British Embassy, Paris
Being involved in the refurbishment project of the British Embassy in Paris has been very special experience, the project was dear to my heart. I was responsible for the care of the art collection comprising of almost three-hundred historical, modern, and contemporary pieces.
Due to the pandemic the project like others was delayed. When we restarted our mission the original ceilings on the ground floor of the Chancery building were discovered. It was then decided to restore these overhead surfaces to their former glory. This decision caused further delays as restoration experts had to be appointed, additional funds had to be secured, other building work and the installation of the artworks had to be rescheduled.
The images below demonstrate their transformation. It was certainly worth spending the extra funds and accepting the postponement of planned project work to revive these magnificent 18th century ceilings.
Courtesy and ©British Embassy, Paris; Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2023.
Van Gogh in America
Until 22 January 2023, the Detroit Institute of Art staged the exhibition ‘Van Gogh in America’ and attracted over 230,000 visitors from near and afar. The exhibition comprised 74 works by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, with loans from over 50 international public and private collections and was endorsed by the artist's descendants and the official Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This ambitious project proofed to be an outstanding success. Director Salvador Salort-Pon stated: ‘The Detroit Art Institute was the first museum in the United States to purchase a painting by van Gogh in 1922. The museum had this incredible foresight to understand his talent and bring it to their collection’.
It has been a privilege being involved in this fantastic exhibition, escorting several high-value loans on behalf of their owners to and from Detroit.
Courtesy and ©Detroit Art Institute, Eric Wheeler and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2023
Online-Training Shanghai Automobile Museum and Power Station of Art
During December 2022 and January 2023, I provided online training to the Shanghai Automobile Museum and the Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China. The sessions focused on exhibition delivery, curatorial and operational issues, audience and volunteer development and engaging with artists in the wider museum context. Although the sessions were online, I was impressed how the delegates approached the training sessions, the departmental representatives applied some of my suggestions in their professional and operative areas. It has been a great pleasure working with my museum’s colleagues in Shanghai.
Courtesy and ©Stephanie Yan, Shanghai Automobile Museum, Power Station of Art Shanghai and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2023.
Emma Witter – Rituals and Remnants
“So much of history is mystery. We don't know what is lost forever, what will surface again. All objects exist in a moment of time. And that fragment of time is preserved or lost or found in mysterious ways. Mystery is a wonderful part of life”.
Amy Tan , 1952 - Present
The British artist Emma Witter is a prolific found object and material collector. Her studio contains boxes filled with bones, glass, ceramics, feathers, fish skin and many other novelties. If a discovery catches Witter’s eye and arrests her imagination, it will be carefully packed and needly organised, awaiting her creative rigor. Through different processes she transforms her treasures into stunning enchanting pieces, imbued with new connotations and life.
Courtesy and ©Emma Witter and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2023.