New Acquisition the to the Metropolitan

T.A.C. (Thedore Christiaan Adriaan) Colebrander
Dutch, Doesburg 1841-1930
Plateelbakkerij Ram ( manufacturer)
dutch, 1921-35
Arnhem, The Netherlands, Ca. 1921
Glazed Earthenware
10 1/8 in H x 5 1/2 in D
Marked on the bottom of the foot: "RAM"/ PATR.LAPPEN./ ARNHEM ./ HOLLAND./ F.R. 18.
Provence Jason Jacques Gallery, New York
Cynthia Hazen and Leon B. Polsky Fund, 2010

Though he originally trained as an architect, by the mid-1880's T.A.C. Colebrander (the intials he was known by do not match the order of his given names) had become, like the British Christopher Dresser, one of the World's first industrialized designers. Colebrander performed for hire jobs for a variety of manufactures. He is best know as a designer of ceramics (notably for the Rozenberg Factory in the Hague during the 1880's) and carpets. In 1921 he was appointed design director at artist-dealer N.H. (Henri) Van Lerven's newly formed Plateelbakkerij Ram (RAM Pottery) in Arhem, Where he produced some of his most astonishing and original work. On this Vase free-flowing lines contain areas filled with contrasting saturated colors suggesting ink blots or artfully splattered paint. An Ambiguous balance between positive and negative lends vibrant dynamism that presages the psychedelic art of a half a century later. Although Colebrander's enigmatic abstract designs seemingly avoid links with precedent or tradition, his exuberant colors and patterns reflect his generations growing awareness of islamic art, especially from Java, then a dutch colony. His unusual palette may also effect concurrent experiments by avant-guarde expressionist artists who used color to suggest emotions and moods.

Circa 1900, Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Today I had the honor of a fine tour of Circa 1900 with associate curator of European Decorative Arts Christine Gervais at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Circa 1900 is well, you guessed it, an Art Nouveau/Symbolist/Jugendstil exhibition. The show is small, but excellently selected and well defined. Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Hector Guimard, Frantiek Kupka and most delightful of all, one of my vases by Eduard Stellmacher for Amphora. The show is lovely. If you go, spend some quality time with the Kupka self-portrait, it is something very special.

On Membership

Last year we participated at the Biennale Des Antiquaires at the Grand Palais in Paris. Most of you know this but what few do know is that only members of the Syndicat National Des Antiquaires are allowed to participate. Being a member of this organization is one of the most prestigious honors an art and antiques dealer can achieve. What makes this even more of an honor is that as an American, I am one of an even smaller group within the Syndicat. For me, the real coup is that I started my business in Paris 22 years ago. I grew out of the Marche Aux Puces. I grew from the very bottom to the very top. After achieving the Biennale I have been wondering, "what next?" Should I keep pursuing the contemporary scene. Play more with paintings. Oh, never worry that I will stop making Art Nouveau and Japonist Ceramic Masterworks shows! That will never happen, but somehow getting this card in the mail today makes me feel somehow... done. Complete. Finished. I reached my goal. And I do not want to get bored. I need new goals. More, more, more. Never rest. Never stop growing. But today, I think I will reflect on the wonderful journey that brought me to this day, a member of the French Syndicat.

Chinese Pots Sells for $85,000,000

So this 18th-century Qianlong dynasty porcelain vase sells for $85,000,000. My first reaction is that I need to raise all of my prices. European Art pottery is much too under priced. For $85,000,000 I could probably buy every important Art Nouveau and Japonist vase that exists worldwide. Some people says it is apples and oranges. I say sure. Apples and Oranges are both fruit. Chinese pottery and European pottery is all still pottery. The difference is that the Asians value porcelain and pottery in a much more ambitious and culturally valid way. For Asians, pottery is kind of like pictures for us. Our big records are all for oil on canvas, for Asians it is glazed painted on vessels.

Jason Jacques at the Biennale

Ceramics in St. Louis 1904

Like its predecessors, the St. Louis World's Fair (the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904) brought together people and products from around the globe. On approximately 1,240 acres, representatives of 53 foreign governments mingled with Americans and each other, gradually broadening their world views. The fair generated hundreds of pages of descriptions and evaluations, among them a report on the state of the international ceramics industry. According to Samuel Geijsbeek, writing in 1905 in the Transactions of the American Ceramic Society (Geijsbeek was one of the Society's founders), fine ceramics, as a subclass of general ceramics, was "the most international of all" with "all the leading countries well represented." (pictured: Georges Hoentschel, Marine Life, vase, stoneware, France, c1900).

University City: an International Crucible

How is it that sculptor George Julian Zolnay (pictured), grandson of Hungarian ceramics impresario Miklós Zsolnay, came to be the director of the Art Institute at University City Missouri, where Taxile Doat, world famous ceramist, was a high-ranking faculty member?

Clemént Massier Reveals His Sources

Grant Allen, a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, traveled in 1880 to Vallauris, France, where he spoke with Clemént Massier about his inspirations and aims. Allen composed the following article, "A Pilgrimage to Vallauris" for the Cornhill Magazine (London, May 1880). The New York Times reprinted it on June 6,1880, and we're pleased to make the content available to you.

New York Times Review of the Martin Kline Exhibit

ART NOUVEAU AND MORE

Jason Jacques, at 29 East 73rd Street, after focusing on Art Nouveau ceramics for two decades, has filled half of his gallery with his own collection of contemporary abstract paintings and bronze sculptures and vessels by Martin Kline, an artist in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Mostly priced between $15,000 and $55,000, the Kline pieces (on view through early January) have paint drips and mossy textures that echo the glaze streaks and knobby forms on Mr. Jacques's century-old vases and hammered copper boxes (priced between a few thousand dollars and $90,000). Mr. Jacques said he set up the Kline show because so many Art Nouveau masterworks are now lodged in collections and not budging.

As the Gallery Turns

We played tricks, we ate treats, we roasted turkeys, and slept through football games, and now the end-of-year holidays are upon us! Happy politically correct celebrations of a religious or secular nature to all of you from your friends at the Jason Jacques Gallery.

Dazzling TEFAF

A few months ago we were thrilled to tell you that the Jason Jacques Gallery was selected to participate in TEFAF Maastricht as part of the TEFAF Showcase, an initiative to acquaint visitors with seven outstanding young dealers. The fair, held from Friday 13 March to Sunday 22 March, 2009, was successful despite the faltering international economy and, for the Jason Jacques Gallery, it proved to be an unprecedented validation of Jason's vision. Click on ART FAIRS for images.

Good Reading

Although the term 'Art Nouveau' is popularly used to designate the curvy, whiplash style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, historians are less than certain of its meaning. Even at the time that 'L'Art Nouveau' was first introduced into common usage by Parisian tastemaker Siegfried Bing, its meaning was controversial. Was Art Nouveau a style or a movement? If it was a style, how could it possibly include works as diverse as geometric planters, biomorphic architecture, and pottery ornamented with despondent female nudes? If it was a movement, what was its ideology? Although some early critics found that Art Nouveau's lack of stylistic unity was evidence of hopeless confusion, one significant apologist found that stylistic and thematic variety was very much the point. It was Siegfried Bing himself who made this important argument in favor of Art Nouveau as neither a style nor a movement but as an opportunity for self expression.

Good Reading

Historians believe that the earliest pottery wares were hand-built and fired in bonfires. Firing times were short but the peak-temperatures achieved could be high. Clays tempered with sand, grit, crushed shell or crushed pottery were often used to make bonfire-fired ceramics because these additives provided an open body texture that allowed water and other volatile components of the clay to escape freely. The coarser particles in the clay also restrained shrinkage during the slow cooling process. The earliest intentionally constructed kilns were pit-kilns or trench-kilns; holes dug in the ground and covered with fuel. Holes in the ground provided insulation and resulted in better control over firing.

Museum Activities

In December, 2007, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened new galleries for 19th- and early 20th-century European paintings and sculpture. The renovated spaces feature the Museum's most beloved 19th-century paintings, which have been on permanent display in the past, as well as works by Bonnard, Vuillard, Soutine, Matisse, Picasso, and other early modern artists. Among the many additions is a full-room assembly of "The Wisteria Dining Room" a French art nouveau interior designed by Lucien Levy Dhurmer shortly before World War I. It is the only complete example of its kind in the United States. The dining room is furnished with appropriately styled decorative arts including a vase purchased from the Jason Jacques Gallery.