The other day, after I accidentally surfed into a 2012 Art Nouveau building in Amsterdam, I figured it would be interesting to have a discussion about whether today’s architects are able to accurately design Art Nouveau objects.

The facade of Haarlemmerdijk 140 looks, if you move your head real fast, like a genuine Art Nouveau building. But keeping your head still reveals that it is not authentic. The tile panels, for one thing, are actually painted on wood. But also the flowers on those painted ’tiles’ are not delicate enough to be the real thing. And the wood is, I don’t know, not the right color? And there’s something just not right with the proportions of all that wood.

Vischmarkt 25, Harderwijk

Same story when we look at the 2007 Art Nouveau facade I discovered earlier in Harderwijk. It is too heavy to be the real thing.

So I decided to do a little investigating…

I searched and searched… and found there are only a few examples of modern Art Nouveau in The Netherlands.

These two are Leiden townhouses designed by 24h Architecture. They don’t actually call them Art Nouveau houses themselves, but other people do (here, here & here)! And I see how this has flowing lines and looks organic.

But to me, this is NOT Art Nouveau.

Not even close!

Then I went searching outside The Netherlands, all the way down to Moscow. Above two pictures show an interior design by Daria Grigorieva. Do you see what I mean when I say the proportions are not right?

Latvian Yuri Moshan’s website shows designs that are getting closer, but unfortunatley, he’s not consistent. He’s the first designer who’s got the whiplash right though…

All examples were basically the same and I was just about to conclude that today’s architects and designers don’t have ‘it’ anymore…

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And then there was Oleg Karlson.

Karlson (born 2 April 1956) and his design team worked on this Moscow estate from 2003 till 2009. They accepted the commission as a kind of professional challenge and began the project by studying books about Art Nouveau. They toured Europe, studying Art Nouveau architecture, at the same time taking a great interest in collecting and restoring furniture of this time.

As the estate was to be built in Zhukovka (a wealthy Moscow suburb), right between two houses of prize-winning architect Ilya Utkin, the bar was set extremely high. Karlson and his architects needed to get inside the heads of well-known Art Nouveau masterminds and crack the design principles of Art Nouveau in order to pull this one of! And boy, did they get it right!!!

Conclusion: There are architects who still have what it takes. Oleg Karlson is living proof.

But why then, do we not see more high quality modern Art Nouveau? Is Karlson the only brilliantly talented architect in the world? Or is it, besides extreme talent, also a matter of budget?

Source
24h Architecture
About Oleg Karlson
Moscow Art Nouveau Apartment
Russian Architects: Oleg Karlson
Website Oleg Karlson
Yuri Moshan’s Art Studio

There isn’t much I can tell you about Casa Batlló as I have never been there. But Barcelona is very high on my bucket list so I know, eventually, I will go.

The reason why I am posting about Casa Batlló now, is to share this great animated video with you, that I ran across today. I just LOVE it! Please judge for yourself, and let me know what you think. Whether you have been there or not.

My advice is to play the video full screen and maximum sound

Source
Website Casa Batlló

Spectacular pictures in my mailbox!

One of my readers – Ron Conijn – went to Belgium for a few days and just sent me a present: lots of pictures! And the good thing is, he allowed me to share his beautiful pictures with you. Thank you very much Ron.

17 Rue de Sélys, Liège
Architect Victor Rogister

The House Piot (also called House of Freemasons) is probably one of the most successful achievements of Art Nouveau in the city of Liège. The facade is dated 1904.

It is the work of architect Victor Rogister (born 10 January 1874 in Verviers and died 23 June 1955 in Liège), one of the best representatives of the Art Nouveau in Liège.

The sculptures were made by Oscar Berchmans.

The work of Victor Rogister is a floral kind of Art Nouveau, similar to what was initiated by Victor Horta in Brussels, as opposed to the geometric kind of Art Nouveau initiated by Paul Hankar.

Source
Wikipage Maison Piot
Wikipage Victor Rogister

Another set of photo’s from Ron Conijn.

This house in Spa was built between 1900 and 1902 by an architect from the city of Liège. Gustave Charlier (1848-1922) was a carpenter, an architect and a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liège; The project was commissioned by Victor Collard, an industrial and vice President of the Commercial Court of Liège.

One of the first things that catches the eye is the colour of the house. The glazed bricks of the facade are shades of jade and pastel green.

And then there are flowers.

There are three ceramic tile panels with poppies in the top of the facade. There are sunflower wall anchors, floral wrought iron balconies and even the metal panels under the bay window are decorated with flowers. Thanks again for sharing, Ron!

Source
Neg Soh about living in a protected house
Spa Realites
Odis – Gustave Charlier
Wikipage Maison Charlier
Wikipage Art Nouveau à Spa

These past few weeks I have been suffering from a severe case of writer’s block. My mind went absolutely blank. Didn’t know what to write. Complete silence.

But that’s all over now, thanks to these two inspiring gentlemen.

Meet Rob and Dick.

Rob and Dick are collectors to the bone who have developed a concept that allows them to keep collecting for many more years. Their concept works like this: on certain days of the week, Rob and Dick open the doors to their home for public and everything is for sale! Furniture, lamps, paintings, cooking utensils, you name it… Their home is an Art Gallery slash Antiques Shop. They call it ’Living in the Shop’ and that is what they actually do! Brilliant!

At least a hundred times I must have walked past this beautiful shop, but until now I never noticed the Art Nouveau details of the facade. The thing is, the shop-window at street level is not designed in Art Nouveau style, and apparently I never looked up!

 
situation in 2013          situation in 2014

When Rob and Dick had their facade repainted recently, their painter suggested to paint the relief in the gable in contrasting colours. And what a difference!

Wondering why the rest of the facade was not designed in Art Nouveau style, I went digging at the city archives Regionaal Archief Dordrecht and this is what I discovered: Around the turn of the century, the building was owned by D.J. van Brummen. Van Brummen ran a bookstore in the front room of the building and, according to the blue prints as well as some old address books, a printing-house  in the basement and composing room at the belle-étage. I found drawings dated 1899 for the design of the shop-window, and I found blueprints from 1911 for the changes in the upper part of the facade. The contractor for the 1911 changes was R. van Dongen (located at Voorstraat 403, which is just around the corner). I guess it will remain a mystery why Van Brummen didn’t have the whole facade changed at once.

The shop is a brilliant concept, but I’m not so sure if I could do what Rob and Dick are doing. Imagine you just bought that beautiful chair you always fancied, or that painting you fell in love with…. and then someone waltzes into your home and wants to take it away again! On the other hand… it allows them to keep buying beautiful new objects and making their home even more special.

If you are looking for a gift, or love to potter around and find that one item your collection is missing, ‘Living in the Shop’ is where you’ll want to be! Every saturday, and every first sunday of the month, doors are open from 12 to 17 pm.

Say “Hi” to Rob and Dick from me, will you?!?

Source
Bibliopolis
Kunstrondje Dordt
Wonen in de Winkel

This is my latest trophy. I found it at a secondhand bookstore last week and paid €3,- for it. Unfortunately for most of you it’s written in Dutch, but for the Dutch it really is a ‘must-have’. The book is informative, interesting, lucid and complete. An excellent book!

Each Grand Tour travel guide focusses on one particular art movement and this one focusses on… Art Nouveau.

After a more general Introduction to Art Nouveau, the guide contains – neatly arranged per country and per city - all practical information you need to visit museums and other buildings while en route. (Of course the opening hours of the museums are no longer reliable as this is a 1992 book, but as buildings don’t tend to move, I find the rest of the information still very useful.)

Besides the practical information there’s interesting background information about the social, cultural and economic situation in each country, as well as most important artists, their patrons and their role in the development of the movement.

After having read this book, you can start planning your Grand Tour along your favourite Art Nouveau places in Europe.

Included in the book are

England and Scotland - Brighton, Glasgow, Hellensburgh, London
France – Paris, Nancy
Belgium - Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent
The Netherlands – Amsterdam, Assen, The Hague, Groningen, Haarlem, Kampen, Leeuwarden, Otterlo, Hoenderlo, Utrecht
Austria – Vienna
Germany – Berlin, Darmstadt, Hagen, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, München
Spain – Barcelona
Czech Republic – Prague

More details about the book are

Title: Grand Tour Kunstreisgidsen Art Nouveau Jugendstil
Subtitle: Internationale Gids voor Architectuur – Beeldende Kunst – Toegepaste Kunst
Author: Flos Wildschut
Publisher: Cantecleer
ISBN: 90.213.0972.6
Pages: 160

Where to buy?
Antiquariaat Oblomov
Boekenberg
Boekenjan uit Ede
Boekenshop Online
Boekhandel Bodoni

If you have the opportunity, you must go see this exhibition!

According to his Wikipage, Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (1834–1919) was a German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology.

Now, what’s interesting for us is the fact that in 1904 Haeckel published the book Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature) that included over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures. Moreover, these illustrations inspired many Art Nouveau artists like Émile Gallé, Hendrik Petrus Berlage and René Lalique, all of whom owned a copy of the book. Kunstformen der Natur bridged the gap between science and art.

The exhibition A Sea of Glass at the National Glass Museum includes a lot of large Haeckel posters as well as artworks inspired by these posters. A prominent example is Het Scheepvaarthuis, currently known as the Grand Hotel Amrath Amsterdam, that served as a modern office complex for six shipping companies. In 1912/1913 Johan Melchior van der Meij was asked to design the complex with references to the rich maritime tradition of the Netherlands.

Wallpaper Nieuwenhuis

With the idea of a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ in mind, Van der Meij invited many like-minded artists. Interior designer Theo Nieuwenhuis (1866-1951) used Haeckel’s forms almost literally when he designed a wallpaper with sea creatures. Willem Bogtman (1882-1955) designed the stained glass windows with seahorses, jellyfish and starfish, also inspired by Kunstformen illustrations. And Michel de Klerk (1884-1923) let Haeckels spiny brittle stars inspire him when he designed the pendant lights.

Other beautiful works of art featured in the exhibition are for instance below designs by Berlage (1856-1934). Berlage owned a copy of Kunstformen der Natur and saw endless possibilities for jewellery, tilepanels, wallpapers and lamps. Unfortunately none of his designs were executed until, in 1927, the Amsterdam wallpaper manufacturer ‘Rath & Doodeheefver’ got permission to take four of Berlage’s 1905 wallpaper designs into production. The Ciliata design for example was available in five colorways and also the Ophiodea was realised.

 
Pendant Lamp, Jewellery, Wallpaper and Tilepanel design by Berlage

     
Wallpaper Ciliata    Wallpaper Ophiodea

Of course the exhibition wouldn’t be complete without the world famous Andries Dirk Copier (1901-1991) and Christiaan Johannes (Chris) Lanooy (1881-1948), but also contemporary artists like Catharine Coleman, Paula Arntzen and Eibert Draisma - who have clearly been inspired by Haeckel – contributed some interesting pieces.

I´ll say it one more time. If you have the opportunity, you must go see this exhibition! Haeckel’s posters are beautiful, fascinating and inspiring. And the artifacts based on his posters are just amazing!

Source
Architectenweb – Het Scheepvaarthuis
De architect
Behang & Berlage
Kunstformen der Natur – download the complete book in PDF!
Kunstformen der Natur – view posters as zoomable images
National Glassmuseum Leerdam
Wikipage Ernst Haeckel
Wikipage Het Scheepvaarthuis
Rath en Doodeheefver

Last week, my mom insisted I go with her to a Brocante in Giessenburg. De Graanbuurt is a very interesting concept where an old barn is transformed into an indoor street with numerous little shops. Several smaller buildings in the direct vicinity also house second-hand shops; you can literally spend hours rummaging around. My mom had loved it when she had been there before, and it appeared to become a sunny friday, so off we went…

In one of the stalls I noticed a very old box with beautiful little forks. They looked a bit smudgy but they were clearly silver. I turned them around and noticed a WMF stamp which made me decide, of course besides the fact that I loved the way they looked, to make the lady an offer. She was asking 20 euro’s and I offered 15 which she accepted. After 5 hours of strolling and a coffee break with cake, we left Griessenburg. Tired but satisfied.

Back home I took a few pictures of my new set of forks and mailed them to Dorian Frank who – in my opinion – is an expert on WMF silver objects. Dorian confirmed what I already expected: this was an exceptional Find of the Day! He told me the name of the design is Efeu, or in English Ivy Leaf. Ivy Leaf was designed in 1903 as WMF (Württembergischen Metallwarenfabrik) design No. 29. Examples of this design can be seen in the “Deutsches Klingenmuseum“, in Solingen, Germany.

According to Dorian, the value of my forks depends on both the condition and the quality of the silver. Well, the condition is impeccable, and I am very lucky, because also the quality is the highest possible! There are 3 stamps in my forks. The first stamp is a walking bird – an ostrich – the WMF company logo between 1880 and 1925. The second stamp is a stamp with the characters WMF. And the third stamp is a 0, which means the silver-plate deposit is 50% thicker than a normal coating.

From what I could find on the internet, my forks appear to be worth at least €300,- and it also turns out they’re oyster forks! Though I am sure I can eat cake with them too. So, all in all, I had a wonderful day and I am very pleased with my second-hand oyster/cake forks!

Source
De Graanbuurt
Dorian Frank
WMF Hallmarks
WMF History

Last week, I received a request from Anne-Lise of Réseau Art Nouveau Network (RANN) to help promote their Art Nouveau Selfie Contest. Being a genuine Art Nouveau lover, of course I would love to help promote that contest! There’s only one problem though… I don’t like having my picture taken and therefore I don’t do Selfies…. ever. However, in order to be a good sport, I have actually put my camera on a tripod this morning, and taken a Selfie in front of some typical Dutch Art Nouveau houses.

Art Nouveau Selfie Contest
Spuiweg 176-180, Dordrecht

Now let me tell you about the contest: The 10th of June was selected as Art Nouveau World Day, being the birthday of Antonio Gaudi and the (100th) anniversary of the death of Ödön Lechner – two charismatic architects of the movement, from two different corners of Europe.

The Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest is organizing the Art Nouveau World Day, in cooperation with Szecessziós Magazin (Art Nouveau Magazine) and the European project Partage-Plus (which is a European project aimed at digitizing Art Nouveau objects). All interested institutions are invited to participate in Art Nouveau World Day, with lectures, presentations, performances, exhibitions, guided tours and publications. Hungarian events will be listed on the website of Szecessziós Magazin. International events will be listed on the website of the Partage Plus project.

The Réseau Art Nouveau Network will take part in this very important day and organise an Art Nouveau Selfie contest! So, knock yourself out! Create a spectacular Art Nouveau Selfie (it shouldn’t be hard to make a better Selfie than I did) and send it to info(at)artnouveau-net.eu. The best Selfies will be awarded (awards depending on the location of the winner) and published on the RANN Facebook page on 10 June 2014.

Source
Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest
Partage Plus
Szecessziós Magazin
Réseau Art Nouveau Network (RANN)

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille at Palais Longchamp

The name “Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille” as well as the grand appearance of the Palais Longchamp raised high expectations. Maybe, I thought, they’ll have a sculpture by Rodin, a painting by Monet or Renoir? You can imagine my disappointment after four rooms with paintings – mainly 17th and 18th century portraits – when I learned that that was it. No more…

Determined to learn at least sómething, I went back to the first room and studied the paintings all over again. And only then it dawned on me that all XX-century paintings (a staggering 7 in total!) were related to the French colonies. Back in 1900, colonial expansion, the commercialization of the steamboat and the growing number of railway networks created opportunity for French artists to join the streams of people exploring exotic places. Did they previously study the light in Italy, now they discovered the light in ‘the Orient’ was much more interesting.

Marseille, Porte de l’Orient

The ‘Second French Colonial Empire’ had begun in 1830 with the conquest of Algiers. Influence expanded in 1881 to Tunisia and around 1900 French territory covered most of the Northern, Western and Central parts of Africa. The opening of the Suez-canal in 1869 contributed to the French expansion in the Far-East where Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos became French-Indochina and where France leased concessions in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Honkou. And Marseille? Marseille was the Port of that enormous Empire! Marseille was the window overlooking the French Colonial Empire; the door to the Orient…

French Colonial Expansion 1907 (French territory is purple)

Orientalism* became increasingly popular and in 1906 Jules Charles-Roux, who had been responsible for the colonial section of the successful ‘1900 Paris Exposition Universelle‘, organised ‘L’extraordinaire Exposition Coloniale’ in Marseille. There were no less than 50 pavilions near the Rond-point du Prado – 60 acres between Boulevard Michelet and Boulevard Rabatau – which attracted 1.8 million visitors.

Like most of you probably, I already knew that many famous artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright were influenced by East Asian Orientalism, and by Japonism in particular. But what I saw in Marseille was a glimpse of the influence the Middle East had on Les Beaux Arts.

Also the Art Nouveau movement was influenced by Orientalism. Siegfried Bing’s gallery and his magazine ‘Le Japon Artistique’ were important, perhaps crucial, to the Japanese influence on Art Nouveau. During that same period Islamic art must have influenced (some of the) Art Nouveau artists as well but I find proof of that a little bit harder to find. In Marseille I couldn’t find any examples of it; I do remember a glass object by Gallé at the Kitazawa Museum of Art in Suwa, Japan though.

Emile Galle Vase at Kitazawa Museum of Art, Japan

And I also remember some architecture in Berchem (Antwerp) that I believe was influenced by (Middle Eastern) Orientalism.

Conclusion: there was no Art Nouveau at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Marseille. But all in all it was an interesting morning. I will now be much more attentive to the influence from the Middle East on Art Nouveau. Something that will surely help me along my Journey into getting to know Art Nouveau!

* Orientalism is a term used by art historians for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Middle Eastern and East Asian cultures by writers, painters and designers from the West.

Source
Exposition Coloniale de Marseille (1906)
Fabius Brest
José Silbert
Jules Laurens
Marseille, un siecle d’images – a centry of pictures
Maurice Bompard
Mythical, magical, maligned Marseille
The Orientalists: Painter-travellers by Lynne Thornton
Wikipage French Colonial Empire
Wikipage French Orientalism
Wikipage Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille
Wikipage Second French colonial empire (after 1830)

Walking along the Cours Lieutaud one could easily overlook this beautiful Art Nouveau building as at street level it is mostly hidden behind rows of bikes and huge advertising signs. You need to cross the street before you can actually see this huge building in it’s full glory.

Once you have crossed that street, you will find that 26 Cours Lieutaud is one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings in Marseille. The building doesn’t have a name; chiseled into the left side of the facade it only says “Ch. Heraud Architecte 1905″. In a monograph published at the beginning of the 20th century it is called “Maison à Loyer”, which means so much as “House for rent”.

That same monograph tells us the architect was “challenged to dedicate the lower three floors of the building to a car parking without harming the rental value of the apartments above, which he skilfully managed to accomplish. The three floors of the garage (basement, ground floor and mezzanine) were connected by lifts and hoists. The other floors each contained a beautiful apartment serviced by a special lift. The facade was richly decorated in a style inclined to Art Nouveau.”

I found it very interesting to see thistles on the facade of 26 Cours Lieutaud, as the thistle represents Nancy. Nancy, to many, is considered to be the birthplace of Art Nouveau.

The Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine (Architecture and Heritage website) further informs us the house was built as an investment property for Mrs. Paul-Gassier. The architect was Charles Héraud, Fernand Allar was involved in the project as the official agent for Bétons Armés Hennebique (BAH), and E. Fournier was the responsible BAH engineer. And that concludes the information I could find on this exceptional building.

Now, there is one thing that keeps puzzling me though… This is a huge building, it must have been a rather big commission. Yet Charles Héraud, whose name is chiseled into the stone of the facade seems fairly untraceable. I could find one website where he is mentioned for having designed 26 Cours Lieutaud in 1905 and another building, at 46 rue Jean de Bernardy, in 1902. (I will dedicate a post to that building soon.) Other than his year of birth – 1859 – we do not really get to know anything about him.

Then there’s a wikipage about Cours Lieutaud that, again, mentions nothing but the name of the architect; and I found a listing of all important architects from the Provence region which includes ‘our’ Charles Héraud as well as a Gabriel Héraud (Marseille 24 march 1866 – Narbonne 26 january 1941). This site also mentions that Charles Héraud has won a Second Grand-Prix de Rome. Checking the Prix de Rome wikipage though tells us it was in fact Gabriel Héraud who, in 1894, won the Second Grand-Prix de Rome! So what’s the story about these two architects from Marseille with the same family name? Where they related? Maybe, with or without the help from one of my readers, I’ll find out the truth one day. If you have any clues I hope you will share them with us, in the comments below.

Source
www.pss-archi.eu
Des chardons sous le balcon
Liste des Architectes célèbres de Provence
Reglement du PLU de Marseille

As usual, I stumbled upon this ‘find of the day’ completely by accident. I am actually searching the net for an Art Nouveau fire-place for our new home and the most beautiful items come up, except for that one fire-place…

Anyways, todays ‘find of the day’ is a rather unusual object: it’s a block of stamps from 1977.

75 Jahre Jugendstil in Deutschland (Blocknummer 14)

The stamps were designed by Peter Steiner, and issued on 16 February 1977 to commemorate 75 years of Jugendstil in Germany. That automatically implies that Germany considers Jugendstil to have started in 1902. I wonder why they chose that particular year… Anyone?

The value of the stamps was 30 Pfenning, 70 Pfenning and 90 Pfenning, a Pfenning being 1/100 of the German Mark. However, since the introduction of the euro as the single European currency on 1 January 2002, these stamps can no longer be used. They issued 11.125.000 blocks and there are still many available, even in mint condition.

When I was little, my father and I used to collect stamp. I remember us spreading our books and newly gathered stamps all over the dinner table on rainy afternoons. My father was happy when he found a stamp that had been missing from his collection and I – being so young – basically just enjoyed the beautiful pictures on stamps of exotic places. And today, after more than 35 years, a pretty stamp can still make my heart go a little faster. So, even though I am not collecting stamps anymore, I bought myself this perfect block for €1,09 (and that was including €0,64 postage!). Just because I can. And because that little piece of paper makes me happy!

Do I feel a new collection coming up?

Source
Wikipage Briefmarken-Jahrgang 1977 der Deutschen Bundespost
Catawiki

Determined to continue my series on Marseille’s Art Nouveau, I wanted to share a second building by Charles Héraud with you: ‘Hôtel Margirier’. However, since I already told you everything I know about Héraud in my post on 26 Cours Lieutaud, there really isn’t much left to tell… I have many photo’s though, which I don’t want to keep from you. So, not much text this time, but heaps of pictures!

Charles Héraud, born 1859, built ‘Hôtel Margirier’ at 46 Rue Jean de Bernardy in 1902. Like Cours Lieutaud, Rue Jean de Bernardy is not exactly a street where one would expect to find Art Nouveau gems. If you walk fast enough, you could easily overlook ‘Hôtel Margirier’. But that would be a shame, so slow down!

Google streetview: Rue Jean de Bernardy

The Art Nouveau manor house consists of two parts. The facade of the part on the left is set back a little which creates a small courtyard, closed in by a wrought iron gate. The second and taller part is built along the building line.

‘Hôtel Margirier’, 46 Rue Jean de Bernardy, Marseille

At first, Hôtel Margirier appears to be rather plain, but if you allow it to grow on you a little longer, you might actually detect some typical Art Nouveau ornaments.

Zooming in a little further…

… I can detect Snowdrops, Sunflowers, bees and Platanus (a.k.a. Sycamore / Plane Tree) leafs and fruits. And I am sure there are more symbols as I haven’t figured all of them out yet. Can you help me recognise any symbols I have not mentioned?

In a way, these symbols allow us to ‘read’ an Art Nouveau building. The snowdrops, for instance, mean ‘hope’. The sunflowers mean ‘pride and strength’. A bee stands for ‘hard work and diligence, thrift’. And the Platanus tree is one of the oldest species of trees on this earth. It is considered a symbol of strength, protection, eternity, and divinity.

There are a lot more flowers and plants that have a specific meaning in Art Nouveau. The Museum de l’Ecole de Nancy published a nice booklet about these symbolic meanings ‘Flora in Art Nouveau‘ for children, which I think is interesting for adults as well. And as this blog is about getting to know Art Nouveau I intend to find more publications about symbols used in Art Nouveau. Once I have gathered enough information I’ll prepare a blog about the subject and share my knowledge with you here. Would you please share any publications you already found with me?

Source
Art Nouveau and the psychology of interior space
Flora Book
Des chardons sous le balcon
Liste des Architectes célèbres de Provence
Reglement du PLU de Marseille
www.pss-archi.eu

Like every year I have been looking forward to this event for quite some time, the Heritage Open Days. From the moment I got back from my summer vacation I have been searching the net for the new brochure and today I was finally able to download it!

Browsing the brochure for the upcoming ‘Open Monumentendagen’ event, I noticed that some of the monuments I visited in previous years are no longer on the list while ‘new’ monuments have been added.

The most important one missing is ‘t Huys Cronenburch (1907), at Wijnstraat 134. It was part of the program last year, but only with a limited number of guided tours. I was one of the lucky people who got to see the inside. Another missing monument is Gallery Schaeffer (1916), at Groenmarkt 78-80. The interior isn’t particularly spectacular, but it is still a shame that you can’t see it. However, while you are there, you must see the outside; the building has an exquisite stone facade.

‘Gallery Schaeffer’, Groenmarkt 78-80, Dordrecht

New on the list are Warehouse In Vino Veritas, designed in 1899 by my favourite architect C.J.J. Tenenti, and Atelier Gerhard Lentink, which is located in a 1906 Catholic Boys school. Not sure whether I will be able to find Art Nouveau details in these monuments, but as they are of the right period, I’ll give it a try.

Not new on the list of the Heritage Open Days, but new on my list is Huys Roodenburch at Wijnstraat 153. This monument actually dates back to the Middle Ages, yet it was altered time and again. In 1920 Carel Tenenti redesigned the office and I am curious whether he left us more traces of his Art Nouveau legacy.

Voorstraat 180, Dordrecht

The following list contains the monuments that are relevant on our ‘Journey into getting to know Art Nouveau’. For your convenience, I have hyperlinked the ones that I have previously written about.

(* Numbers are corresponding with the numbers in the guidebook)

Kuipershaven 40, Dordrecht

The event, which is actually a national event, takes place on 13 & 14 September 2014. Most of the monuments are otherwise closed for public, therefore this event is a unique opportunity to see some spectacular heritage sites. I hope my list will help you prepare and enjoy the 2014 Heritage Open Days in Dordrecht!

Source
Open Monumentendag
Openmonumentendag Dordrecht
Guidebook Open Monumentendagen Dordrecht in PDF

1912 Pines by the Sea – Bertha Lum

Art Nouveau was heavily inspired by Japanese Art, and in particular by Japanese Wood Block Prints; it was just last year when I wrote about this phenomenon called Japonism in my post on Siegfried Bing. And because my Journey into Art Nouveau still continues, I discover something new every day. Today I discovered Bertha Lum…

Bertha Boynton Bull was born May 1869 in Tipton, Iowa. Her father, Joseph W. Bull (1841–1923), a lawyer, and her mother Harriet Ann Boynton (1842–1925) were both amateur artists.

In 1885, Bertha attended the Art Institute of Chicago for one year focusing on design. A few years later she studied stained glass with Anne Weston and illustration with Frank Holme. Her aesthetic sensibilities were further shaped by the display of Japanese prints at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and by Arthur Wesley Dow’s influential textbook Composition (1899), which promoted Japanese color woodcuts as models. It is said Bertha was also influenced by Lafcadio Hearn, who translated Japanese legends and fairy tales into popular books. (And I guess it gives me a sense of connectedness since my friends and I used to read Lafcadio Hearn’s Haiku’s back in the 1990s when I lived in Japan.)

In 1903 Bertha married Burt F. Lum, a corporate lawyer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and persuaded him to travel to Japan on their honeymoon. It was her first of many adventures in the Orient.

“Before I went to Japan, I thought that print makers were as easy to find as paper lanterns or kimonos but after I spent six weeks asking everyone who spoke English – guides, rickshaw boys, hotel proprietors and curio dealers – were I could buy tools and see them make prints, and found no one to tell me, I became utterly discouraged and only succeeded the week before I sailed back home, in being directed to a shop where they reproduced old prints, and it was an hour spent there that gave me all the knowledge I had of the process aside from what I had learned from books.

This shop, as great favor, allowed me to pay $20 for thirteen tools (and I was glad to get them at any price) though I found on a later trip that they were of inferior grade and I then bought fifty of the best for $5.

When I returned home I added to the knowledge gained in this short time by reading everything obtainable on the subject, and started to make prints.”

Back in the U.S. she produced some lovely prints like “China Boy” or “Lanterns”. Three years later (1907) she returned to Japan for fourteen weeks with an introduction letter to Igami Bonkotsu (1875-1933), a master block cutter in Tokyo. Bonkotsu disclosed to her the techniques of carving and arranged for her education in block printing.

“…The next day we started early and went miles and miles far into the suburbs of Tokyo, down back streets and finally at the end of an alley, where the poorest people lived, in a very small house of four rooms, we found the man who was supposed to cut the best blocks in Tokyo – and there I worked every day for two months. My teachers were mostly two apprentices of twelve years of age, “the master” coming in once or twice a day to approve, or mostly disapprove, of my progress.”

The master carver was Igami Bonkotsu.

1916 The Piper – Bertha Lum

After having learned how to cut, she went to the printer (Kamakichi Nishimura) and there again she stayed many weeks watching young apprentices color in her own prints.

“When I was ready to stop cutting blocks, accompanied by the professor and “the master” I was taken to another part of the city and presented with due ceremony to the printer. We drank tea and ate cake for two hours and all was arranged for me to begin work the next morning. I went every day for four weeks and did no printing but watched the man work out my ideas from the blocks I had cut. It was in a part of the city where foreigners never go and when I appeared at the end of the street it would immediately fill with men, women and children and when we reached the house my rickshaw boy go so near I could slip into the front door. We worked in a room on the first floor with only the paper shojii between us and the mob, all that could come near enough, would wet a finger, punch it through the paper and then use the hole as a peep-hole and you could look up any time and see a dozen or more eyes watching and the entire screen would have to be recovered each day after my departure. None of these people spoke a word of English my Japanese was only useful in bargaining fo junk so you see there were some difficulties to be overcome.

1908 Through the Night – Bertha Lum

I had no interpreter when cutting blocks but wanted one for the printer but the best I could find was my « riksha boy » who found it so much more interesting to sit on the floor and say “Too much blue”,”More water” and similar remarks than pulling people about in a Jinriksha that I found him much more useful than a regular guide who would have been too bored to be of service, considering such work beneath his dignity.

Had I not had the second letter of introduction my second trip would have been entirely wasted. Everything in Japan is very easy for the tourist. Ivories, embroideries, curios, bronze await you in the shop, are brought to your hotel – you cannot escape them – but if you want something of the people, learn an art or buy something purely Japanese, you face a wall. There are no openings, it is too high to go over and if you try to walk around you only go in a circle and soon return where you started.

I returned to America and for three years worked out things that interested me, trying to add my ideas to theirs, and last year decided to take a house in Tokyo for the winter, send for my old printer and enjoy myself.”

1909 Winter – Bertha Lum

In 1911, Bertha and her daughters Catherine Balliet Lum and Eleanor Peter Lum stayed in Japan for 6 months. During her early years, Bertha had insisted on carving and printing her own prints, and she became masterful at both skills. However on subsequent trips to Japan, she decided to hire carvers and printers to work under her direct supervision. The Japanese system of collaborative printmaking was more practical and efficient than working alone. It made sense for Bertha to work this way, as she was not only trying to establish herself as an artist, but also to raise two young children.

Eventually, Bertha moved easily within Japanese society and hers were the only foreign woodcuts in the Tenth Annual Art Exhibition in Tokyo in 1912 where they were admired for their distinctive blending of western and Japanese styles. Her color woodcuts were awarded the silver medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition and her work was included in the 1919 Exhibition of Etchings and Block Prints at the Art Institute of Chicago. She authored and illustrated Gods, Goblins and Ghosts in 1922 and Gangplanks to the East in 1936. Lum’s work received honors in Rome, Paris and Portugal and is represented in the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts.

1920 Three Wise Men – Bertha Lum

In 1922, Bertha moved to Peking, China, but returned to the United States in 1924. She lived in California until 1927, and then moved back to China. The following year she divorced Burt Lum and in 1933 returned again to Peking. In 1953, at age 84, she moved to Genoa, Italy to live with her daughter Catherine. She died in Genoa in February 1954.

The fact that there aren’t many people familiar with this obviously extremely talented artist may have something to do with the 1923 earthquake in Tokyo during which most of Bertha’s blocks and woodcuts were destroyed.

1918 Mother West Wind – Bertha Lum

Red haired, with green eyes and a strong personality, she managed to establish herself as an artist in Asia as well as in America. Her personal style of sinuous Art-Nouveau curves with flat planes of color that go back to 19th century ukiyo-e pleased both cultures at the beginning of the last century and it still moves me today. I am totally in love with her work and I am just so very sorry we never got to meet…

Sources
Bertha Boynton Lum on Blogspot
wikipage of Bertha Lum
www.bertha-lum.org
Hanga Gallery
IFPDA
Download ‘Composition’ by Arthur Wesley Dow

Have you been there yet?

The new Fin-de-Siècle Museum was supposed to open May 2013, yet due to circumstances didn’t open until December. And it was already April 2014 when I got a chance to actually go to Brussels. For at least one year I had been looking forward to see the collection of this new museum but boy… it was absolutely worth my wait.

“The new Fin-de-Siècle Museum presents Brussels as the cultural crossroads of Europe at the turn of the century. This exceptional collection of works by Belgian artists such as James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, Léon Spilliaert, Victor Horta, Henry Van de Velde or Philippe Wolfers,… and by foreign artists such as Paul Gauguin, Auguste Rodin, Pierre Bonnard, Emile Gallé, Louis Majorelle and Alphonse Mucha,… places the art scene at the heart of international creativity.”

Patiently I waited half an hour in line (what’s another half hour when you have already waited a whole year?) before I could – finally – enter the Fin-de-Siècle Museum. A museum that is in fact located inside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, on the -5th to -8th floor.

Before you reach the -5th floor, you have to pass through the -3rd and -4th floor; both packed with paintings. And then, when you do get to the -5th floor, there are even more paintings! The purpose of those paintings is to explain the 1900′s Academic Arts scene. But to be honest, I felt some disappointment because there seemed to be only paintings.

I learned that I genuinely dislike Egon Schiele’s work, and the same goes for James Ensor‘s work. Fortunately there were enough paintings that I díd like.

Instead of solely paintings, I had expected a wider range of Fine Arts. Even more so, I had been looking forward to see the Decorative Arts, but there seemed to be none.

However… at the -8th floor, it turned out they had been saving the best for last. I finally got what I came for: The Gillion Crowet Collection. Every artist who had been ‘somebody’ during the Fin-de-Siècle was there. Horta, Gallé, Daum, Muller, Mucha, Majorelle and so on… What a magnificent collection.

In the 1960′s, when nobody was interested in Art Nouveau, Anne-Marie Crowet and her husband Roland Gillion started collecting Art Nouveau objects. By buying everything they could get their hands on, keeping only the best items and selling or trading the other ones, time and again they accomplished to bring their collection to a higher level. And that collection now is one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau collections in the world.

When the couple offered to pay their inheritance taxes with the collection, the city of Brussels gladly accepted their offer. “When I started collecting in the 60′s people called me crazy” said Anne-Marie Crowet in 2006 when the collection was transferred to the City of Brussels, “and now they almost faint when they see the beauty of the collection. It is a dream come true that our collection will be on display at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium where the whole world can see how important the style of 1900 was.”

Besides the breathtaking Émile Gallé vases I was struck by the beauty of the Henri and Désiré Muller vases. The Muller brothers were trained by Émile Gallé but started their own firm in 1895 where they developed a new technique called fluogravure. The technique involved acid etching a vessel that had previously been fired with colored enamels. The fluogravure Muller vases are richly patinated, often with a semi-lustrous finish, and after years of looking at Gallé and Daum vases, I found them to be “refreshing”.

In short, the not-so-new-anymore Fin-de-Siècle Museum is absolutely worth your visit. Don’t let the seemingly endless rows of paintings discourage you on your way down to the Gillion Crowet Collection. And once you get to the -8th floor… don’t forget to inhale ;-)

Source
Art Deco Magazine
Fin-de-Siècle Museum
More video’s about the Fin-de-Siècle Museum
Muller Frères

This summer, I discovered a golden nugget! Right in the middle of France, 500 kilometers South of Paris.

You should know I have been vacationing in Bort-les-Orgues at least seven times since I was 13 years old. And even though the Avenue de la Gare is one of two main roads into the centre of town, I never noticed this particular villa at number 391 before.

During our third week in Bort-les-Orgues this summer, while we were on our way back to our tent, it suddenly dawned on me that I needed to take a closer look at this house. I urged my husband to stop the car, jumped right out and took a series of pictures from across the road. Then I walked a little closer to the house and tried the fence… it wasn’t locked so there I stood, in the garden of a family I didn’t know. It felt a bit weird. What would they say if they saw me there, taking pictures? I decided to leave quickly, but when I turned around I looked right into the eyes of a little French boy. Caught red-handed!

In my best school-French I explained why I was in his garden, taking pictures. And I believe the boy actually understood what I said. He replied that the house belonged to his grandparents. Unfortunately they weren’t home so I promised I would come back the next day. I really wanted to know more about this house; like I knew there was more…

The next day, prepared with a letter apologizing for my rude intrusion, an explanation of my reasons, my blog’s URL and my e-mail address, I entered the premises again. I had planned to leave the letter in case no-one would answer the door, but fortunately my concerns proved unnecessary. The door was ajar, and after I knocked and pushed it open, two lovely ladies appeared in the doorway; the boy’s mother and grand-mother. They were very kind and invited my family and me for a drink and a guided tour around the house later that evening.

So we rushed to the tent, threw some hamburgers on the BBQ and hurried back to the house as we couldn’t wait for our guided tour. We got a warm welcome from the owners of the house – the grand-father and grand-mother of the little boy – Mr. and Mrs. Francis and Camille Humbert.

It turned out that Francis Humbert knew everything about his house, and was rightly proud to tell us what he knew. So, while our two boys played in the salon with their three boys, we sat at the dining-room table, enjoyed local wine and cheese, and listened to his fascinating story.

My husband showing the Humbert family pictures of our own little renovation project

This is the story of the house at 391 Avenue de la Gare, Bort-les-Orgues

In 1900 a retired pharmacist from Paris called A. Buisson built a beautiful house in Bort-les-Orgues and called it “Les Genêts”. Genêts is French for Broom, Sarothamnus Scoparius, a common shrub in the surrounding scenery. The Roman numerals MCM on the facade represent the year 1900. And being a Parisian, Buisson had ‘Paris Stone‘ transported all the way down to Bort-les-Orgues to create the distinctive facade with its huge white blocks.

Interesting to know is that the house was originally built as three completely separate apartments, each with a private entrance, a separate staircase, a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom.

Now Mr. Buisson was an amateur painter and boy, did he love to paint! In every single room, on every wooden door panel, Buisson painted a little gem. And Francis Humbert generously gave us the Grand Tour, explaining each and every painting in detail, from the front door all the way to the attic.

When entering the house, you are immediately surrounded by Buisson’s paintings: all doors that open onto the hall are covered with pictures of playing children. The above panels appear to be depicting the four seasons.

And then there were these two lovely ladies on the cabinet in Francis Humberts office. I see a remarkable resemblance to Alphonse Mucha’s Byzantine Heads, the Brunette & the Blonde.

Byzantine Heads by A. Buisson

Byzantine Heads by Alphonse Mucha (1897)

Below painting shows that Buisson was also inspired by Johannes Vermeer (1632- 1675) and his contemporaries.

And here are two more interesting door panels that deserve our attention. They may not look familiar to you, but people who have been to Bort-les-Orgues will recognise at least one of these paintings immediately. The 15th century castle Chateau de Val was originally built on a 30 meter high rock, overlooking a valley. However, between 1952 and 1962 a dam was erected in the valley which left Chateau de Val barely above the water. Today, the castle is a popular tourist attraction.

The panel on the right got me rather excited because of its thistles. Thistles, you should know, are the symbol of Lorraine and of its capital Nancy, a city that many consider the cradle of Art Nouveau.

And how about this?! Buisson signed all his paintings with a signature that – at first sight – looks like a set of Japanese characters. Japonism influenced the Art Nouveau movement big time and this signature proves it influenced Buisson too! (The first character is a mix of an A & B. The second character U & I. The third character symbolises two S’s and the final character is a mix of an O & N.)

Besides paintings, a lot of other original Art Nouveau elements remain in the house. Wouldn’t you love to put that curvy mirror frame over your own fire-place?

Continuing his story, Francis explained that Monsieur Buisson sold the house in 1918 to Camille’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul and Julienne Lachaze. The Lachazes, who were millers, reconstructed the three apartments into one big family home and had electricity and water installed. They even turned the complete staircase around! Francis showed us a 1920 fuse he discovered while working at the house, and behind a small cabinet there was still some original – 100-year-old – wallpaper. In the kitchen, he showed us the original butlers bell panel. So besides 6 children, these millers had kitchen staff as well!

After Camille Humbert’s grand-mother passed away in 1977 the house was abandoned for ten years. Then, in 1987, Francis and Camille decided to buy the house to save it from further decay and preserve it for the future. And they’ve been restoring it, room after room, ever since…

By this time, our daughter was playing the piano together with Camille and Francis’ granddaughter and the boys were chasing each other around the salon. We had had a lovely evening at the Humberts and we kindly thanked them for their great story as well as their hospitality. We drove back to our tent, put the kids to bed, and sat down overlooking the lake with a nice glass of French wine. What a lovely evening…

After my exciting discoveries in Osijek (Croatia) two years ago, I decided to travel to Sarajevo (Bosnia) this time, and find out if there’s Art Nouveau architecture there too. Preparing my trip, I ordered the book Arhitektura Secesije u Bosni i Hercegovini by Ibrahim Krzovic. I pinned all addresses Krzovic mentions in his book in Galileo, the offline navigation-app that guides me on all my Art Nouveau hunting trips, and wrote down all addresses in a small note-book… just in case.

To understand the city we’re looking at, we first have to understand its history. So let me take us back in time a little. Bosnia and Hercegovina had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1463 but at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) Russia pushed the Ottoman Empire out of the Balkans. And because the European Great Powers wanted to prevent Russia from getting too much power in Central Europe, they organised the Congress of Berlin at which they aimed to reorganize the countries of the Balkans. That’s when they ‘assigned’ Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Just like that. From one oppressor to the next…

Villa Mathilde – Koševo 38, Sarajevo

The campaign to establish Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina lasted only three months, from 29 July to 20 October 1878, even though the local resistance fighters were supported by the Ottoman Empire. The Austro-Hungarians entered the country in two large movements: one from the north into Bosnia, and another from the south into Herzegovina. Sarajevo fell on August the 19th.

Austrian Embassy, Džidžikovac 7, Sarajevo

The Austro-Hungarian Empire immediately brought Western urban planning ideals and architectural styles to Sarajevo. They left the Ottoman center of town intact, though its character was changed: traditional separation between commercial and residential zones was ended and the city’s first ground-floor shops with apartment accommodation above appeared in the gradually ‘Europeanized’ center.

Villa Forstrath Miklau, Petrakijina 24, Sarajevo

The Autro-Hungarians also built a number of Catholic and Orthodox religious structures. At the same time, they made sure the mosques were well taken care of, as they believed religion was a means to control the nationalism that started to emerge in Sarajevo. And not unimportant either, they brought the tramway to Sarajevo, a feature that has been the backbone of its public transportation system ever since.

Sarajevo Tramway 1901

Josip Vancaš

Along with urban planning, the first professional architects came to the city, most notably Josip Vancaš (22 March 1859 – 15 December 1932). Vancaš would remain in Sarajevo for thirty-seven years, become a leading figure in Sarajevo architecture (he designed more than 200 buildings!) and a member of the first Bosnian Parliament (1910). Eventually he would even become the deputy mayor of Sarajevo.

Villa Mandic & Villa Heinrich Reiter, Petrakijina 7 & 11, Sarajevo

During the first 20 years of Austro-Hungarian rule, new projects were mostly built in historical styles such as neo-gothic, neo-renaissance and neo-baroque etc. Or they were built in a combination of historical styles which is called eclecticism. However, after 1898 the first elements of the ‘New Art’ began to appear.

Apoteka Heinrich Schlesinger, Ferhadija 27, Sarajevo

Like in the capital Vienna, Secession Style was primarily used for private houses and apartment blocks, seldom for public or institutional buildings. And most of the time, spacially, the buildings were actually the same as the historical ones. Secession was only visible through decorations on the facade. A nice example of such a building can be found at 27 Ferhadija Street, designed by Josip Vancaš for a pharmacist called Heinrich Schlesinger. 

Kuca Mehmed-bega Fadilpasica, Franjevacka 2, Sarajevo

But Vancaš also recognised a ‘Bosnian Style’ which can, in a way, be compared with Scandinavian National Romanticism. Besides the fact that it had a roof profile and projecting wooden bay windows reminiscent of Bosnian vernacular architecture, it had functionalist tendencies in its near lack of ornament, a façade organization described as Secessionist in spirit, and an Expressionist depiction of both structure and function (Hrasnisa, 2003). The Bosnian Style was championed by a younger generation of architects, like Czech architect Josip Pospošil, Slovene architect Rudolf Tönnies, and Austrian architect Ernst Lichtblau, who all studied at the Art Academy in Vienna with Karl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner. The style was, however, named by Sarajevo’s senior architect, Josip Vancaš, for whom many of these younger architects worked.

Villa Rädisch, Petrakijina 13, Sarajevo

We had a wonderful day in Sarajevo! Everything was perfect. We found a great parking at a perfect location (which I marked with a P on below map). From there, we walked to the Music Pavilion Atmejdan where we had a coffee. And then we set off on our splendid Sarajevo Art Nouveau tour… A tour we can recommend to all Art Nouveau lovers.

If you intend to see all the houses we saw, ánd the ones we missed, I suggest you stay a little longer though. Seeing all addresses on the list is simply not possible in one day. And don’t forget that, when in Sarajevo, you also have to do the regular touristy things! You simply MUST visit the Baščaršija, eat Ćevapčići at Željo, feed the pigeons at the fountain in Sebilj square and so on…

I tried to mark our route and the location of the most beautiful buildings on below map for you (please be aware this map dates from 1929, and street names have changed since then). A list with the addresses I extracted from Ibrahim Krzovic’s book can be downloaded here.

In due course, I intend to show you more detailed photo’s, and tell you a little bit more about each building. Hopefully, this introductory story will whet your appetite for Sarajevo.

Source
The Development of Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo, 1878-1918: An Urban History by Mary Sparks
Sarajevo, biografija grada – Robert J. Donia
Sarajevo, a biography – Robert J. Donia
Phoenix or Phantom: Residents and Sarajevo’s Post-War Changes
Sarajevo – from Capital cities in the Aftermath of Empires – Emily Gunzburger Makaš
Sarajevo u periodu austrougarske vladavine
Wikipage Josip Vancaš
Gems Of 20th Century Architecture in BiH
Sarajevo in your pocket – Guidebook

Magnificent!

I was ab-so-lute-ly flabbergasted the first time I saw Lantmans work on Twitter!

So when I learned the Drents Museum would organize an exhibition about his work, I was determined to go there and see his legacy with my own eyes…

That was October last year.

Pages from “George Henri Lantman”, by WBooks

Then came our trip to Sarajevo… and I was also (still) busy restoring our own hundred-and-one-year-old Art Nouveau family home. Autumn turned to winter, Christmas came and went, I got ill and recovered way too slow… and before I knew it, there was only 1 option left in my busy schedule. Last saturday. My apologies for leaving you with only one day left to see the exhibition. Tomorrow.

It was a 2,5 hours drive, and the exhibition was small, but the lack of quantity was amply compensated by the brilliant quality. I felt like a kid in a candy store!

To support the exhibition, the museum has published an excellent biography about Lantman, best read before visiting the exhibition. Knowing the background of these objects would make you respect George Henri Lantman even more.

Having read the whole biography, I can’t help but feel sorry for the poor man. Let me explain to you why: Lantman was a genius who desperately needed a break but never got one.

George Henri Lantman (1875-1933) was born in Amsterdam. After elementary school he was told to get a job which he didn’t like. He tried several careers but never stayed long enough to finish his training. In 1896, with some help and recommendation, he got into the Haarlemse School voor Kunstnijverheid where he could develop his skills as a silversmith and metal artist. One of his teachers was the famous Frans Zwollo sr., the founding father of the decorative trend in Dutch Art Nouveau (Nieuwe Kunst) metal working.

Restless as Lantman was however, he left school after a year – without a diploma – and got a job at Fayence- and Plateelfabriek (pottery) Amstelhoek. This is where he met important people like Lambertus Zijl (1866-1947), Chris van der Hoef (1875-1933), Jan Eisenloeffel (1876-1957), Willem Penaat (1875-1957), H.P. Berlage (1856-1934) and Jac. van de Bosch (1868-1948).

In 1905, Lantman became the assistant to Carel Adolph Lion Cachet (1864-1945), a versatile designer and decorative artist known for his batiks, wood carvings, wall paper designs, pottery, furniture, posters and book covers. Lion Cachet was even responsible for the complete interior design of some passenger ship salons! During this apprenticeship, Lantman met with Lion Cachets friends Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof and Theo Nieuwenhuis.

After Lantman was forced to move on again, he found employment with Het Huis, founded by Eduard Cuypers (1859-1927) who was affiliated with Michel de Klerk (1884-1923), Jan van der Mey (1878-1949) and Piet Kramer (1881-1961). And the list with famous names just goes on!

Now, all these people he met, worked with or learned from have become well-known, and more importantly, well paid artists, yet Lantman never got his break-through. Why was that?

Lantman preferred to make unique pieces. He loved to indulge himself in his projects, demonstrating his technical skills. He spent hours and hours perfecting his pieces of art wich made them priceless of course, and didn’t help getting a large clientèle. On top of that, he was a rather quiet and withdrawn person, who failed to build a large social network, and therefore got few assignments. His modest character did not allow him to strongly take a stand in the art debate. He never finished his education, was a restless job-hopper and moved house at least 10 times.

Only at age 45 Lantman seems to have found his peace. He was married to Engelina Maria Keizer and had found employment as a night school teacher. The couple moved to their permanent home – with a workshop – in Nieuwer Amstel and started a family. To support their family and create a more steady income, Engelina started a drugstore, called ‘Hagedis’ (lizard), in their livingroom. They never reached a worry-free stage though; art paid the doctor for a delivery, art paid the tailor for a new suit, and there was hardly ever enough money to buy silver for new projects. Lantman made most of his objects of Tombak, a cheap copper-zinc alloy that is easy and soft to work by hand: hand tools can easily punch, cut, enamel, repousse, engrave, gild, or etch it. It has a higher sheen than most brasses or copper, and does not easily tarnish.

pages from “George Henri Lantman” WBooks

On top of all this hardship Lantman deceased, tragically, way too early! Recovering from his anesthesia after an appendectomy he took a sip, still half asleep, of a glass that stood on his nightstand. It turned out the glass had been left behind by a cleaning lady and was filled with a disinfectant. Lantman died within a few hours, at age 58.

Due to his early death Lantmans oeuvre has remained modest. But boy, did he master his technique and leave us some magnificent pieces of new art… Dutch New Art.

Exhibition: 14 October 2014 – 1 February 2015, at Drents Museum, Assen (NL)

Source
Wikipage George Henri Lantman
Drents Museum
George Henri Lantman by WBooks

Centraal Apotheek Leeuwarden has been on my bucket list for quite some time and when my husband told me last week that he needed to attend a meeting in Leeuwarden I didn’t need long to decide that I would accompany him up North.

Centraal Apotheek Leeuwarden

In 1905 pharmacist J. Feteris, originally from Kampen, commissioned architect G.B. Broekema (1866-1946), also from Kampen, to design a pharmacy with upstairs living quarters. At this corner had been a drugstore before, and it has remained a pharmacy ever since. In 1972, the original orangey-red ceramic slates had become unobtainable and were replaced by natural grey slates. This caused some loss of vibrance, but the building is nevertheless still exceptionally colourful. Since 1983, the Centraal Apotheek is a registered monument (RM24435).

A famous Dutch author Willem Frederik Hermans called this absolutely exceptional building the most beautiful building in Leeuwarden; I also read about comparisons of the pharmacy’s exotic beauty with the exotic beauty of another lady from Leeuwarden: Mata Hari.

The first thing you notice when you approach the pharmacy is its asymmetrical facade. Asymmetry is one of the essential features of Art Nouveau. The most important reason being that Japan was one of the main sources of inspiration for the New Art.

Yet asymmetry is not the only Art Nouveau characteristic of this phenomenal building. If we take a closer look, we can actually detect many typical details which a true Art Nouveau gem is supposed to have: enlarged window openings with surprising frames, like horseshoe arches, of carved stone or colourful – sometimes even glazed – bricks.

Sleek and colourful facing bricks became a new favourite building material. Tile panels as well as wrought iron railings and carved wood in elegant shapes were used to accentuate the construction. Asymmetrically placed corner turrets, pleated gables and varied dormers, canopied balconies, loggias and verandas… they are all there to enliven the facade and brighten up our hearts.

Tile panel Centraal Apotheek Leeuwarden

The gorgeous tile panel shows Hygieia, goddess of health and daughter of Asclepius, the god of medicine. Hygieia is holding a bowl, a symbol of the pharmacy profession, and a snake which is actually her fathers symbol related to medicine. The Greek goddess is depicted as a femme fatale, which was a popular theme during the Fin-de-Siècle. Who designed the tile panel or where it was manufactured is unknown.

Even though nothing of the pharmacy’s original interior remains, the exterior of this flawless example of Art Nouveau architecture is a feast for your eyes. Getting up at 6 am and driving 2,5 hours up north… was só worth it!

Source
Dangerous beasts: The Femme Fatale in Fin-de-Siecle Art
Sierlijk Bouwen
The Art Nouveau Style by Stephan Tschudi Madsen (to read the book online, click here)
Wie is Wie in Overijssel – G.B. Broekema
Wikipage Centraal Apotheek