RAGO AUCTIONS OPEN HOUSE FEATURES A TALK ON ART NOUVEAU BY BENJAMIN MACKLOWE ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2.

Lambertville, NJ:  The Rago Arts and Auction Center hosts an open house on Tuesday, December 2. It features Benjamin Macklowe, Macklowe Gallery Managing Director, speaking on “Art Nouveau: A Jewel in Every Medium” at 6 pm. The talk takes place during the preview week for Rago's Great Estates, Jewelry and Silver Auctions.

At the turn of the 20th century, Art Nouveau design found expression in both fine and decorative arts. Jewelry, a medium that falls between these dominating genres, rendered the cultural, economic, and political zeitgeist in precious materials. This lecture reveals the relation between the major motifs of Art Nouveau jewelry—the whiplash line, the femme-fleur, the symbolist and emotional interpretation of nature—and the larger themes of the period. By looking at the ways in which great designers drew upon the Art Nouveau environment to imagine and create a new aesthetic, Mr. Macklowe explicates the Art Nouveau movement through the medium of jewelry.

Benjamin Macklowe joined Macklowe Gallery in 1994, was appointed Managing Director in 2002 and became its President in 2012. Under his leadership Macklowe Gallery has become one of the world’s most respected dealer of antique and estate jewelry, French Art Nouveau decorative arts and the entire oeuvre of Louis Comfort Tiffany. The gallery recently celebrated its fortieth year on Madison Avenue.

Mr. Macklowe is a sought-after expert in his field and has served as a lecturer for museum groups and scholarly organizations throughout the nation. He helped expand the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Dallas Museum and In recent years Mr. Macklowe has sought to shed light on Art Nouveau collecting, spearheading the publication of “Dynamic Beauty: Sculpture of Art Nouveau Paris” and “Nature Transformed: Art Nouveau Horn Jewelry”.  Macklowe Gallery jewelry has been photographed on celebrities as diverse as Adele, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lopez.

Sponsored by U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

The auction house opens on Tuesday, December 2 at noon. A reception begins at 5 p.m. Mr. Macklowe will speak at 6 p.m.

RSVP to 609.397.9374 ext. 119 or raac@ragoarts.com. If you unable to RSVP in advance, please join us if you can; all are welcome.

TO THE EDITOR

High-resolution image available on request.

About Rago Arts and Auction Center

Rago is a leading U.S. auction house with $30 million in sales in 2013. We serve thousands of sellers and buyers internationally with a singular blend of global reach and personal service. Rago holds auctions of 20th/21st c. design, fine art, decorative arts, furnishings, jewelry, militaria, coins and currency, Asian, historic ephemera, and ethnographic property.  A world-class venue through which to buy and sell, it offers valuations for personal property (from a single piece to collections and estates), appraisals, estate services, exhibitions and lectures in house and online. Rago is based in New Jersey, midway between Philadelphia and New York City.

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