Recognized the World-Over for an Incessant Quest for the Rarest of Objects
On September 18th 2009, the Steinitz Gallery unveiled a new and prestigious location at 77 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré.
This new exhibit space facing the Bristol Hotel occupies the entire premises of an hôtel particulier, which was completely restored after several months of work. This bold act in an uncertain economic climate, was the initiative of Benjamin Steinitz, whose aim is to make this new gallery a living and convivial place, where objects from the Middle Ages to the 20th century are presented in an eclectic and personal atmosphere.
Constructed in the 1880s, the hôtel particulier at 77 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré comprises around 700 square meters of exhibit space distributed over four levels. Blending period boiserie panelling with antique and more contemporary pieces, the suite of rooms features a suspended terrace on the first floor and culminates on the last floor with a vast artist studio illuminated by a large glass roof.
Retaining the location at 9, rue du Cirque, the Maison Steinitz founded in 1968 by Bernard Steinitz, has attained world-wide recognition. The presentation and discovery of rare objects of quality has established a privileged relationship with museums and cultural institutions such as the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Jerusalem Museum and the J.P. Getty Museum of Los Angeles.
Having joined the family business in 1991, Benjamin Steinitz has recently taken over the running of the Steinitz Gallery. His unusual career path includes an experience in contemporary art with the “Prisunic Gallery” founded – with his brother Paul Steinitz in the late 1980s – in New York in the meatpacking district, long before it became trendy. Since then, Benjamin has become known for the excellence of his exhibits at the world’s most prestigious art fairs from Moscow to San Francisco, London to Palm Beach and New York.
Worthy of following in his father’s footsteps, Benjamin Steinitz brings together the diversity of these cultures to 77 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Indeed with the addition of this new location, the total space consecrated to the presentation of the Steinitz collection comes to over 1200 square meters, where Renaissance sculptures are displayed with Oriental objects, Indo-Portuguese cabinets and 19th century creations, as well as 17th and 18th century French and European furniture.
In the manner of the early 20th century French decorator Georges Hoentschel, it is this eclectic style that will be featured at 77 Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, blending exceptional pieces – of which equivalent pieces are preserved in the most prestigious museums – and a more modern selection including contemporary pieces that reflect a more personal way of life.
Benjamin Steinitz intends to make the new gallery a place to host regular events in the form of thematic exhibits, and also to give celebrated decorators “carte blanche” to create décors offering the visitor the possibility to discover their talents while giving the gallery a greater variety in what it proposes.
Both a continuation and a renewal, the opening of the new Steinitz Gallery at 77 Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, with its selection of exceptional pieces, establishes a dialogue between antique objects of varying origins and modern pieces, a true signature of the “goût Steinitz”. | Close |