Moderne Gallery Exhibits New Art Deco Acquisitions
At Modernism Show in New York,

November 21 — 24, 1991

Philadelphia, PA (October 1991) … The Moderne Art Deco gallery of Philadelphia will exhibit several important new acquisitions at the sixth annual “Modernism, A Century of Style and Design: 1860-1960” show at the Armory, Park Avenue and 67th Street, in New York City from November 21-24, 1991.

The Moderne gallery, an exhibitor at the Modernism show for the past four years, specializes in French and American Art Deco furnishings from the 1920’s, ’30s and ’40s for collectors, designers and architects. Moderne owner/collector Robert Aibel will display the following items, recently purchased in France, at the Modernism show:

• A 1922 rosewood office suite by Louis Majorelle highlighted with intricate hand-wrought iron floral patterns. This unique commission consists of a bureau plat (a lozenge shaped desk), a chair and a bibliothèque.
• A rare and important Eugene Printz rosewood and oxidized brass table with six chairs and buffet, a version of which was exhibited at the 1935 Salon des Artistes Decorateurs. This suite, from a private home in Lyon, is especially important because Printz’s work seldom comes on the market.
• A group of hand-wrought iron and bronze paperweights, lamps, a table-top mirror and a hanging lantern made by Edgar Brandt in the 1920’s.

Smaller-sized decorative objects to be exhibited include:

• A pair of stenciled copper book-ends by William Hunt Diederich, America’s most important ironworker of the Art Deco period. (Diedrich’s work is currently on exhibit at the Whitney Museum.)
• A selection of Gustavsberg argenta, green or red ceramic ware with silver overlay in a variety of sea, floral and geometric motifs, made in Sweden in the 1930’s.
• A wrought iron torchière with an acid-etched Daum shade.

In addition to owning and managing Moderne, Aibel is also a scholar, art historian, film maker and senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. He established Moderne in 1985 after completing a doctorate in aesthetic communication at Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication. An antiques dealer since 1979, Aibel decided to specialize in Art Deco because of his own passion for the design of the period.

Moderne is located at 111 N. Third Street, in Philadelphia’s historic Old City. For information, call (215) 923-5386.

The Modernism show is managed by Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. of New York, producers and managers of antiques, art and design events

Interviews with Robert Aibel are available by appointment.
Photographs are available.

Contact: Resnick Communications (215) 977-7383.