The Artsy Guide to The Salon: Art + Design 2014

The sister fair to the Paris Biennale, The Salon: Art + Design serves as one of the finest design and decorative arts fairs. Opening next week in New York, the fair will present a survey of design through the ages; says the fair’s executive director, Jill Bokor, “This year’s show brings an astonishing range of material, from museum quality 18th century to art deco from Reitveld, to young stars like the Haas Brothers.” Over 50 exhibitors representing nine countries, with galleries from France to South Korea, will congregate in the Park Avenue Armory’s vast hall. Here we’ve outlined the essential details for your visit.

The Salon: Art + Design is open to the public Nov. 14–17, 2014 at the Park Avenue Armory, with an invitation-only preview on Nov. 13. Hours vary, with the fair open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday. General admission for visitors over 16 years is $25, which can be purchased in advance online. 

While you may or may not not have scored an invite to the Collector’s Preview on the 13th (which runs 5–7 p.m.), tickets are available for the Vernissage Party that same evening, 7–9 p.m., hosted jointly with Architectural Digest. Buy one online for $150—the ticket will allow continued access to the fair throughout its run. 

The Salon: Art + Design welcomes an abundance of French galleries to New York City, because of its affiliation with the Paris Biennale; however, this year sees several new diverse additions to the list of exhibitors and designers on display. There will be 38 returning galleries, joined by 17 new-comers (a full list of exhibitors can be accessed online).

Some of the earliest pieces at the fair will be at Kraemer Gallery - Paris’ booth, where you will find Louis XV- and Louis XVI-era objets, elegantly gilded and wonderfully decadent. Yves Macaux, from Brussels, presents a selection of Art Nouveau designs from Belgian designer Gustave Serrurier-Bovy and Austrians Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann. There will be ample Art Deco offerings to scope out as well, including pieces by art deco master Jean Dunand at the booths of both Vallois SAS (which has locations in Paris and New York) and New York-based DeLorenzo Gallery, in addition to furniture from French designers Jacques Adnet and Eugène Printz at Paris’ Galerie Marcilhac. Move on up through time into the post-war Modernist era at Jousse Entreprise’s booth, another Parisian gallery, where you’ll find a sampling of furniture from Frenchman Jean Prouvé. 

Inspired by the elegance of Art Deco and Art Nouveau alike are the works of French-Swedish designer Ingrid Donat, the focal point at Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s booth. Donat’s influencers range from Swiss artist and designer Diego Giacometti to Austrian painters Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, and her pieces bear equal traces of sculpting and painterly techniques; Donat casts bronze from wax, which she carves and molds to create dense yet delicately formed furniture.

For a break from French design, stop by the booths of New York galleries Todd Merrill and Salon 94. Todd Merrill presents an assortment of sculptural pieces by two Irish designers, Niamh Barry and Joseph Walsh. Barry’s welded abstract sculptures incorporate elements of light, suspended in space, like a highly aesthetic lamp. Walsh blends resin, wood, and marble into languid, graceful tables, that appear almost as prehistoric artifacts created by the long passage of time. And at Salon 94, check out furniture by American fashion designer Rick Owens, who launched his furniture design career back in 2007. 

There will be an array of contemporary Asian design on display at this year’s fair, some of which is to be found at Gallery Seomi’s (located in Seoul and L.A.) and New York-based Joan B. Mirviss LTD’s booths. Gallery Seomi hosts an arsenal of ceramic works by Korean artist Lee Hun Chung, including mid-sized, blue-gray glazed objects along with a large concrete bench in the same ceramic style; find also at their booth the sleek tables crafted from layered strips of wood and luxteel by Kim Sang Hoon, as well as truly glamorous mother-of-pearl-inlaid seating from Kang Myung Sun. More ceramics appear at Joan B. Mirviss LTD, where the rough, organic bowls and “torn sculptures” of Japanese ceramicist Ogawa Machiko are on display. 

Some other highlights include Alvar Aalto at Modernity, based out of Stockholm, a selection of individual works at London gallery David Gill by Swiss “troublemaker turned traditionalist” Mattia Bonetti (side by side pieces he created collaboratively with his former business partner, French designer Elizabeth Garouste), and a standing desk by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright at Oscar Graf, from Paris. 

As the online partner of the fair, Artsy is hosting a series of tours conducted by celebrated designers and architects. Each tour will provide a unique, personal perspective on The Salon’s offerings, and will conclude at the W Collectors’ Lounge for a complimentary glass of wine. Register online for your tour now!

11:30 a.m. Vicente Wolf 

1:30 p.m. Robert Couturier

3:00 p.m. Muriel Brandolini

11:30 a.m. David Scott

1:30 p.m. Rafael de Cárdenas

3:00 p.m. Alexander Gorlin

11:30 a.m. John Douglas Eason

1:30 p.m. Kristen McGinnis 

3:00 p.m. Winka Dubbeldam

11:30 a.m. Maria Brito

1:30 p.m. Alexandra Champalimaud 

3:00 p.m. Robert Stilin