World of Antiques & Art 79

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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