If you are a serious collector you would have been fortunate to meet Bernard Steinitz or his son, Benjamin either in their gallery located at 77, rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré in Paris or run into them at any one of the antique shows like Biennale des Antiquaires, BRAFA, Moscow World Fine Art Fair, TEFAF Maastricht, New York Antiques Shows or any others of such calibers.
Galerie Steinitz started in business in 1968, is widely regarded as the most opulent showroom in Paris, and a referenced source for collectors of the most rarest of objects. The gallery collections date from the Haute Epoque to the twentieth century, and does not only include French and European work but also rare pieces from Asia, India, Russia and South America. Although, French is understandably their favorite, and as Bernard has been quoted of saying "out of all the periods all around the world, nothing can be compared to the French quality, classical with very strict rules of production, expertise, style and certain sense of equilibrium, harmony."
Bernard Steinitz, recognised as one of France's greatest antiquarians, was born in Dijon in 1933, a self-made man whose personal challenge is hunting for previously unidentified rarity. As Bernard once related; "the best discoveries are the ones that you pay little money for! What is really costly, very expensive, is not necessarily the item that gives you the most pleasure. What is very exciting, are the pieces that are very rare - items that just because you have the money, you cannot buy. Because these pieces are rare, most often people do not know of them, they are not on the market. The best discovery I made was in front of two thousand people for nothing."
Many of Steinitz's discoveries are sold or given as a gift to museums to be preserved for generations as a source of joy and awe. Bernard Steinitz eye for rarities and his ability to painstakingly restore them to their former glory has earned him the trust and a privileged relationship with museums and cultural institutions such as the Louvre, Versailles, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the J.P. Getty Museum.
One of Steinitz's signature is faithful recreation of the past with a sense of it place in the present, which is evident in the opulent displays that mark his exhibitions at his gallery as well antiques shows.
“Goût Steinitz” is a part of interior designing lexicon, and has been credited with designing the interiors for several prestigious figures, including luxury-goods mogul Bernard Arnault.
Bernard Steinitz is passing the baton to his son Benjamin, who now presided over Galerie Steinitz.
We present below some of Steinitz-styled exhibitions; the aristocratic and haut bourgeois interiors from Louis XIV to Napoleon III that is faithfully envisioned and endowed in them are purposefully designed to transport the viewer to another time and place, evoking a modicum of the original experience and establishing an affinity with the past.
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| Benjamin and Bernard Steinitz |
