Brussels: The Royal Museums for Fine Arts present a large scale exhibition on the origins of the French Art Nouveau

Exhibition:

From 17 March to 23 July 2006, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium show a large-scale exhibition on the origins of French Art Nouveau as seen through the eyes of the art dealer and collector Siegried BING (1838-1905).
His aim was to promote a modern style by bringing together the visual and the applied arts in innovative interiors with a contemporary design. The name of his Parisian art shop, l'Art Nouveau, gave its name the important European Art Movement around 1900.

Bing was a great collector and promoter of Oriental art but he also set up a string of connections with the finest European and American manufactures in order to distribute their products. All items were blended in the gallery with paintings and sculptures, creating a unique athmosphere – a total work of art.

The present exhibition presents a wide selection of paintings, sculptures and objets d’art that were exhibited at L’Art Nouveau: from Chinese and Japanese works introduced by BING in Europe from the time he was an importer of Asian art, to the ceramic, glass and furniture masterpieces soon to become collector’s items.
Through this exceptional ensemble of works, L’Art Nouveau and the legacy of Siegfried Bing reconstructs the carreer of this fascinating character and his influence on fin-de-siècle art.