Silver
Modernism – Innovating Design Styles in the 20th Century
Modernism is a term the art and design community of our contemporary western world has adopted to describe a diverse range of architectural and interior decorative styles, as well as applied and graphic arts created between approximately 1880 and 1940 on an international scale.
Mossgreen Auctions – Collection Thomas Hamel and Martyn Cook
On May 20 at Sydney Mossgreen Auctions will offer for sale a collection from Thomas Hamel Interiors and Martyn Cook Antiques of art antiques and decorative arts
What is an Antique?
What is an Antique? An antique is something made in a previous era. However, according to antique dealers, their associations and the tax man, it is not really that simple at all.
Shakespeare: Staging the World – Shaping England’s Identity
From July to November 2012 the British Museum is presenting what will most likely be one of the key exhibitions of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. Shakespeare – Staging the World will be produced in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company. It aims to provide an innovative perspective on the bard and his plays.
Napoleon: Revolution to Empire @ NGV – A Winter Masterpiece
Napoleon – destiny power and passion – the legend comes alive in the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces Exhibition 2012 at the NGV (National Gallery Victoria). The show Napoleon: Revolution to Empire is sure to engage all observers, who will more than likely be completely overwhelmed at the magnificence and quality of the over 500 art works and objet d’art featured.
Art Nouveau – Was this Style More than a Tendril in Time?
At the turn of the 20th century Europe was inspired by the style Art Nouveau as artists and architects produced sensuous, sinuous lines far more eloquent than words
Archibald Knox, Liberty of London and Modernism
Archibald Knox and Liberty of London are names inextricably linked, especially when we consider the up swell of indigenous British design at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Art of Living Well – Antiquity to a Residence Australia
Today our art of living well has evolved since antiquity in Europe to a residence in Australia through a diverse and special mix of peoples and their cultures.
Chinoiserie – Pavilions, Porcelains and Passionate Pursuits
By the eighteenth century in Europe and England all things Chinese had assumed incredible proportions as fashionable society sought to transmit their ideas about the magical land of Cathay through a multiplicity of imagery.
Peabody Essex Museum at Salem – Opening Windows on the World
A connoisseur, scholar and devout Buddhist, within the forbidden city Chinese Emperor Qianlong created a luxurious garden compound to serve throughout his retirement as a secluded place of contemplation, repose and entertainment. When the city was shut down following the Chinese revolution of 1911 – 1912 many of its treasures gathered dust for a century. Now, through a great deal of international cooperation and negotiation they have been conserved and sent on tour.
The Rococo Style – Sophisticated and Yet Enchantingly Pretty
The Rococo style was delicately elegant with a distinct preference for asymmetry. It was presided over by France’s King Louis XV’s mistress, Madame du Pompadour, a sophisticated lady of impeccable style.
Arts & Crafts Movement – William Morris the Art that is Life
In England, during the second half of the nineteenth century, painter, writer, textile designer and social activist William Morris (1834-1896) became the spiritual leader of a revival in arts and crafts that encompassed all the visual arts, including architecture and interiors.
Crystal Clear – New age Chandeliers both Colourful and Green
For seventeen centuries in Europe lighting was extremely difficult. It is hard for us to imagine how dark it was indoors in most houses, which were in the main only well lit on special occasions. Under normal light a room was seen in shadows, good wax candles were expensive, with tallow candles and rush lights smelly, quickly consumed or both. Until the invention of the ‘argand oil lamp’, and later ‘electric’ light, all classes and members of society were placed at a distinct disadvantage in ordering their daily lives.
Taking Tea with Jane Austen a blend we would surely enjoy
Taking tea with Jane Austen is all about stylish good behaviour, propriety and pleasure all coming together in an ultimate blend we would surely all enjoy.
What is a Mirror, more than just Glass?
The mirror, more than just glass, has occupied a unique place in his imagination as a site of the divine or demonic, of lucidity or madness. It is the ‘matrix of the symbolic’ and accompanies the human quest to know and understand our identity.
Collecting Chinese Snuff Containers
Until the early 1900s the volume of snuff produced in China far exceeded that of tobacco for smoking or chewing. Everyone took it – from the poet Alexander Pope to naturalist Charles Darwin, actress Sarah Siddons and the Duke of Wellington. Lord Nelson took large quantities to sea with him, while Napoleon sniffed over seven pounds a month. Physicians made great claims for it, prescribing snuff for headaches, insomnia, toothache, coughs and colds and recommending it as a measure against contagion. Today snuff bottles remain eminently collectible. The enormous variety in materials, subject matter, colour and shape provides a fascinating trail for the dedicated collector.
Asides
Watch our free video
Shanghai Scenes
Explore the delights of the burgeoning Shanghai arts scene, including the visual arts music, dance and literature.
