Samuel Siegfried Bing (26 February 1838 – 6 September 1905), who usually gave his name as S. Bing (not to be confused with his brother, Samuel Otto Bing, 1850–1905), was a German-French

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

who lived in Paris as an adult, and who helped introduce

Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, '' ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime ...

and artworks to the West and was a factor in the development of the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

style during the late nineteenth century.

Early life

Bing was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, a member of a large family with diverse commercial interests. He relocated to France in 1854, to help manage the

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...

s manufacturing business of Bing family in-laws, and resided in France for the remainder of his life. He became a naturalized French citizen in 1876. Bing married a second cousin, Johanna Baer, in July 1868. Their son Marcel Bing eventually became a business associate of his father's, as well as a jewelry designer of Art Nouveau style.

Career

In 1873, on the death of his elder brother Michael, Siegfried Bing became the head of Bing family enterprises in France. Bing developed a flourishing import-export business from the 1870s onward, working through several commercial entities with various partners and family members; he concentrated on the importation and sale of Japanese and other Asian ''objets d'art,'' though his business also exported French goods to Japan, working through a Yokohama office managed by his younger brother August. In December 1895 he opened his famous gallery, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, which showed works of artists of what would become known as the

style.

Henry van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium. ...

designed the interior of the gallery, while

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...

supplied stained glass. Bing's gallery featured entire rooms designed in the Art Nouveau style by his in-house designers. During the gallery's most successful period, 1896–1902, Bing sold a great variety of artistic work, included fabrics designed by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, glassware by

, jewelry, paintings, ceramics, stained glass, and furniture of Art Nouveau style. Bing dealt with customers ranging from private collectors to major museums, and helped to promote a global art market. His pavilion at the 1900 Paris World's Fair was especially notable. By this time Bing was the primary European dealer for the Rookwood Pottery Co. of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

and the

Grueby Faience Company The Grueby Faience Company, founded in 1894, was an American ceramics company that produced distinctive American art pottery vases and tiles during America's Arts and Crafts Movement. The company was founded in Revere, Massachusetts, by Willi ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, as well as the wares of Tiffany. Siegfried Bing had also a significant role in promoting artists who were associated in the new style movement named

Les Nabis Les Nabis (French: les nabis, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of ...

, including

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist gr ...

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, he was a prominent member of the Nabis, making paintings which assembled areas of pure color, and interior s ...

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with ''Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studie ...

Paul Ranson Paul-Élie Ranson (29 March 1861 – 20 February 1909) was a French painter and writer associated with Les Nabis. Biography He was born in Limoges. His mother died in childbirth, so he was raised and educated by his grandparents and his fa ...

and

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as . He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portrai ...

. Les Nabis et le décor. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. https://en.museeduluxembourg.fr/les-nabis-et-le-decor

Influence

Bing advanced the careers of a wide range of artists, including Louis Bonnier, Frank Brangwyn, and

, the designers Eugène Gaillard,

Edward Colonna Edward Colonna (1862 – 1948) was a German-born designer of furniture, metalwork, ceramics and other materials in the Art Nouveau style He was associated with Siegfried Bing and his gallery Maison de l'Art Nouveau. An exhibition of his work wa ...

, William Benson, and

Georges de Feure Georges de Feure (real name Georges Joseph van Sluijters, 6 September 1868 – 26 November 1943) was a French painter, theatrical designer, and industrial art designer in the symbolism and Art Nouveau styles. De Feure was born in Paris. His fat ...

, and the sculptor

Constantin Meunier Constantin Meunier (12 April 1831 – 4 April 1905) was a Belgian painter and sculptor. He made an important contribution to the development of modern art by elevating the image of the industrial worker, docker and miner to an icon of moder ...

. Bing closed his gallery during 1904, a year before his death, when the fashion for Art Nouveau was already beginning to wane. Bing's activities were important, perhaps crucial, to the Japanese influence on Art Nouveau. He published a monthly journal, ''

Le Japon Artistique ''Artistic Japan'' was a magazine of Japanese art, published by German-born French art dealer Siegfried Bing. It ran for thirty-six monthly issues from 1888 to 1891 in French, English, and German editions and contributed to a revival of Japonis ...

'', which began in 1888 and was collected in three volumes in 1891. The journal influenced people like

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's p ...

References and sources

;References ;Sources * Dam, Peter van. "Siegfried Bing 1838-1905." ''Andon,'' Summer 1983, pp. 10–14. * Miyajima Hisao. "S. Bing’s visit to Japan." In: ''Bulletin of the Study of Japonisme'' 2 (1982), S. 29–33. * Troy, Nancy J. ''Modernism and the Decorative Arts in France: Art Nouveau to Le Corbusier'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. * Weisberg, Gabriel P., Edwin Becker, and Évelyne Possémé, eds. ''The Origins of L'Art Nouveau: The Bing Empire.'' Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, distributed by Cornell University Press 2004. * Weisberg, Gabriel P., ''Art Nouveau Bing:Paris Style, 1900'' Harry N Abrams Inc New York 1986

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bing, Siegfried 1838 births 1905 deaths German art collectors 19th-century art collectors 20th-century art collectors Art Nouveau Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery German art dealers

Early life

Career

Influence

References and sources

Further reading

External links