilt elephants, dragons,
s someone who used to think
A
Buddhas and strongmen—crudely
antiques were only ever seen in
modelled and carelessly painted—are not
fusty museums, it should come as no
to everyone’s liking. Huge quantities of it
surprise that as far as I was concerned,
were (and still are) produced for export to
Satsumas were the brand of fresh
the west, resulting in standards that leave
oranges you bought at the greengrocers.
much to be desired.
Then I became hooked on salerooms,
But forsake the later mass-produced
flea markets, car boot sales and
bottom of the market items and instead,
acquiring more junk than the house
sift out pieces by masters such as Chin
could comfortably accommodate.
Jukan, Hayata Takemoto and their
It didn’t take long before I learned
Images courtesy Sotheby’s London
followers, whose work is pure joy to
about the other type of Satsuma: the
behold. Consider the objects illustrated
Japanese earthenware pottery, so called
here. Each a superb example of the
because that’s where it was made.
quality, imagination and technical
28 WORLD OF ANTIQUES & ART
1 Japan (Meiji period 1868-1912), Satsuma vases made by Nakamura Baikei, late 19th century, each with elephant-head handles, decorated in typical colours and gilt. An inscription by the potter reads: ‘I made this vase with all my soul and technique; you should admire it as fine art.’ Value: £6,000-8,000
acquisition QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY
Unknown Queensland cabinetmaker Germanic bookcase, c. 1890s his red painted bookcase is the
T
similar to the bookcase and similar
most significant example of
pyramidal bosses. Another wardrobe,
furniture made in the late nineteenth
which was identical in all details even to
century for Queensland’s migrant German
the finials, had its significance destroyed
community that has been discovered. It
when it was stripped and the door
has the distinctive red-oxide casein paint
panels replaced with glass to make a
finish found on similar furniture originating from German settlements in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. A cedar wardrobe in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, attributed to the Schaedel workshop in the Barossa Valley, similarly exhibits the shaped recess panels to the doors. This appears to be a distinctive German style and suggests a common regional inspiration for both pieces from the Brandenberg, Posen, or Selisia areas. British researchers have been in the forefront of identifying their distinctive regional styles but there does not seem to be equivalent research in Germany as yet. German-inspired furniture from Queensland is rare and this bookcase,
display cabinet. The settlement by German migrants in South Australia’s Barossa Valley is well known and the focus of the 1995 publication by Noris Ioannou, The Barossa folk: Germanic furniture and craft traditions in Australia. These migrant communities maintained their cultural coherence through their work in the wine industry. As Ioannou observes: ‘… the physical isolation and cultural continuity of the Barossa Valley, the manner of its founding, as well as the place of origin of its German communities, were key factors in underpinning the preservation of homeland furniture practices and styles.’1 The key period in South Australia
sourced to the Lockyer Valley, is the
began with settlement in the 1840s and
largest in scale and the most striking
extended through to World War I. What
identified to date. The commonest form
is less well known is that, during the
of case furniture in the nineteenth
nineteenth century, Queensland was the
century is the wardrobe or schrank and
preferred destination for German
two wardrobes with similar features—
migrants. Between 1860 and 1880,
most likely by the same hand—have
some 17,000 settled here so that by
been noted. One, a black stained
1881 Queensland had the largest group
wardrobe also in the possession of the
of German-born migrants in the
donors, has curved frames to the door
Australian colonies.2 These migrants, largely
36 WORLD OF ANTIQUES & ART
1
Unknown Queensland cabinetmaker, Germanic bookcase c. 1890s, various timbers with turning and red-oxide casein paint finish, 220 x 127 x 50 cm. Origin: Lowood area, Brisbane Valley. Gift of Charmian and Patrick Peppin through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program
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