A family-owned business specializing in Art Deco antiques…
Interview with Luis Guevara of Guevara Gallery
Guevara Gallery: a collectible passion
One of the special moments of the 15th World Congress on Art Deco will be the exhibition and cocktail at Guevara Gallery that Argentine antiquarian, Luis Guevara, has been running for several decades.
His passion for the classics and trained eye are inherited from his father, Francisco Luis Guevara, also an antiquarian, who embraced the profession in Mendoza in the 1960s.
How was Guevara Gallery born?
“In 1982 I decided to set up a store in Buenos Aires on Calle Defensa San Telmo. I was always passionate about the Art Nouveau style and began collecting French glasses. Always working with the Argentine public and American and European merchants, I ventured into everything that is considered old: phonographs, slots, music boxes and furniture and lighting of all styles.
Why do you think Guevara Gallery is an important reference for Art Deco in Argentina?
“In 1990 I had an epiphany and decided that I would only concentrate on the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, and I bought everything I could in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. I helped create the Art Nouveau Association and the Art Deco Association. I was a founding member of the Association of Antique Dealers in which I was vice president until this year, when I left office to concentrate on my business. I have a huge collection of Art Deco and Art Nouveau pieces including furniture, lighting, sculptures, signed glass, German WMF, and some other very special pieces. We exhibited in some antique fairs throughout the world. We collaborated by looking for pieces for museums that were known to have arrived from America and Europe, and we helped to find pieces by important designers who once worked in Argentina or were known to have been sold here.”
Over the years, Luis Guevara specialized in a style, Art Deco: “I was captivated because it brings together various artistic manifestations that converged between the decades of the twenties and thirties in Europe and the United States. It is characterized by designs, often exotic, straight lines, and geometric figures. Cubism, the Bauhaus, the art of Egypt, Africa, the East and America come together in this movement that became an undisputed symbol of the glamor that marked an era.”
Is the Art Deco style popular with buyers / collectors? What do they look for mostly?
“It is the style that always remains in force, it is very sought after by important decorators and collectors of the world. They usually look for specific pieces, depending on if it is to build a hotel, a residence, or a museum ”.
Are you also interested in the stories behind the pieces? Anything special you want to share?
“History is always important… We have collaborated with information and pieces for the realization of Art Nouveau and Art Deco books by Shneider, Jean Michel Frank, Galle, and Daun Nancy.”
erview with Luis Guevara of Guevara Gallery
Guevara Gallery: a collectible passion
One of the special moments of the 15th World Congress on Art Deco will be the exhibition and cocktail at Guevara Gallery that Argentine antiquarian, Luis Guevara, has been running for several decades.
His passion for the classics and trained eye are inherited from his father, Francisco Luis Guevara, also an antiquarian, who embraced the profession in Mendoza in the 1960s.
How was Guevara Gallery born?
“In 1982 I decided to set up a store in Buenos Aires on Calle Defensa San Telmo. I was always passionate about the Art Nouveau style and began collecting French glasses. Always working with the Argentine public and American and European merchants, I ventured into everything that is considered old: phonographs, slots, music boxes and furniture and lighting of all styles.
Why do you think Guevara Gallery is an important reference for Art Deco in Argentina?
“In 1990 I had an epiphany and decided that I would only concentrate on the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, and I bought everything I could in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. I helped create the Art Nouveau Association and the Art Deco Association. I was a founding member of the Association of Antique Dealers in which I was vice president until this year, when I left office to concentrate on my business. I have a huge collection of Art Deco and Art Nouveau pieces including furniture, lighting, sculptures, signed glass, German WMF, and some other very special pieces. We exhibited in some antique fairs throughout the world. We collaborated by looking for pieces for museums that were known to have arrived from America and Europe, and we helped to find pieces by important designers who once worked in Argentina or were known to have been sold here.”
Over the years, Luis Guevara specialized in a style, Art Deco: “I was captivated because it brings together various artistic manifestations that converged between the decades of the twenties and thirties in Europe and the United States. It is characterized by designs, often exotic, straight lines, and geometric figures. Cubism, the Bauhaus, the art of Egypt, Africa, the East and America come together in this movement that became an undisputed symbol of the glamor that marked an era.”
Is the Art Deco style popular with buyers / collectors? What do they look for mostly?
“It is the style that always remains in force, it is very sought after by important decorators and collectors of the world. They usually look for specific pieces, depending on if it is to build a hotel, a residence, or a museum ”.
Are you also interested in the stories behind the pieces? Anything special you want to share?
“History is always important… We have collaborated with information and pieces for the realization of Art Nouveau and Art Deco books by Shneider, Jean Michel Frank, Galle, and Daun Nancy.”
