Galerie Sommerlath

Discover the next level of wall decor in 2024 with Galerie Sommerlath’s latest blog post featured on the Art Whisperer! 🎨 Explore the world of captivating wall sculptures, breaking free from the bounds of traditional art. Trust Michele Sommerlath’s curation to elevate your space with the perfect piece. ”

“Red or Dark Passion? Let us illuminate your space with our two red and black floor lamps by .
The elegant glossy red or black up-lighter is made of glossy red or black painted aluminum and rests on a cast iron base.
It projects a strong light on the ceiling and radiates with its timeless outer appearance.
These floor lamps are very rare since they are part of his earlier work and they are not edited anymore.

Gianfranco Frattini was an Italian architect and designer. A student of Gio Ponti, Frattini was a part of the generation that created the Italian design movement in the late 1950s through the 1960s. His iconic designs and collaborations with manufacturers such as Bernini, Arteluce, and Artemide and Knoll are still celebrated today.

Born in Padua in 1926, Frattini studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He later apprenticed with his teacher and mentor, Gio Ponti. It is his introduction to famed Italian entrepreneur Cesare Cassina which significantly helped launch his career.
Frattini’s designs are in the permanent collections of prestigious museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Time to trick or treat! 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃This painting by Chief features a simple and minimalist background comprised of small crosses and long, bamboos-like tubes eschewing conventional styles and using folk art, graffiti, and visionary elements to create an expressive aesthetic.
In the centre is a bright pink female body celebrated as always in all other works of Chief- its luscious overflow and the exaggeratedly traced curves from the shoulders to the chest through the buttocks are particularly visible.
But is it really a woman or a female-looking deity? Let's look at her face: her angel wings protrude from her ears - framing a central eye - possibly referencing the eye of Horus, the Cyclops, or Norse mythology. In The Norse pantheon, the chief God Odin was renowned for his wisdom and intelligence. He is said to have sacrificed an eye in order to gain insight into the mysteries of existence, making him even more powerful and wise.

Chief does not only tell stories but gives us some clues: directions, shapes, characters, colours, symbols, and references that invite everyone to create their own narrative interpretation.

Chief, a contemporary American painter belongs to a non-elitist movement at the crossroads of the free figuration of Robert Combas, the surrealism of Juan Miro, and narrative figuration as found in some pieces of Erro. The pseudonym "Chief" was likely chosen by the painter to express an independent spirit and a desire to break away from any established conventions or rules within the art world. He is reclaiming ownership over how he defines himself, affirms his profound freedom, crafting an unapologetic image of who he is as an artist, reinterpreting all influences he took from those different art movements, defying traditional boundaries, and exploring creative limitless possibilities. This declaration not only reveals his deep sense of liberation from any rules but also serves as a powerful reminder about embracing individuality in an increasingly conformist world in a form of popular art, accessible to all, which plays on spontaneity, playfulness, dreamlike, simplicity, and letting go.

Step into a world where art and design intertwine at Galerie Sommerlath located at Pasadena Antiques and Design Center. 🎨✨ At our entrance, you can now admire the contemporary grace of grey paintings framing a cream stone block sculpture wall, crowned by the captivating presence of a Curtis Jere gold branch sculpture. Discover inspiration that transcends time and indulge in the beauty of artistic expression. 💜🏛️

Did you know we have a blog? On The Art Whisperer, Michele Sommerlath gives insights on art, design and taste…
If you’d like to learn about our new Black and White Wall or about how to use Abstract Artwork to enhance any room, this is the perfect space!

Looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift? Celebrate her with a unique and meaningful piece of art or sculpture from Galerie Sommerlath! 🎁🌸 Our Los Angeles-based gallery offers a diverse collection of mid-century and modern pieces, carefully curated by Michele Sommerlath.

Invest in a beautiful and thoughtful gift that your mother will cherish for a lifetime. Shop now and give her the gift of art! ❤️🎨

Looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift? Celebrate her with a unique and meaningful piece of art or sculpture from Galerie Sommerlath! 🎁🌸 Our Los Angeles-based gallery offers a diverse collection of mid-century and modern pieces, carefully curated by Michele Sommerlath.

Invest in a beautiful and thoughtful gift that your mother will cherish for a lifetime. Shop now and give her the gift of art! ❤️🎨
https://galeriesommerlath.myshopify.com/admin/themes/122484588647/editor?previewPath=%2Fcollections%2Fmothers-day

Swimming in vibrant hues 🐠🎨 This midcentury lithograph by a Chinese artist captures the graceful beauty of four coy fish on silk. Proud to have this limited edition piece, numbered 13/30, framed and exhibited in Hong Kong.

Michele Sommerlath, our owner and founder, recently sat down with IGNITE BUSINESS INSIDER to answer some questions. The resulting piece is a delightful look back at the beginnings of Galerie Sommerlath. You can read the full article on our website's press section, but here's a little teaser to get you started!

“I'd happily share a story about a customer who touched my heart and impacted my team and me. In the early years of my business in the US, a young man who was penniless but had fallen in love with one of my artworks by Vasarely entered my store. I could see the passion and longing in his eyes, and I felt a deep connection to his love of art. We talked for a long time, and he confided in me how sad he was that he couldn't afford to purchase the piece he couldn't stop staring at. His story moved me. I sold him the piece for the price I paid, and the joy on his face was indescribable. He thanked me a thousand times and left overexcited, seeing a dream come true.

Fast forward ten years later, a man walked into my new store in Venice and approached me. He asked if I recognized him, and unfortunately, I didn't. He then reminded me of the story of the Vasarely painting and how I made his dream come true. He told me there'd not been a day in the last ten years that he hadn't looked at his painting and remembered my gesture. He then revealed that he had become an established film producer and wanted to buy several artworks from me. I love this story because it's not just a simple business transaction but a story of love and passion for art and beauty. It shows that leading with my heart, because of my passion for art, creativity, and how beauty fulfills the soul, can make a difference in someone's life. This customer's story has stayed with me and has continued to inspire me to follow my heart and make a positive impact on those who appreciate and love art.”

Come see this new serigraph (35/75) by Tie-Feng Jiang at our front store . Chinese Artist Jiang Tie-Feng was born in 1938, in Ningbo, Zhejiiang Province, in China. Even as a child he displayed a great love and talent for painting and drawing, and early on he knew the course his life would take. Jiang's colors are of unsurpassed richness. A colorist, Jiang's intention was to reverse the trend of the stale Chinese tradition of painting in gray, black, and white. Jiang says: "Chinese art had reached a level due to its lack of color." Jiang's use of imagery. As noted above, Tie-Feng Jiang is a storyteller. His paintings are steeped in Buddhist and Chinese mythology. Each figure has a symbolic meaning. The paintings have so much complexity and visual fascination that the viewer is constantly seeing something new. Jiang says "For every picture there is a story, and for every story there is a picture." Jiang's vision has continued to grow and expand. Probably because of his personal experience in two cultures he has increasingly seen the world as a single system, as a meeting place of diverse forces.

Poster of the "Place Beaubourg" in Paris 1980s
Dimensions
Height: 27.75 in. (70.49 cm)
Width: 39.75 in. (100.97 cm)
Depth: 1 in. (2.54 cm)
Fun silkscreen poster of the place Beaubourg with colorful Niki de St Phalle sculptures and Jean Tinguely as well.
The poster is sitting in its original black metal frame and is printed by "Serigraphie d' Art Aser"

The Centre Pompidou, informally called 'Beaubourg' by many Parisians, is a cultural center and museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

This place in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.

The Centre Pompidou, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles and the Marais. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture contrasting with the 18th-century building in this part of Paris.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Gino Hollander Oil Painting of Shipwreck in a Storm
Dimensions
Height: 41.5 in. (105.41 cm)
Width: 31.63 in. (80.35 cm)
Depth: 1.5 in. (3.81 cm)
Such a realistic painting that makes you feel being in the middle of this shipwreck!
This oil painting is signed and dated 1975. It is sitting in a rough wood frame matching the ocean condition.

"Gino Hollander (1924-2015) was an American painter best known for abstract representations of the human figure, landscapes, and bulls.

In a bold and fluid style similar to the work of Franz Kline, Hollander’s paintings were calligraphic in their energetic mark-making. “I chose painting for the immediacy of the moment the medium can allow—its immediacy of expression. I find my deepest moments are of feeling and that is what I strive for in my painting,” he once reflected. “The art of painting provides me with a constant mirror of my being—both successes and failures, the good moments and bad.” His work is pure emotion.

The painter paints. He refuses to discuss his work or for that matter, art in general. To him "there's nothing verbal about a canvas. A painting is simply one way to express a feeling and feelings can only be made less if they are talked to death". Beginning and end of the conversation.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Little Oil Painting of a Bird Vendor by Armando Morales
Dimensions
Height: 7 in. (17.78 cm)
Width: 5.5 in. (13.97 cm)
Depth: 1.13 in. (2.88 cm)
Finely painted on board this miniature painting is signed A. Morales K .
Armando Morales was a Nicaraguan figurative painter considered one of the most important artist in his country’s history. It's from this painter a very rare work by its size. It is probably an early work.

Born on January 15, 1927 in Granada, Nicaragua, Morales received his formal training at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Managua where he learned to paint in an academic style.

In 1956, Morales won first prize in the Central American Painting Contest “15 de Septiembre” with his work Spook-Tree (1956), which was later purchased by The Museum of Modern Art in New York. After briefly living in the United States, he returned to Central America in 1976, eventually settling in Costa Rica as Nicaragua was in political upheaval.

Morales died on November 16, 2011 in Miami, FL. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C., and the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, among others.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Large Sculpture of Two Tortoises
Dimensions
Height: 30 in. (76.2 cm)
Width: 52 in. (132.08 cm)
Depth: 16.75 in. (42.55 cm)
Summon up the power of deep-sea to your interior or outdoor space with this impressive large sculpture of 2 tortoises in patinated metal on a flat metal base. Strong carved details take the sculpture to a whole other level of craftsmanship.
Perfect for a beach house!
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105
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Oil on Canvas of a Bouquet of Roses Signed Magnin
Dimensions
Height: 33.25 in. (84.46 cm)
Width: 27.75 in. (70.49 cm)
Depth: 1.75 in. (4.45 cm)
A bouquet of white roses painted with oil on canvas in its original 1940s frame.

If you want to craft a cottage-chic aesthetic, this charming oil painting is the perfect pick for your home!

Inspired by the designs found in quaint country homes and Provencal chateaux, this beautiful art piece will take your space from simple to charming.

Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Large Abstract Painting by Mike Kranz
Dimensions:
Height: 39 in. (99.06 cm)
Width: 37.25 in. (94.62 cm)
Depth: 1.50 in. (3.81 cm)
Intricate and mysterious abstract painting signed Mike Kranz 1980.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105
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Drawing by Albert Radoczy
It is signed and dated 1956.
Frame size: 17.75 x 17.75"
A drawing in a single line featuring an odd man sitting by Albert Radoczy.

Albert Radoczy (1914-2008)
Albert Radoczy was a master at exploring the female form. Throughout his career his drawings and paintings depicted women with images ranging from realistic to whimsical, sensual to spiritual and from ethereal to hallucinatory. While his style evolved with time, the focus was always there.

Albert loved the work of Johannes Vermeer and Joachim Pannitir. In fact, Vermeer’s Girl with Red Hat appeared in many of his paintings.

Radoczy’s love for drawing spilled over to his paintings. Many of his works feature a calligraphic style that was made possible by using custom made brushes.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Hollywood Regency SeaShell Mirror
Dimensions:
Height: 36 in. (91.44 cm)
Width: 23.50 in. (59.69 cm)
Depth: 1.50 in. (3.81 cm)
Any beach lover will enjoy this beautiful shell mirror but this mirror is so classical in its shape that it could fit in any decor.
It has been crafted with 3 different shells (one very rare now).
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

"Cattle" Lithograph by Kojin Toneyama
Dimensions:
Height: 26.5 in. (67.31 cm)
Width: 31 in. (78.74 cm)
Depth: 1.50 in. (3.81 cm)

Intricate and striking lithograph titled "Cattle" depicting three bulls. (find them!)
The piece is numbered, signed in Japanese and Latin letters, and dated 1958. It sits in its original cerused wood frame.


Kojin Toneyama (1921-1994) was a Japanese Asian Modern & Contemporary artist. His work was featured in exhibitions at The Art Institute of Chicago and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan).
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Oil Painting by Pierre Devos
Dimensions
Height: 18.32 in. (46.54 cm)
Width: 22.5 in. (57.15 cm)
Depth: 2 in. (5.08 cm)

Pierre Devos ( 1917-1972) was a Belgian artist.
This naive and refreshing painting is signed on the bottom right and dated in the back 1954.
It sits in its original gilded wood frame.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

"The Soft Screws" by Claes Oldenburg Published by Gemini G.E.L
Dimensions:
Height: 37.13 in. (94.32 cm)
Width: 23.25 in. (59.06 cm)
Depth: 1.25 in. (3.18 cm)


Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish-born American sculptor known for his innovative and humorous reconstructions of everyday objects in both large-scale public installations and soft materials.

He is associated with the Pop Art movement. “Because my work is naturally non-meaningful, the meaning found in it will remain doubtful and inconsistent—which is the way it should be,” he explained of his work. “All that I care about is that, like any startling piece of nature, it should be capable of stimulating meaning.

Oldenburg is born in 1929. He went on to study at Yale University before working at the City News Bureau in Chicago and attending the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to New York in 1953. His early shows featured objects assembled with images, papier mâché, and plaster.

By the 1970s, Oldenburg focused his attention on monumental outdoor public sculpture of everyday objects, going to create Free Stamp in Cleveland and Clothespin in Philadelphia.
The artist continues to live and work in New York, NY. Today, his works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, and the Kunstmuseum Basel, among others.

Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Hard Edge Painting signed F. Hartman
Dimensions:
Height: 51 in. (129.54 cm)
Width: 51 in. (129.54 cm)
Depth: 1.25 in. (3.18 cm)


" Hard edge painting is an approach to abstract painting that became widespread in the 1960s and is characterized by areas of flat color with sharp, clear (or ‘hard’) edges.

Jules Langsner, a known American Art critic wrote in 1959 " the forms are finite, flat, rimmed by a hard, clean edge. They are autonomous shapes, sufficient unto themselves as shapes"
Although it was first identified with Californian artists, today the phrase is used to describe one of the most distinctive tendencies in abstract painting throughout the United States in the 1960s.

This painting is a perfect sample of this movement. It is perfectly executed and is signed" F. Hartman" 1994, a nostalgic painter of this period!
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Embossed Etching by Goldie ' #3'
Dimensions
Height: 18.50 in. (46.99 cm)
Width: 21.5 in. (54.61 cm)
Depth: 0.75 in. (1.91 cm)

Embossed lithograph featuring 2 imaginary and mysterious masks signed Goldie and numbered 3/5.
Goldie was an Australian artist (1921-2007).
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Large Ceramic Pottery by Dolores Porras

Dolores Porras is a Mexican potter widely known throughout Mexico and the world for being the creator of a technique rooted in the land of Oaxaca: pottery in natural color, glazed and decorated with floral motifs and colorful animals.

Many of the Dolores Workshop creations are inspired from the trips she made along her life through México. The inclusion of fishes, iguanas, and other forms of flora and fauna that have been reflected in her work, is irrefutable evidence of these experiences.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Set of Five 1950s Pendant Lights
Light up your home, with this set of original Mid-Century Modern pendant lights from the 1950s. Interesting black painted steel set, featuring a slightly conic -shaped shade, perfect for illuminating your entryway, dining room, or kitchen island.
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105

Galerie Sommerlath updated their phone number.

I would like to introduce, my garden guardian. ✨
# Beautiful

" the Mythe of Hula" Oil Painting signed Dane Hidalgo
This oil painting on canvas depicts the woman emerging from the Ocean and becoming a flower.

Hula has its origins in ancient history as a ritual dance performed for the Volcano deity, Pele.
Hula was a way for the ancient Hawaiians to tell their stories with movement and mele (song/chant).
Galerie Sommerlath | 330 S Fair Oaks Ave Pasadena CA, 91105