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Auction 094C: Collection Dolf Selbach - Art Nouveau Glass - 15.02.2011

Dolf Selbach and his collection of Art Nouveau glasses

Dolf Selbach, who passed away in February 2010, was notorious for his good taste and sense for quality not only in the fashion scene but also as an art collector. The 76 Art Nouveau glasses in our sale illustrate his infallible feeling for beauty and his stylistical confidence. Since the 1970s he had been collecting exquisite pieces by Tiffany, Loetz, Daum and Gallé. The gem of the auction is undeniably the Tiffany vase from 1901, with combed threads and stripes, it is going to be offered for an estimate of € 9,000-14,000 (lot 1). Particular attention should also be paid to two Phänomen vases by Franz Hofstötter designed in 1900 (lots 55, 56).

 

In the end of the 1950s, Selbach revolutionised the fashion world with his sporty designs for Twens who up to then had been wearing the same clothes their fathers would prefer. After studying business administration and having completed an apprenticeship at legendary gentleman’s outfitter Herbert Stock, Selbach, who was born in Remscheid in 1930 as son of a wholesaler of technical textiles, opened his first shop at Berliner Allee in Dusseldorf. In 1962, he moved to fashionable Königsallee, in 1965 he expanded and opened another boutique at Kurfürstendamm in Berlin and in 1968 he settled at Jungfernstieg in Hamburg. Selbach had his own concept of fashion and at the beginning, designed trousers, shirts, jackets and sweaters himself. From the middle of the 1970s, he became a retailer for the stars of the fashion fairs in Milan and Paris and popularised the designs by Pierre Cardin, Versace, Cerruti, Kiton and Zegna among others in Germany. As he loved art and architecture, he furnished his shops to his own liking. He succeeded in attracting young clients when he installed bars in his shops and filled them with Disco sound. The walls were decorated with paintings of his collection of modern and contemporary art. Selbach socialised with artists, collected their works and even had a portrait done by Andy Warhol. He lived in a Biedermeier house in Berlin and sponsored the Opera house ‚Unter den Linden’. He spent his scarce leisure time in Kampen on Sylt in a farmhouse of 250 years of age. His Dusseldorf flat with roof-top garden housed works by Poliakoff, Archipenko, Zero-artists Uecker, Piene, Mack, Richard Lindner, Salomé, Middendorf, Fetting and Botero. When Selbach sold his company in 1999, he was head of a fashion house of international renown.

 

Only few people knew Dolf Selbach’s passion for Art Nouveau glass. As soon as the 1970s, he was frequently the happy winner at Wolfgang Ketterer’s sales at Villa Stuck in Munich. It was there that he purchased the large Tiffany vase that featured on the cover of Albrecht Bangerts book: Glas. Jugendstil und Art Deco, Munich 1979, and now adorns the cover of our sales catalogue.

 

We are happy to offer you this small but mighty collection.