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Century
Guild Decorative Arts was founded in 1999 by Thomas Negovan
and Stuart Tomc. The pair met years earlier as colleagues
in an art gallery and bonded over a deeply shared appreciation for Art
Nouveau and Symbolism.
Exhibiting at only select public events, brokering to museum collections,
and working with a private client base, Century Guild has kept
a deliberately low profile for the last decade in order to focus on the
building of an impressive inventory of important Art Nouveau and Symbolist
artifacts, with a focus on period pottery, antique posters and lithographs.
Our antique inventory specializes in Art Nouveau and Symbolist works from
Germany, Austria, France and Italy 1880-1920, and includes the lithography
of infamous artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon
Schiele, Walter Schnackenberg,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Ludwig
Hohlwein. We offer museum quality examples of Art Nouveau,
Amphora and Massier pottery, important Symbolist
Art lithographs, and artifacts from the golden eras of Silent
Film and Munich and Berlin Cabaret.
For many years, Century Guild has been a staple at the Artropolis
event held at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago; audiences form
when Thomas and Stuart begin to share the marvelous stories surrounding
each of the relics in the Century Guild collection. From sinister
espionage during the Middle Ages through the volatile politics of the
Industrial Revolution, from the blossoming of Art Nouveau through
the climate of excess at the end of the First World War, the finest objets
d’art of the era tell the tale of frantic passion and macabre
debaucheries if we know how to listen.
A desire to provide educational experiences for as many people as possible
has led Century Guild to such non-traditional venues as the San
Diego Comic-Con. Century Guild creates an entire pavilion
of Art Nouveau artifacts at the San Diego event and is overwhelmingly
embraced by the 150,000 visitors, including a young generation of burgeoning
Art Nouveau fans.
Featured
in the Century Guild inventory are important artworks by recognized masters
including:
Vienna
Secession
Gustav Klimt
Egon Schiele
Koloman Moser
Bertold Löffler
Art Nouveau
Alphonse Mucha
Georges de Feure
Clement Massier
Symbolism
Carlos Schwabe
Opera
Adolfo Hohenstein
Leopoldo Metlicovitz
German Cabaret
Walter Schnackenberg
While Century Guild deals primarily in relics of the past, we
also represent a number of contemporary artists who, with their unique
styles, have built a rare conduit from the 19th century to the present.
Events featuring contemporary artists on our 2009 calendar include:
Dave McKean (Jul 18 - 19) lives and works in
Kent, England. Since leaving the Berkshire College of Art and Design (1982
to 1986) his style has become inescapable to anyone cognizant of pop culture:
he has illustrated and designed covers for the most respected comics of
the late 20th century (including Arkham Asylum and Sandman),
designed, illustrated and photographed over 150 CD covers (incl. Tori
Amos, Alice Cooper, Counting Crows, Michael Nyman) and created imagery
and designs for ad campaigns (Nike, Kodak, BMW and more) and magazines
(New Yorker, Mojo, Playboy, Penthouse). He has illustrated children's
books written by Neil Gaiman (incl. Coraline), and has worked
on film and book projects with Iain Sinclair, John Cale, The Rolling Stones,
Jonathan Carroll and Stephen King and has seen his work brought to life
by The National Theater of Scotland (The Wolves in the Walls).
McKean was also a conceptual artist on the Harry Potter films and created
and directed the movie MirrorMask for the Jim Henson Company.
A longtime aficionado of silent film, McKean's current body of work is
inspired by the era and is titled Nitrate.
Gail Potocki, a Chicago-based Symbolist artist, paints
in the manner of the Old Masters with thematic influences ranging from
the emotional to the ecological. Gail’s art has been featured in
the stunning hardcover The Union of Hope and Sadness and she
has exhibited globally, including most recently a one-woman show at the
prestigious Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles. Her second
book featuring works from this exhibition is titled Opened
Apples and is slated for release in 2009. Exclusive
representation.
Jeremy Bastian has made an overwhelming impression with
his painstakingly delicate and intricate drawings reminiscent of 19th
century fairy tale illustrations. His long-awaited Cursed Pirate Girl
illustrated series will be launched in April of 2009. Exclusive representation.
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SIGN UP FOR NOTIFICATIONS ON ALL OF THESE ARTISTS
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THOMAS
NEGOVAN head
curator /// has
been involved professionally in the world of Fine Art for nearly twenty
years, beginning in Antique Lighting with specialization in the gas/electric
combination lamps of the early 20th century and coming to rest on his
personal passion, Symbolist Art and Cabaret-related artifacts from 1880-1920.
With a massive interest in studying period historical materials, Thomas
served as an in-demand consultant for a number of vintage poster galleries;
one legendary poster dealer listening to Thomas speak at a Poster Fair
remarked, "I just learned more from you in the last twenty minutes
than in the last twenty years!" In addition to writing books on art,
Thomas also buys them; he now lives with three floors of books, and yes,
he HAS read them all. |
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STUART
TOMC head curator ///
is the son of a foremost
expert on Art Nouveau, Symbolism, and Secessionist art whose passions
for ceramics were instilled upon young Stuart at birth. From the age of
four, Stuart can remember discussions on these art subjects and was handling
his first pieces of pottery shortly thereafter. It is this intuitive sense
of weight and texture balanced with the handling of literally hundreds
of thousands of pieces that make Stuart uniquely qualified to declare
a piece of Art Nouveau pottery as exceptional.
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