Articles by Tobias Locker
e-Spania, 2022
Cet article examine la création de trois cabinets particuliers en porcelaine, aujourd’hui conserv... more Cet article examine la création de trois cabinets particuliers en porcelaine, aujourd’hui conservés à Naples, Aranjuez et Madrid. Ces intérieurs, créés dans la deuxième moitié du XVIIIe siècle pour Charles Sébastien de Bourbon et Farnèse (1716-1788), respectivement son épouse Marie-Amélie de Saxe (1724-1760), sont les seuls au monde à avoir été entièrement fabriquées avec ce matériau précieux. En soulignant la spécificité du contexte méditerranéen dans lequel ils ont vu le jour, une facette importante sera ajoutée à leur histoire, permettant non seulement de mieux comprendre leurs créations successives, mais aussi celle de l’influence multiforme qu’elles ont exercé sur la production artistique contemporaine en Espagne.
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Boletín e arte (Nº.19), e008, septiembre 2019. ISSN 2314-2502. , 2019
El Rococó vio un renacimiento en el siglo XIX y se convirtió, junto con otros estilos del Antiguo... more El Rococó vio un renacimiento en el siglo XIX y se convirtió, junto con otros estilos del Antiguo Régimen, en una referencia para las élites (antiguas y emergentes) en ambos lados del Atlántico. Este artículo pretende mostrar cómo interiores y muebles, a primera vista objetos sobre todo decorativos, adquirieron en el pasaje del siglo XIX al XX distintos sentidos semánticos en el marco del ser nacional, a la par de la formación de las narrativas históricas de los estados-nación. Partiendo de un conjunto de muebles realizados en Prusia se explica cómo estos artefactos se convirtieron en armas ideológicas en la batalla por la hegemonía de la cultura entre Francia y el Imperio alemán durante la Exposición Universal de París de 1900.
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in: López del Rincon, Daniel (ed.), Naturalezas Mutantes. Del Bosco al Bioarte, Vitoria-Gasteiz/B... more in: López del Rincon, Daniel (ed.), Naturalezas Mutantes. Del Bosco al Bioarte, Vitoria-Gasteiz/Buenos Aires: Sans Soleil Ediciones, 2017, pp. 153-176.
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Acta/Artis. Estudis d'Art Modern
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Exhibition Review: ‘Vigée Le Brun. Woman Artist in Revolutionary France (The Metropolitan Museum ... more Exhibition Review: ‘Vigée Le Brun. Woman Artist in Revolutionary France (The Metropolitan Museum of Art / New York: 15 February – 15 May 2016)’, in Acta/Artis. Estudis d’Art Modern, nº 4-5, 2016-2017, pp. 118-123.
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Acta/Artis. Estudis d'Art Modern
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‘Frederician Rococo at the Service of the German Empire:
The 1900 Paris World’s Fair
and the Deco... more ‘Frederician Rococo at the Service of the German Empire:
The 1900 Paris World’s Fair
and the Decorative Arts’, in Acta/Artis. Estudis d’Art Modern, nº 4-5, 2016-2017, pp. 89-97.
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The Baroque in the Construction of a National Culture in Francoist Spain, Special Issue of the Bulletin of Spanish Studies (edited by Paula Barreiro López, Carey Kasten & Tobias Locker), 91.5, 2014
""After the Spanish Civil War, the Baroque served an ideological purpose as a legitimizing constr... more ""After the Spanish Civil War, the Baroque served an ideological purpose as a legitimizing construct for the reshaping of Spain's national culture. An emphasis was placed within the Baroque on the cultural production of the Spanish Golden Age, the Habsburg Empire and its particular Christian character. It was further enriched by the notion of hispanidad expressing the global character of the former Spanish empire and the imperial ambitions of Franco. Both the regime and oppositional forces regarded the Baroque as an intellectually convincing concept, and the re-interpretation of Spain's past was continuous throughout the dictatorship. Consequently, Baroque imagery touched the whole of society and would help to shape cultural, intellectual, political and social life during Francoism. This article will study some of the major components of Francoist Baroque culture, exemplifying them through the most publicly visible adoption of the Baroque aesthetic: architecture. In addition, it will contextualize the different articles of the present Special Issue."
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/jvFb4eyaUNAewcIzBVcs/full
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David Bourgarit, Jane Bassed, Francesca Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, Guilhem Scherf (eds.): French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th - 18th Century (London: Archetype Publications, 2014).
The decorative sculptor Johann Melchior Kambly (1718–1784) produced, by the middle of the 18th ce... more The decorative sculptor Johann Melchior Kambly (1718–1784) produced, by the middle of the 18th century in his factory at Potsdam, “Bronze doré:works” for Frederick II, the Prussian king (1740–1786). Whereas their exceptional quality led Pierre Verlet to refer to them as “the most successful imitation of the Parisian bronzes dorés”,1 stylistically they are exponents of the Frederician Rococo, a particular style of interior decoration that was developed during Frederick’s regency. This being said, one wonders to what extent these bronzes can be called imitations.
Le sculpteur-décorateur Johann Melchior Kambly (1718–1784) produisit au milieu du 18e siècle dans sa manufacture à Postdam des ouvrages en bronze doré pour le roi prussien Frédéric II (1740–1786). Alors que leur exceptionnelle qualité conduit Pierre Verlet à les invoquer comme « la meilleure réussite de l’imitation du bronze parisien », stylistiquement ils sont emblématiques du rococo frédéricien, un style particulier de décoration intérieure qui s’est développé pendant le règne de Frédéric le Grand. On peut donc se demander jusqu’à quel point ces bronzes peuvent être qualifiés d’imitations.
Cet article porte sur le transfert de savoir que le confident royal Michael Gabriel Fredersdorff (1708–1758) a initié quand il a recruté à Paris en 1751 des artisans qualifiés. Le savoir-faire français a été intégré aux méthodes de travail de l’atelier de Kambly, contribuant à développer la carrière de Johann Melchior qui, en 1754, créa la décoration de toute une salle à manger avec des « bronzes dorés » et participa entre autres à la création des fameux meubles en écaille de tortue signés Kambly. Enfin, Johann Melchior Kambly devint un entrepreneur prospère fournissant la cour de Frédéric II en bronzes prussiens, bronzes que l’on peut percevoir comme étant dans la lignée des bronzes français du 18e siècle.
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Bénédicte Savoy (Ed.): Tempel der Kunst. Die Entstehung des öffentlichen Museums in Deutschland 1701-1815, Mainz (Philipp von Zabern) 2006.
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Special Issue by Tobias Locker
Bulletin of Spanish Studies, n 5, 2014 http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cbhs20/current#.U2_TZcYTHII
"The baroque was both praised and attacked by critics for overwhelming the viewer through art. Ye... more "The baroque was both praised and attacked by critics for overwhelming the viewer through art. Yet its indisputable importance in Hispanic tradition and its characteristic intensity made the baroque an important element of culture during the regime of Francisco Franco (1939-1975). Not only did the baroque anchor official Francoist culture, its influence was also apparent in the regime’s politics, which used the baroque as an ideological legitimising tool in intellectual discourses.
This interdisciplinary special issue is the first single volume to examine the influence of baroque tradition on Francoist Spain, analyzing cultural and political examples of twentieth-century reinterpretations of the baroque. For example, the concept of Hispanidad, which underpinned Spain’s foreign policy and influenced international perceptions of the country, contained many baroque elements. By analysing its imprint on Spain’s culture industry both at home and abroad this special issue demonstrates the essential role the baroque played in the creation of a national and cultural identity during the dictatorship in Spain.
Articles by: Tobias Locker, Till Kössler, Carey Kasten, Paula Barreiro López, Noemí de Haro, Julián Díaz, Johannes Grössmann, Julio Montero and María Antonia Paz
"
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Book Reviews by Tobias Locker
Conference report: 'Cold Atlantic. Cultural War, Dissident Artistic Practices, Networks and Conta... more Conference report: 'Cold Atlantic. Cultural War, Dissident Artistic Practices, Networks and Contact Zones at the Time of the Iron Curtain' (conference organized by Museo Reina Sofía; Saint Louis University; Universitat de Barcelona; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) 05.09.2016 - 07.09.2016, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid
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Talks by Tobias Locker
Las Exposiciones Universales proporcionaron no sólo una plataforma de auto-representación excepci... more Las Exposiciones Universales proporcionaron no sólo una plataforma de auto-representación excepcional para los estados nación, sino que también fueron foros claves en las estrategias de internacionalización dedicadas a dar forma a narrativas nacionales en pugna que enfatizaban el legado de un pasado (histórico, político, colonial...) "glorioso". Mostrando innovaciones técnicas, producciones industriales y logros en el campo de las artes, los diferentes países reunidos se presentaban y representaban en estos foros con pabellones espectaculares.
A menudo utilizarían arquitecturas e interiores decorativos que recuperaban formas y ornamentos de un periodo histórico ya pasado. En ese contexto, el imperio alemán desarrolló una sofisticada estrategia de propaganda que se hizo plenamente visible en las Exposiciones Universales de París (1900) y Saint Louis, EE. UU. (1904). Buscando tender un puente entre pasado y presente, intentó mostrar su superioridad en el campo de los objetos del arte decorativo. Impulsando un rococó alemán autóctono, el imperio alemán encontró encontrado en las Artes Decorativas de Federico II (reg. 1740-1786) el vehículo perfecto para enfrentarse a los franceses en pie de igualdad en un campo que, tradicionalmente, había sido dominado por estos últimos.
Esta conferencia explicará la doble estrategia propagandística de los alemanes que, oscilando entre historia y historización, reconocieron cómo los objetos podían convertirse en armas (ideológicamente cargadas) y servir para crear imágenes que apelaban a las percepciones extranjeras y autóctonas de la nación. Partiendo de un marco cronológico amplio (tendiendo un puente entre los siglos XVIII, XIX y principios del XX) abordará la producción de muebles en Prusia y Francia, tratando la producción de Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-1784), Joseph-Émmanuel Zwiener (c. 1848-1910) y de François Linke (1855-1946). Además, analizará como el Neo-Rococo (retomado por el diseño de muebles de lujo) de finales del siglo XIX, se dirigió a las élites internacionales a gran escala, determinando las exportaciones y circulación de estos objetos por geografías transatlánticas, incluso Argentina.
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‘Mattia Gasparini and Il Salottino di porcellana in the European context’ (given 14 October at: N... more ‘Mattia Gasparini and Il Salottino di porcellana in the European context’ (given 14 October at: Napoli, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimone in un contesto mondiale, 12 – 14 October 2017, Mueso di Capodimonte/Naples)
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The 19th century was the age of modern nation building. At that time contemporary industry and cu... more The 19th century was the age of modern nation building. At that time contemporary industry and culture as well as the past were used to create the different national identities, which were put forward and competed against each other at numerous international exhibitions. Under certain circumstances these ‘proxy battles’ could evolve into something bigger, where the industrial and cultural field merged with historic arguments.
An interesting case is the growing importance of Neo-Rococo that merged in a cabinet on stands by Joseph- Emmanuel Zwiener (ca. 1848-active until 1895), shown at the International Exhibition of 1889 in Paris, a historic style with the sinuous lines of the up-coming Art Nouveau style. With this award-winning object a story of competition starts between France and the German Empire that would become clearly visible at the 1900 World Fair in Paris. There, the French celebrated the award-winning ‘Grand Régulateur’ of the Frenchman François Linke (1855-1946) whereas the German Empire propagandistically praised a bedroom suite that had been built by the Berlin-based workshop of Zwiener’s younger brother Julius (1867-1922) for Emperor Willhelm II. The prestigious style developed during this fierce competition was so influential that it would find its way beyond the borders of France and Germany. Its dissemination can, among others, be traced to Catalonia where it is still visible at the famous hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona. Hence, a mosaic decorating this creation of the Modernista architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) shows “the Barcelonese Don Pau Gil y Serra, resident at Paris,” at an elaborate Neo-Rococo writing desk bequeathing in a testament the largest part of his fortune to the city of Barcelona for the construction of that very same hospital.1
This paper will explain how a specific artistic language within interior decoration formed out at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Highlighting the synchronic and diachronic transfer processes as well as the different vectors of translation between various national contexts, it will become clear how this style was instrumentalised in different national discourses, imbuing it with diverse historicising arguments that should respectively prove the own cultural supremacy. Focussing on the above-mentioned examples it will become clear why certain national contexts were more favourable for the adoption of this style than others, and it will be shown how this decisive interior style would influence the taste of royal as well as bourgeois clients all over the world.
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In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Italian painter and decorator Matteo (or Mattia... more In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Italian painter and decorator Matteo (or Mattia) Gasparini directed the creation of some exceptional Rococo interiors in the new Palacio Real constructed in Madrid for Charles III of Spain. These still relatively unknown ensembles comprise highly decorative marble floors, stucco ceilings, silk wall hangings, upholstery, small cabinets with wall-paneling in exotic woods, and veneered furniture with gilt bronze mounts. Taking the example of furniture and using archival sources this talk will reconstruct the manufacturing process, identifying various participating foreign players and highlighting connections that link the campaign in Madrid with Italy, the German-speaking territories, and above all with France. It will also analyze Gasparini’s creations in the contemporary European context to show the importance of skilled foreign artists and artisans in expanding the production of luxury objects in Madrid. The paper will argue that Gasparini’s interiors attest to the persistence of the Rococo in Spain, in particular at royal courts, at a time when taste in other parts of Europe had already changed decisively towards Neoclassicism.
A recording of the conference (on the Bard Graduate Center's website) can be consulted when clicking on the youtube link above (URL).
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During the reign of Frederick II of (1740 – 1786) a genuine style in interior decoration develope... more During the reign of Frederick II of (1740 – 1786) a genuine style in interior decoration developed in Prussia manifesting above all in his royal residences. Even though referring at the beginning closely to French models, it developed subsequently its distinct quality that stands out in comparison with other contemporary interiors, including for example in its late phases classicist influences without losing its overall Rococo appearance. This artistic autonomy of Prussian interiors was already noted by travelling contemporaries as the accounts of Dr. Moores prove who visited Potsdam in 1777/78 and remarked the distinctiveness of ‘his [the King’s] style’. It was first identified by art historians in the second half of the 19th century and due to its genesis’ close links to Frederick II and his artistic preferences baptized Frederician Rococo.
Within the nationalistic coloured discourse in the age of Nation-building Frederick II became the historic personality who led Prussia, the heartland of the Hohenzollern-ruled German Empire, to historic greatness. Therefore the decision was taken to present at the 1900 World Fair in Paris the exhibition of ‘The Collections of Frederick the Great’. Frederician interiors provided the stage for this show, that presented Frederick II, the most important predecessor of the ruling Emperor William II, as a connoisseur who even created an artistic style on the same qualitative level as the historic artistic production of the French. This show was a huge success for the German Empire showing amongst others the stately furniture of the Swiss-born decorative sculptor Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-84). This artisan and artist had just been identified five years prior the World Fair the most important manufacturer of bronze doré-works who signed besides his celebrated furniture responsible for the famous salle de bronze – a dining room at the Town Palace of Potsdam decorated in 1754 entirely with gilt bronze mounts.
This paper will show how the re-discovery of Kamlby as Frederician artist was instrumentalized with nationalistic aims at the 1900 World Fair. At that time the Parisian production of luxury furniture was widely acknowledged as the best. Kambly’s stately furniture and their bronces, until his re-discovery believed to be French due to their high quality, were interpreted as the antecedents of the contemporary Prussian bronze fabrication and that lineage provided historical roots for a prestigious branch of the German Empire’s artistic industry that wanted to catch up with the concurrence. The use of the arts within a nationalist cultural discourse that reflected the competition between Prussia and France at the beginning of the 20th century becomes even more evident when we consider that at the same World Fair the two cabinetmakers Julius Zwiener and François Linke were competing with their luxury furniture, the first working in Berlin and the second in Paris. Zwiener’s bedroom-suite, executed for the German Emperor, was actually the climax of the artistic-nationalistic argument that used Kambly’s work as historically supporting evidence.
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The early World Fairs were showcases for technical innovations and for achievements in the field ... more The early World Fairs were showcases for technical innovations and for achievements in the field of the arts. Nations presented themselves with spectacular pavilions that would often quote with their distinct architectonical forms or interiors a period of the past. This way they were referring to a glorious time and providing the chauvinist narrative of their self-representation and economic ambitions with historical weight.
The German Empire pursued at the World Fair in 1904 an already tested concept that had been very successful at the World Exhibition four years prior in Paris and developed it further. In St. Louis the artistic language of the Imperial pavilion focused on a celebration of the dynastic past. The building itself resembled the central building of Charlottenburg Palace and its interiors emphasized the Frederician Rococo, a unique style in interior decoration that owed its existence as well as its name to the reign of King Frederic II (reg. 1740-1786). It was therefore embellished with a mix of original and recreated Rococo interiors that should recall the time when Prussia, the heartland of the Empire, became a major player in Europe.
This paper presents the spectacular showcasing of the German Empire at the World Fair in 1904 explaining its political message. Furthermore we will have a closer look at the important work of the contemporary producer of luxury furniture Joseph-Émmanuel Zwiener (c. 1848-after 1910) shown in that context. On the basis of new archival findings and spanning a bridge to the 18th century various examples will illustrate how this Berlin-based cabinetmaker, who had become ‘purveyor to the court of his majesty the German King and Emperor William II’, adopted historic French and Prussian models. The paper will show the links of his production to the important royal furniture the Swiss-born Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-1784) had created for Frederick of Prussia and it will explain how the objects of these two artisans were already at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris used to support a nationalistic narrative. Considering that Zwiener’s outstanding Neo-Rococo furniture was seen by contemporaries as equal to the works of the famous Parisian entrepreneur François Linke the political dimension in exhibiting his luxury objects as ‘German’ creations is explained. Thus, it will become clear how historic and historicizing furniture were instrumentalized within a nationalist cultural discourse that reflects the competition between Prussia and France at the beginning of the 20th century.
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Höfische Möbel des 18. Jahrhunderts hatten im Rahmen barocker Repräsentation eine propagandistisc... more Höfische Möbel des 18. Jahrhunderts hatten im Rahmen barocker Repräsentation eine propagandistische Funktion, die sich an ein internationales Publikum richtete. Um möglichst beeindruckende Prunkmöbel entwerfen zu lassen, die im repräsentativen Kräftespiel der Europäischen Eliten konkurrieren konnten, ließen sich Herrscher von ihren Gesandten oder Agenten über die neuesten Moden an fremden Höfen unterrichten. Wenn Know-how fehlte und es ambitionierte Projekte erforderten, wurden Hofkünstlern auch ‚Bildungsreisen‘ finanziert, ‚Industriespionage‘ betrieben oder ausländische Fachkräfte angeworben.
Anhand zweier Beispiele wird aufgezeigt, dass ein solcher Wissenstransfer im 18. Jahrhundert an verschiedenen Europäischen Höfen gängige Praxis war und es wird erläutert wie er entscheidende Impulse gab, die zu außerordentlichen Ergebnissen führte. So konnte der Dekorationsbildhauer Johann Melchior Kambly, dessen Werkstatt für den Preußischen König Friedrich II in Potsdam Prunkmöbeln fertigte, nicht nur auf während seiner Jugend in der Schweiz erworbenes Wissen zurückgreifen, sondern auch auf die Kenntnisse verschiedener ausländischer Mitarbeiter. Zur ungefähr selben Zeit wurden in Madrid unter der Leitung des Italieners Matías Gasparini verschiedene Prunkmöbel für den Palacio Real Karls III gefertigt. Dabei profitierte die Hofwerkstatt nicht nur vom umfangreichen Wissen ihres aus Flandern stammenden Leiters José Canops, sondern auch von den Kenntnissen verschiedener anderer ausländischer Kunsthandwerker.
Die beiden gewählten Beispiele zeigen die Möbel nicht nur als Gemeinschaftsproduktionen verschiedener Personen unter der Ägide eines leitenden Künstlers oder Kunsthandwerkers, sondern veranschaulichen auch, dass Erwerb und Einbindung innovativen Wissens im gesamten Entstehungsprozess eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. Sie waren die besten Garanten dafür, die Erwartungen, welche die Auftraggeber an diese Prestigeobjekte stellten, zu erfüllen.
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Articles by Tobias Locker
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/jvFb4eyaUNAewcIzBVcs/full
Le sculpteur-décorateur Johann Melchior Kambly (1718–1784) produisit au milieu du 18e siècle dans sa manufacture à Postdam des ouvrages en bronze doré pour le roi prussien Frédéric II (1740–1786). Alors que leur exceptionnelle qualité conduit Pierre Verlet à les invoquer comme « la meilleure réussite de l’imitation du bronze parisien », stylistiquement ils sont emblématiques du rococo frédéricien, un style particulier de décoration intérieure qui s’est développé pendant le règne de Frédéric le Grand. On peut donc se demander jusqu’à quel point ces bronzes peuvent être qualifiés d’imitations.
Cet article porte sur le transfert de savoir que le confident royal Michael Gabriel Fredersdorff (1708–1758) a initié quand il a recruté à Paris en 1751 des artisans qualifiés. Le savoir-faire français a été intégré aux méthodes de travail de l’atelier de Kambly, contribuant à développer la carrière de Johann Melchior qui, en 1754, créa la décoration de toute une salle à manger avec des « bronzes dorés » et participa entre autres à la création des fameux meubles en écaille de tortue signés Kambly. Enfin, Johann Melchior Kambly devint un entrepreneur prospère fournissant la cour de Frédéric II en bronzes prussiens, bronzes que l’on peut percevoir comme étant dans la lignée des bronzes français du 18e siècle.
Special Issue by Tobias Locker
This interdisciplinary special issue is the first single volume to examine the influence of baroque tradition on Francoist Spain, analyzing cultural and political examples of twentieth-century reinterpretations of the baroque. For example, the concept of Hispanidad, which underpinned Spain’s foreign policy and influenced international perceptions of the country, contained many baroque elements. By analysing its imprint on Spain’s culture industry both at home and abroad this special issue demonstrates the essential role the baroque played in the creation of a national and cultural identity during the dictatorship in Spain.
Articles by: Tobias Locker, Till Kössler, Carey Kasten, Paula Barreiro López, Noemí de Haro, Julián Díaz, Johannes Grössmann, Julio Montero and María Antonia Paz
"
Book Reviews by Tobias Locker
Talks by Tobias Locker
A menudo utilizarían arquitecturas e interiores decorativos que recuperaban formas y ornamentos de un periodo histórico ya pasado. En ese contexto, el imperio alemán desarrolló una sofisticada estrategia de propaganda que se hizo plenamente visible en las Exposiciones Universales de París (1900) y Saint Louis, EE. UU. (1904). Buscando tender un puente entre pasado y presente, intentó mostrar su superioridad en el campo de los objetos del arte decorativo. Impulsando un rococó alemán autóctono, el imperio alemán encontró encontrado en las Artes Decorativas de Federico II (reg. 1740-1786) el vehículo perfecto para enfrentarse a los franceses en pie de igualdad en un campo que, tradicionalmente, había sido dominado por estos últimos.
Esta conferencia explicará la doble estrategia propagandística de los alemanes que, oscilando entre historia y historización, reconocieron cómo los objetos podían convertirse en armas (ideológicamente cargadas) y servir para crear imágenes que apelaban a las percepciones extranjeras y autóctonas de la nación. Partiendo de un marco cronológico amplio (tendiendo un puente entre los siglos XVIII, XIX y principios del XX) abordará la producción de muebles en Prusia y Francia, tratando la producción de Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-1784), Joseph-Émmanuel Zwiener (c. 1848-1910) y de François Linke (1855-1946). Además, analizará como el Neo-Rococo (retomado por el diseño de muebles de lujo) de finales del siglo XIX, se dirigió a las élites internacionales a gran escala, determinando las exportaciones y circulación de estos objetos por geografías transatlánticas, incluso Argentina.
An interesting case is the growing importance of Neo-Rococo that merged in a cabinet on stands by Joseph- Emmanuel Zwiener (ca. 1848-active until 1895), shown at the International Exhibition of 1889 in Paris, a historic style with the sinuous lines of the up-coming Art Nouveau style. With this award-winning object a story of competition starts between France and the German Empire that would become clearly visible at the 1900 World Fair in Paris. There, the French celebrated the award-winning ‘Grand Régulateur’ of the Frenchman François Linke (1855-1946) whereas the German Empire propagandistically praised a bedroom suite that had been built by the Berlin-based workshop of Zwiener’s younger brother Julius (1867-1922) for Emperor Willhelm II. The prestigious style developed during this fierce competition was so influential that it would find its way beyond the borders of France and Germany. Its dissemination can, among others, be traced to Catalonia where it is still visible at the famous hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona. Hence, a mosaic decorating this creation of the Modernista architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) shows “the Barcelonese Don Pau Gil y Serra, resident at Paris,” at an elaborate Neo-Rococo writing desk bequeathing in a testament the largest part of his fortune to the city of Barcelona for the construction of that very same hospital.1
This paper will explain how a specific artistic language within interior decoration formed out at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Highlighting the synchronic and diachronic transfer processes as well as the different vectors of translation between various national contexts, it will become clear how this style was instrumentalised in different national discourses, imbuing it with diverse historicising arguments that should respectively prove the own cultural supremacy. Focussing on the above-mentioned examples it will become clear why certain national contexts were more favourable for the adoption of this style than others, and it will be shown how this decisive interior style would influence the taste of royal as well as bourgeois clients all over the world.
A recording of the conference (on the Bard Graduate Center's website) can be consulted when clicking on the youtube link above (URL).
Within the nationalistic coloured discourse in the age of Nation-building Frederick II became the historic personality who led Prussia, the heartland of the Hohenzollern-ruled German Empire, to historic greatness. Therefore the decision was taken to present at the 1900 World Fair in Paris the exhibition of ‘The Collections of Frederick the Great’. Frederician interiors provided the stage for this show, that presented Frederick II, the most important predecessor of the ruling Emperor William II, as a connoisseur who even created an artistic style on the same qualitative level as the historic artistic production of the French. This show was a huge success for the German Empire showing amongst others the stately furniture of the Swiss-born decorative sculptor Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-84). This artisan and artist had just been identified five years prior the World Fair the most important manufacturer of bronze doré-works who signed besides his celebrated furniture responsible for the famous salle de bronze – a dining room at the Town Palace of Potsdam decorated in 1754 entirely with gilt bronze mounts.
This paper will show how the re-discovery of Kamlby as Frederician artist was instrumentalized with nationalistic aims at the 1900 World Fair. At that time the Parisian production of luxury furniture was widely acknowledged as the best. Kambly’s stately furniture and their bronces, until his re-discovery believed to be French due to their high quality, were interpreted as the antecedents of the contemporary Prussian bronze fabrication and that lineage provided historical roots for a prestigious branch of the German Empire’s artistic industry that wanted to catch up with the concurrence. The use of the arts within a nationalist cultural discourse that reflected the competition between Prussia and France at the beginning of the 20th century becomes even more evident when we consider that at the same World Fair the two cabinetmakers Julius Zwiener and François Linke were competing with their luxury furniture, the first working in Berlin and the second in Paris. Zwiener’s bedroom-suite, executed for the German Emperor, was actually the climax of the artistic-nationalistic argument that used Kambly’s work as historically supporting evidence.
The German Empire pursued at the World Fair in 1904 an already tested concept that had been very successful at the World Exhibition four years prior in Paris and developed it further. In St. Louis the artistic language of the Imperial pavilion focused on a celebration of the dynastic past. The building itself resembled the central building of Charlottenburg Palace and its interiors emphasized the Frederician Rococo, a unique style in interior decoration that owed its existence as well as its name to the reign of King Frederic II (reg. 1740-1786). It was therefore embellished with a mix of original and recreated Rococo interiors that should recall the time when Prussia, the heartland of the Empire, became a major player in Europe.
This paper presents the spectacular showcasing of the German Empire at the World Fair in 1904 explaining its political message. Furthermore we will have a closer look at the important work of the contemporary producer of luxury furniture Joseph-Émmanuel Zwiener (c. 1848-after 1910) shown in that context. On the basis of new archival findings and spanning a bridge to the 18th century various examples will illustrate how this Berlin-based cabinetmaker, who had become ‘purveyor to the court of his majesty the German King and Emperor William II’, adopted historic French and Prussian models. The paper will show the links of his production to the important royal furniture the Swiss-born Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-1784) had created for Frederick of Prussia and it will explain how the objects of these two artisans were already at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris used to support a nationalistic narrative. Considering that Zwiener’s outstanding Neo-Rococo furniture was seen by contemporaries as equal to the works of the famous Parisian entrepreneur François Linke the political dimension in exhibiting his luxury objects as ‘German’ creations is explained. Thus, it will become clear how historic and historicizing furniture were instrumentalized within a nationalist cultural discourse that reflects the competition between Prussia and France at the beginning of the 20th century.
Anhand zweier Beispiele wird aufgezeigt, dass ein solcher Wissenstransfer im 18. Jahrhundert an verschiedenen Europäischen Höfen gängige Praxis war und es wird erläutert wie er entscheidende Impulse gab, die zu außerordentlichen Ergebnissen führte. So konnte der Dekorationsbildhauer Johann Melchior Kambly, dessen Werkstatt für den Preußischen König Friedrich II in Potsdam Prunkmöbeln fertigte, nicht nur auf während seiner Jugend in der Schweiz erworbenes Wissen zurückgreifen, sondern auch auf die Kenntnisse verschiedener ausländischer Mitarbeiter. Zur ungefähr selben Zeit wurden in Madrid unter der Leitung des Italieners Matías Gasparini verschiedene Prunkmöbel für den Palacio Real Karls III gefertigt. Dabei profitierte die Hofwerkstatt nicht nur vom umfangreichen Wissen ihres aus Flandern stammenden Leiters José Canops, sondern auch von den Kenntnissen verschiedener anderer ausländischer Kunsthandwerker.
Die beiden gewählten Beispiele zeigen die Möbel nicht nur als Gemeinschaftsproduktionen verschiedener Personen unter der Ägide eines leitenden Künstlers oder Kunsthandwerkers, sondern veranschaulichen auch, dass Erwerb und Einbindung innovativen Wissens im gesamten Entstehungsprozess eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. Sie waren die besten Garanten dafür, die Erwartungen, welche die Auftraggeber an diese Prestigeobjekte stellten, zu erfüllen.
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/jvFb4eyaUNAewcIzBVcs/full
Le sculpteur-décorateur Johann Melchior Kambly (1718–1784) produisit au milieu du 18e siècle dans sa manufacture à Postdam des ouvrages en bronze doré pour le roi prussien Frédéric II (1740–1786). Alors que leur exceptionnelle qualité conduit Pierre Verlet à les invoquer comme « la meilleure réussite de l’imitation du bronze parisien », stylistiquement ils sont emblématiques du rococo frédéricien, un style particulier de décoration intérieure qui s’est développé pendant le règne de Frédéric le Grand. On peut donc se demander jusqu’à quel point ces bronzes peuvent être qualifiés d’imitations.
Cet article porte sur le transfert de savoir que le confident royal Michael Gabriel Fredersdorff (1708–1758) a initié quand il a recruté à Paris en 1751 des artisans qualifiés. Le savoir-faire français a été intégré aux méthodes de travail de l’atelier de Kambly, contribuant à développer la carrière de Johann Melchior qui, en 1754, créa la décoration de toute une salle à manger avec des « bronzes dorés » et participa entre autres à la création des fameux meubles en écaille de tortue signés Kambly. Enfin, Johann Melchior Kambly devint un entrepreneur prospère fournissant la cour de Frédéric II en bronzes prussiens, bronzes que l’on peut percevoir comme étant dans la lignée des bronzes français du 18e siècle.
This interdisciplinary special issue is the first single volume to examine the influence of baroque tradition on Francoist Spain, analyzing cultural and political examples of twentieth-century reinterpretations of the baroque. For example, the concept of Hispanidad, which underpinned Spain’s foreign policy and influenced international perceptions of the country, contained many baroque elements. By analysing its imprint on Spain’s culture industry both at home and abroad this special issue demonstrates the essential role the baroque played in the creation of a national and cultural identity during the dictatorship in Spain.
Articles by: Tobias Locker, Till Kössler, Carey Kasten, Paula Barreiro López, Noemí de Haro, Julián Díaz, Johannes Grössmann, Julio Montero and María Antonia Paz
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A menudo utilizarían arquitecturas e interiores decorativos que recuperaban formas y ornamentos de un periodo histórico ya pasado. En ese contexto, el imperio alemán desarrolló una sofisticada estrategia de propaganda que se hizo plenamente visible en las Exposiciones Universales de París (1900) y Saint Louis, EE. UU. (1904). Buscando tender un puente entre pasado y presente, intentó mostrar su superioridad en el campo de los objetos del arte decorativo. Impulsando un rococó alemán autóctono, el imperio alemán encontró encontrado en las Artes Decorativas de Federico II (reg. 1740-1786) el vehículo perfecto para enfrentarse a los franceses en pie de igualdad en un campo que, tradicionalmente, había sido dominado por estos últimos.
Esta conferencia explicará la doble estrategia propagandística de los alemanes que, oscilando entre historia y historización, reconocieron cómo los objetos podían convertirse en armas (ideológicamente cargadas) y servir para crear imágenes que apelaban a las percepciones extranjeras y autóctonas de la nación. Partiendo de un marco cronológico amplio (tendiendo un puente entre los siglos XVIII, XIX y principios del XX) abordará la producción de muebles en Prusia y Francia, tratando la producción de Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-1784), Joseph-Émmanuel Zwiener (c. 1848-1910) y de François Linke (1855-1946). Además, analizará como el Neo-Rococo (retomado por el diseño de muebles de lujo) de finales del siglo XIX, se dirigió a las élites internacionales a gran escala, determinando las exportaciones y circulación de estos objetos por geografías transatlánticas, incluso Argentina.
An interesting case is the growing importance of Neo-Rococo that merged in a cabinet on stands by Joseph- Emmanuel Zwiener (ca. 1848-active until 1895), shown at the International Exhibition of 1889 in Paris, a historic style with the sinuous lines of the up-coming Art Nouveau style. With this award-winning object a story of competition starts between France and the German Empire that would become clearly visible at the 1900 World Fair in Paris. There, the French celebrated the award-winning ‘Grand Régulateur’ of the Frenchman François Linke (1855-1946) whereas the German Empire propagandistically praised a bedroom suite that had been built by the Berlin-based workshop of Zwiener’s younger brother Julius (1867-1922) for Emperor Willhelm II. The prestigious style developed during this fierce competition was so influential that it would find its way beyond the borders of France and Germany. Its dissemination can, among others, be traced to Catalonia where it is still visible at the famous hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona. Hence, a mosaic decorating this creation of the Modernista architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) shows “the Barcelonese Don Pau Gil y Serra, resident at Paris,” at an elaborate Neo-Rococo writing desk bequeathing in a testament the largest part of his fortune to the city of Barcelona for the construction of that very same hospital.1
This paper will explain how a specific artistic language within interior decoration formed out at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Highlighting the synchronic and diachronic transfer processes as well as the different vectors of translation between various national contexts, it will become clear how this style was instrumentalised in different national discourses, imbuing it with diverse historicising arguments that should respectively prove the own cultural supremacy. Focussing on the above-mentioned examples it will become clear why certain national contexts were more favourable for the adoption of this style than others, and it will be shown how this decisive interior style would influence the taste of royal as well as bourgeois clients all over the world.
A recording of the conference (on the Bard Graduate Center's website) can be consulted when clicking on the youtube link above (URL).
Within the nationalistic coloured discourse in the age of Nation-building Frederick II became the historic personality who led Prussia, the heartland of the Hohenzollern-ruled German Empire, to historic greatness. Therefore the decision was taken to present at the 1900 World Fair in Paris the exhibition of ‘The Collections of Frederick the Great’. Frederician interiors provided the stage for this show, that presented Frederick II, the most important predecessor of the ruling Emperor William II, as a connoisseur who even created an artistic style on the same qualitative level as the historic artistic production of the French. This show was a huge success for the German Empire showing amongst others the stately furniture of the Swiss-born decorative sculptor Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-84). This artisan and artist had just been identified five years prior the World Fair the most important manufacturer of bronze doré-works who signed besides his celebrated furniture responsible for the famous salle de bronze – a dining room at the Town Palace of Potsdam decorated in 1754 entirely with gilt bronze mounts.
This paper will show how the re-discovery of Kamlby as Frederician artist was instrumentalized with nationalistic aims at the 1900 World Fair. At that time the Parisian production of luxury furniture was widely acknowledged as the best. Kambly’s stately furniture and their bronces, until his re-discovery believed to be French due to their high quality, were interpreted as the antecedents of the contemporary Prussian bronze fabrication and that lineage provided historical roots for a prestigious branch of the German Empire’s artistic industry that wanted to catch up with the concurrence. The use of the arts within a nationalist cultural discourse that reflected the competition between Prussia and France at the beginning of the 20th century becomes even more evident when we consider that at the same World Fair the two cabinetmakers Julius Zwiener and François Linke were competing with their luxury furniture, the first working in Berlin and the second in Paris. Zwiener’s bedroom-suite, executed for the German Emperor, was actually the climax of the artistic-nationalistic argument that used Kambly’s work as historically supporting evidence.
The German Empire pursued at the World Fair in 1904 an already tested concept that had been very successful at the World Exhibition four years prior in Paris and developed it further. In St. Louis the artistic language of the Imperial pavilion focused on a celebration of the dynastic past. The building itself resembled the central building of Charlottenburg Palace and its interiors emphasized the Frederician Rococo, a unique style in interior decoration that owed its existence as well as its name to the reign of King Frederic II (reg. 1740-1786). It was therefore embellished with a mix of original and recreated Rococo interiors that should recall the time when Prussia, the heartland of the Empire, became a major player in Europe.
This paper presents the spectacular showcasing of the German Empire at the World Fair in 1904 explaining its political message. Furthermore we will have a closer look at the important work of the contemporary producer of luxury furniture Joseph-Émmanuel Zwiener (c. 1848-after 1910) shown in that context. On the basis of new archival findings and spanning a bridge to the 18th century various examples will illustrate how this Berlin-based cabinetmaker, who had become ‘purveyor to the court of his majesty the German King and Emperor William II’, adopted historic French and Prussian models. The paper will show the links of his production to the important royal furniture the Swiss-born Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-1784) had created for Frederick of Prussia and it will explain how the objects of these two artisans were already at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris used to support a nationalistic narrative. Considering that Zwiener’s outstanding Neo-Rococo furniture was seen by contemporaries as equal to the works of the famous Parisian entrepreneur François Linke the political dimension in exhibiting his luxury objects as ‘German’ creations is explained. Thus, it will become clear how historic and historicizing furniture were instrumentalized within a nationalist cultural discourse that reflects the competition between Prussia and France at the beginning of the 20th century.
Anhand zweier Beispiele wird aufgezeigt, dass ein solcher Wissenstransfer im 18. Jahrhundert an verschiedenen Europäischen Höfen gängige Praxis war und es wird erläutert wie er entscheidende Impulse gab, die zu außerordentlichen Ergebnissen führte. So konnte der Dekorationsbildhauer Johann Melchior Kambly, dessen Werkstatt für den Preußischen König Friedrich II in Potsdam Prunkmöbeln fertigte, nicht nur auf während seiner Jugend in der Schweiz erworbenes Wissen zurückgreifen, sondern auch auf die Kenntnisse verschiedener ausländischer Mitarbeiter. Zur ungefähr selben Zeit wurden in Madrid unter der Leitung des Italieners Matías Gasparini verschiedene Prunkmöbel für den Palacio Real Karls III gefertigt. Dabei profitierte die Hofwerkstatt nicht nur vom umfangreichen Wissen ihres aus Flandern stammenden Leiters José Canops, sondern auch von den Kenntnissen verschiedener anderer ausländischer Kunsthandwerker.
Die beiden gewählten Beispiele zeigen die Möbel nicht nur als Gemeinschaftsproduktionen verschiedener Personen unter der Ägide eines leitenden Künstlers oder Kunsthandwerkers, sondern veranschaulichen auch, dass Erwerb und Einbindung innovativen Wissens im gesamten Entstehungsprozess eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. Sie waren die besten Garanten dafür, die Erwartungen, welche die Auftraggeber an diese Prestigeobjekte stellten, zu erfüllen.
Reconsidering the Frederican Rococo: The Discovery of Mirow Palace
In Mirow Palace, 79 miles north of Berlin, Queen consort Charlotte, wife of George III, passed part of her childhood. One of the palace’s main treasures is the state apartment that the Queen’s widowed mother Duchess Elizabeth Albertine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz had refurbished in Rococo style during the Seven Year’s War. As the most elaborate sculptural carvings of its interior decorations were executed by famous Prussian court artists, this untilnow unexamined ensemble of exceptional artistic quality is stylistically and personally linked to the interiors of the royal palaces at Potsdam and Berlin, which are built in a continental interior style called Frederician Rococo. Essential for the recent reconstruction of the apartment are several contemporary sketches, owned by the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor. Within the research process, historical documents were found that allow us for the first time to retrace the provenance of these important sketches and to discover a highly likely royal provenance. Furthermore, they shed new light on the artistic process and illustrate the major role of Johann Melchior Kambly, who is known for his creation of the famous tortoiseshell-furniture for the Prussian King Frederick II. The splendid interiors at Mirow do not only contest the notion that the impact of Frederician Rococo was ‘geographically very limited’, but also offer new perspectives on this interior style. By giving an historically contextualised picture of the wall-mounted decorations and by identifying their link between the early and late phases of Frederician Rococo decoration. This rarely-considered example has to be taken into account in future research.
In 1685 Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia invited with the Edict of Potsdam Huguenots who were forced to leave France due to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. Thanks to this initiative Prussia regained not only badly needed manpower after destruction of the Thirty Years’ War but skilled and well trained artisans and artists that helped to give the court of “King Frederick I in Prussia” the splendour in order to represent this new kingdom on the international stage.
This paper will analyse the impact of Huguenot artists on the arts in Prussia. It will show how the development of a large part of the arts and the crafts in Berlin in the first quarter of the 18th century was due to these immigrants. Especially the goldsmiths of the capital and their art of “Bijouterie” should benefit from their knowledge. The Huguenots availed from a climate of tolerance that was due to the Calvinist spirit of Frederick William and his son, the later king. This climate granted them not only their own religious beliefs and certain economical advantages, but even a separate legislation to the ‘French Colonies’, the so called quarters where they were living in. When the decision of Louis XIV. had lead to a brain-drain in France, the religious tolerance of his ‘cousin’ had definitely the opposite effect. The paper will draft the climate of the religious tolerance towards the Huguenots in Prussia and show how it was favourable for the development of arts.
By showing the development of Baroque arts in this protestant country and referring to new influences that were due to the Huguenots the paper gives a model of comparison to the development of the ‘Hispanic Baroque’.
Visiting the Tudor-era manor house Speke Hall one can still see interiors that date back to its founding days. This lecture is about the furniture from that time, the so called ‘Period of Oak’. As Speke Hall was the estate of the Norris family its furniture had not only to fulfil its domestic functions but also to represent its owner’s wealth. It will be shown how sociological, constructional as well as fashion-related aspects determined a certain ‘style’. During the visit of the Hall, original objects will illustrate in their historic setting various aspects of the preceding lecture and give a better picture of the life in a manor house at that time.