Highlights
‘An Oriental Collector’: Calouste Gulbenkian’s Taste for Arts of the Islamic World and China
Born in 1869 in Istanbul, the crossroads of Eurasia, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian always defined himself as an ‘oriental collec-tor’. His cultural view was expansive, extending beyond the Ottoman Empire of which he was a citizen to the east and west. By the time of his death in Lisbon in 1955, at age 86, this vision was reflected in a splendid art collection comprising some 6,000 objects originating from England to Japan, and dating from antiquity to the early 20th century.
‘Renaissance Venice: Life and Luxury at the Crossroads’ at Gardiner Museum, Toronto 14 October 2021–9 January 2022
After a year-long delay as a result of the ongoing global pandemic, the much-anticipated exhibition ‘Renaissance Venice: Life and Luxury at the Crossroads’ finally opened at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. Founded in 1984 by the philanthropists George and Helen Gardiner, the Gardiner Museum is Canada’s only museum that specializes in ceramic art. The major pieces in the permanent collection range from ancient American sculpture, Italian majolica earthenware, European court porcelain, a well-published collection of Japanese export art, and Chinese Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) period porcelain.