MICHAEL WOERNER 2018 Oriental Art (CULTURES Brussels)

After our widely acclaimed 2017 exhibition in Brussels of the KOBALT SERIES
ceramics of contemporary Thai artist Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch (with a
follow-up show in December 2017 in Hamburg, and three others in Europe and
the U.S. in the planning), we return to CULTURES with a celebration of the
roots of Thai ceramic art: Earthen Beauty – Masterpieces of Early Thai Ceramics
from the Dr. Kurt Sandmair Collection.
In his professional life Dr Kurt Sandmair was a well-known and highly respected
patent and intellectual property lawyer in Munich. From early on he developed a
passionate interest in the early cultures of Southeast Asia to where he travelled
frequently from the mid-1960s onwards. He was in particular fascinated by the
early ceramics of Mainland Southeast Asia. His extensive business contacts
in Southeast Asia and his frequent visits to museums, art fairs and dealers in
Europe and the U.S. encouraged him to acquire between the mid-1960s and
the early 1980s one of the most significant collections of early Southeast Asian
ceramics. Ready to share his knowledge he contributed to museum exhibitions
and publications. Numerous examples from his collection are nowadays in the
Five Continents Museum (the former Völkerkunde-Museum) in Munich, and
the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Berlin, as well as in other renowned private
collections in Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe and the U.S.
We are honored to showcase some 50 of the finest ceramics from his collection
during CULTURES 2018 in Brussels. Our deep gratitude goes to Mrs I. Sandmair
for making these wonderful objects available for publication and further studies.
We take due diligence seriously: all ceramics in this catalogue have been crosschecked
with the ART LOSS REGISTER, London.
We look forward to seeing you in Brussels.
MICHAEL WOERNER
Brussels, June 2018
5