There was hardly a 20th-century style school exhibited in as many forms and areas of society than Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Be it architecture, automobiles, fashion, jewellery, or furniture, the ornamental shapes and floral patterns were all present at the fin de siècle. In the inter-War period, it was the more objective and stylistically stricter Art Deco that grew into a global movement, manifesting itself in ever new ways – from the workshops of Vienna to the World’s Fair in Chicago, from the Bauhaus to Hollywood. To date, it’s the unique combination of elegance of form, the preciousness of materials, strength of colours, and sensuality of the theme that inspires collectors of the objects of this diverse era of art and design. 

On 28 and 29 May, Quittenbaum invites collectors to a large auction in Munich, where more than 500 items from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco eras will be offered. Furniture and artistic utensils, silverware and porcelain, sculptures and prints, and jewellery and accessories – all hailing from between 1900 and the Second World War – will all go under the hammer. Especially graceful are the graceful and oft-lascivious dancers sculpted by Ferdinand Preiss, reminiscent of how free-spirited society became in the 1920s. People truly danced on the volcano. The complete catalogues for both the Art Nouveau and Art Deco auctions by Quittenbaum can be found listed in the Classic Driver Market.