In recent years the auction houses have become increasingly enthralled with design and decoration as the new hallmarks of art collecting. Thus many sales with theme-driven titles like “The Elegant Eye” and “Style” have ensued, all bolstering the idea that art collecting now is less about art and more about aspiration, about lifestyle.
And who better to convey “good taste” than the world’s leading dealers and decorators?
One noteworthy sale that helped launch this trend took place in 2000 at Sotheby’s in London. It included many dazzling items from the shop on Pimlico Road of Christopher Hodsoll, esteemed decorator, textile entrepreneur and “daring” dealer. His shop was hailed as “the Rialto of the antiquaires.”
Just this week, and again at Sotheby’s in London, a similar tastemaker sale took place, and with much fanfare despite its being offered entirely online over a period of several days. It offered an eclectic, startling and tightly-curated group of some 140 items owned by the renowned London dealer Danny Katz, with premises in a townhouse on Hill Street in Mayfair.
I recall visiting Danny some years ago with the artist Jonathan Parker, who at the time was enjoying an extended and much-acclaimed exhibition of his paintings just down the road in the posh, unexpected surroundings of Lloyds Private Bank. Jonathan took me about the many floors of Danny’s gallery, all elegantly arrayed with paintings, furniture and works of art in settings that riveted one’s attention. Prominently on view was a newly-arrived picture, La Fileuse, by the prolific but little-known Belgian artist Firmin Baes. We stood admiring it as Danny pointed out its many bravura qualities.
And so his much-publicized sale at Sotheby’s this week, with the grand title “Refining Taste,” gave a glimpse into Danny’s long and remarkable collecting odyssey. As Danny now seems to be downsizing and moving into a new career focus on fewer and higher-valued artworks, the sale offered many wonderful finds he had made through the years.
Two works in particular jumped out at me from the online catalogue. Each was a portrait by the Scottish artist Doris Zinkeisen (1898-1991), who in her long and colorful career achieved distinction as a writer, commercial artist, society painter, wartime nurse, and costume and theatrical designer. Having never heard her name before the sale, I am now eager to know more about Doris Zinkeisen’s life and to see more of her paintings.
Early photographs show a woman of great beauty and flair. Perhaps Tilda Swinton could play her in one of those heroic Hollywood biopics—with room settings worthy of Christopher Hodsoll and Danny Katz, of course.