Les arts décoratifs II : savoir-faire et art de vivre

Aesthetic seduction, superb workmanship, and historical interest are the three central themes in the collection of Fondation Gandur pour l’Art (Geneva), created in 2010. 

Following a first volume devoted to secular and sacred objects and sculptures from the 12th to the 18th century, this second catalogue of the Gandur Foundation for Art's decorative arts collection focuses more specifically on the art of living. From the dawn of the Renaissance to the end of the Age of Enlightenment, furniture, caskets, boxes, clocks, light fixtures, turned ivories and goldsmith's cups provide an overview of European creation in its purely decorative dimension.

It presents the major objects in the collection, studied and analysed by curators and researchers working in German, American, English, Belgian, French and Swiss institutions. Each work is accompanied by a note detailing its historical and geographical context, iconography, a reference bibliography and the exhibitions in which it has been featured.