The Life of Mr. Bing
Siegfried Bing was a master of porcelains and ceramics. Born in Hamburg, he became the owner of the Bing family enterprise when his brother, Michael, passed away. He developed his own import-export business in the 70s which flourished, and had his first Japan Auction Sale in '76.
While he did exported with various other entities, he grew fascinated on Asian and Japanese arts and focused on importing and exporting with those countries. His interests grew so much that in 1880, he finally took a trip to Japan for a year and as in the documentary, he bought up whatever he came across during his trip.
In 1895, he opened up his famous gallery, Maison de l'Art Nouveau, which eventually would perpetuate the Art Nouveau style which would be incorporated by future artists. Bing's gallery featured entire rooms designed in the Art Nouveau style, believing that art should be incorporated even in the most mundane of items like chairs.
The gallery was successful from 1896 through 1902, with Bing showing up many works of artists such as Louis Tiffany. He dealt with major museums and helped to promote a global art market. Bing closed his gallery during 1904, an year before his death when the fashion for Art Nouveau was beginning to decrease.
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