Date: Fri 01-Oct-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: MARION

Quick Words:

Brandt-Moderne-ironwork

Full Text:

Edgar Brandt: Master Of Art Deco Ironwork

(with 5 cuts)

PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- "Edgar Brandt: Art Deco Ironwork and Photographs From The

Atelier," the first of its kind exhibition and sale, will be presented at

Moderne Gallery, 111 N Third Street, October 8 to December 24.

Edgar Brandt (1880-1960), a consummate artist-blacksmith, combined traditional

forging methods with emerging technologies of the machine age such as torch

welding and power hammers. While aligning art with industrial methods, Brandt

produced objet d'art and embellished buildings and monuments in the style that

today is labeled Art Deco.

Building on the pioneering work of the artist-blacksmith Emile Robert, Brandt

became a leading force during a period of great achievement in French

decorative arts. He created an entirely new aesthetic for wrought smithing and

left behind an impressive number of art historical works.

The Moderne Gallery exhibit has been made possible through a collaboration

with the decorative arts/metalwork historian Joan Kahr. Her recently published

book, Edgar Brandt: Master of Art Deco Ironwork (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999),

is the first to document the life and work of Brandt and serves as the basis

for the project. Robert Aibel, the owner and director of Moderne Gallery, was

a friend and colleague to Kahr during the years she worked on her book.

Approximately 35 pieces of Brandt's wrought iron work and nearly 200 vintage

photographs from the mastercraftsman's atelier will be on display, showing the

wide range of artistry and the tremendous technological achievements of the

premier metalsmith of the Twentieth Century.

Objects include jewelry, vases, paperweights, mirrors, sculpture, bookends,

compotes, firescreens and a console. Some objects are on loan from private

collections and are not for sale; approximately 15 are available for purchase.

The photographs on display, available for purchase, are from the collection of

Kahr and were gathered by the author as a part of her research. Many of them

are included in the her book.

The exhibition provides an usual opportunity to present the range of the

mastercraftsman's work and to show his development over time from a jewelry

designer to one of the most important designers of decorative and

architectural ironwork of his time. The photographs are vintage sepia-tone

prints that show individual objects and also hotels, department stores, room

settings, doors, gates and monuments.

In addition to private commissions and luxury items for homes, the Brandt

atelier created the ironwork for many important large-scale projects,

including the famous screen L'Oasis , at the seminal 1925 Exposition des Arts

Decoratifs et Industrials Modernes in Paris; the Grand Theatre Municipal in

Nancy; the ocean liner Paris ; the Au Bon Marche department stores; the

Mollien staircase at The Louvre; several French was memorials (including the

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe); and the headquarters

of the Cheney Brothers textile company at the Madison-Belmont Building in New

York.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm. For more

information, 215/923-8536.