Rajan Bijlani, a property developer from north London, moved into Fonthill Pottery in 2014, which was as soon as the home and office of the ceramicist Emmanuel Cooper. Exactingly renovated by Bijlani, it gives a classy backdrop for his assortment of Twentieth-century design, sculpture and work—a chance, he says, to “scale back the excellence between high quality artwork and collectible design”. Mainly, he’s an aficionado of Modernist furnishings with a studied give attention to the designs of Pierre Jeanneret, one of many architects of Chandigarh, a metropolis in-built northern India within the Fifties, whose masterplan was designed by his cousin Charles Édouard Jeanneret, the titan of Fashionable structure higher often called Le Corbusier.
A visit to Chandigarh greater than 20 years in the past sparked Bijlani’s curiosity in amassing design and he now owns “at the least 500 items”. These embrace a few of Jeanneret’s key works designed for the town, together with his 1960 Eating Desk and a gaggle of his Simple Chairs (1956), in addition to items by Le Corbusier and George Nakashima. He hopes by way of his assortment to higher current Jeanneret as a foundational designer of the Twentieth century: “I used to be disheartened with what I had seen exhibited by Jeanneret; there was an absence of connoisseurship,” he says. “Folks had been exhibiting issues made within the Nineteen Seventies and 80s that weren’t overseen by Jeanneret or Le Corbusier—works that lacked patina, or had been closely restored removed from the unique, in addition to fakes. I made a decision to go on this endeavour to point out what the true deal was.”
Final 12 months Bijlani staged the primary exhibition in his residence, by which he introduced artists from the South Asian diaspora into dialog along with his Chandigarh design assortment. This 12 months, holding with the theme of “place”, he’s staging Electrical Kiln, a present pairing works from his assortment by Le Corbusier and Jeanneret with these by three artists: Cooper, his companion the potter Lucie Rie, and Frank Auerbach, who prolifically painted road scenes within the north London neighbourhoods close to Fonthill Pottery. Featured within the present are Jeanneret’s Minister’s Desk from Chandigarh and a never-before-seen Auerbach portrait of the curator Catherine Lampert, who sat for the artist quite a few occasions.
A handful of the Auerbachs, in addition to all of the Rie works, are on the market, Bijlani says, as he requires funds to stage exhibits and proceed his work to protect the legacies of his Twentieth-century design heroes. Future plans embrace a Japan-themed present, and an exhibition within the spring, timed to coincide with London Gallery Weekend.
Ceramics by Lucie Rie, Pierre Jeanneret’s Metallic Desk (1960-61) and Seated Determine (1961) by Frank Auerbach Photograph by Wealthy Stapleton; courtesy of Rajan Bijlani
The Artwork Newspaper: What was the primary work you ever purchased?
Rajan Bijlani: A six-by-three steel desk by Pierre Jeanneret, purchased at a authorities public sale in Chandigarh in 2004.
What was the latest work you purchased?
A portray by Miyoko Ito from the Nineteen Sixties, from a personal collector.
How shortly do you resolve to purchase a work?
It’s instinctual; I purchase with my coronary heart. It may be fast.
Conical bowls (round 2005) by Emmanuel Cooper sit on Pierre Jeanneret’s Working Desk (1960) Photograph by Wealthy Stapleton; courtesy of Rajan Bijlani
What do you remorse not shopping for whenever you had the prospect?
5 years in the past I used to be given the chance to purchase some Miyoko Ito work and I didn’t.
For those who may have any work from any museum on this planet, what wouldn’t it be?
Alice Neel’s 1958 portrait Elsie Rubin, within the assortment of the Whitney Museum of American Artwork, New York.
Which exhibition are you most wanting ahead to seeing in London this month?
Kerry James Marshall on the Royal Academy. I like his use of color and the way he places Black lives on the centre of what he does.
Lucie Rie’s Vase (round 1980) options in Rajan Bijlani’s present Electrical Kiln Photograph by Wealthy Stapleton; courtesy of Rajan Bijlani
The place do you wish to eat and drink in or close to Regent’s Park/your private home?
Close to my residence there may be La Fromagerie; I normally get the galette or the cheese toastie. In East London, for consuming and consuming, Brawn.
What’s your least favorite factor about artwork gala’s?
There are not any home windows.
• Electrical Kiln by Rajan Bijlani, till 16 November. Personal tackle ten minutes’ stroll from Frieze Masters. By appointment solely: rsvp@rajanbijlani.com
