About us
Proportio Divina Art Gallery
is located in a monumental, early 20th century house in the center of Arnhem. We are specialised in Dutch decorative arts of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco period, from approximately 1880 till 1925. Our collection consists mostly of sculptures and ceramics from this period, from known Dutch potteries like Amstelhoek, Arnhemsche Fayence, Haga, The Distel and Rozenburg Den Haag.
The highlights of our collection are the famous eggshell porcelain pieces of Rozenburg Den Haag. Besides sculptures and ceramics, we also offer paintings, watercolours and drawings from the 19th and 20th century.
History of the Proportio Divina art gallery
Proportio Divina Art Gallery was founded by Marc Knook in 2004.
We started off with a sizeable collection of Dutch earthenware from the Art Nouveau period. Quite soon this collection was expanded with several pieces of Rozenburg eggshell porcelain. By 2007 we had no less than 50 pieces in our collection.
In the same year we loaned several unique eggshell porcelain vases to the The Hague Gemeentemuseum, for the art exhibition ‘Rozenburg-Plateel from The Hague circles’ (October 2007 – March 2008).
Later that year, we came up with the idea to hold a ‘one night only’ sales exhibition with the Rozenburg eggshell collection at the Gemeentemuseum. This exhibition, called ‘A Night at the Museum’, took place on December 14th 2007. The guest list contained 222 names, but this number rapidly rose to almost 300 during the evening!
A review about this evening can be read here: ‘The art trade and the museums’.
Collaboration with museums
Proportio Divina has national and international clients, including private collectors, investors and museums. We have sold artworks to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the The Hague Gemeentemuseum and the The Hague Historical museum.
We regularly loan works from our own collection, as well as from private collections of our relations, to museums for exhibitions. Our artworks were shown at the ‘Made in Holland’ exhibition in the Princessehof Ceramics Museum, the ‘Art Nouveau in Holland’ exhibition in the The Hague Gemeentemuseum, the ‘Chris Lebeau, Flora & Fauna’ exhibition in the Tilburg Textile Museum and at the ‘Nude or Naked?’ exhibition in the Jan Cunen Museum in Oss.
We play an active role in stimulating our clients and relations to loan their art objects to museums for exhibitions.
The Hague Salon
In 2015, Proportio Divina, in collaboration with Antes Art 1900 and G.J. Nieuwenhuizen Segaar Art Gallery, opened an Art Nouveau and Art Deco gallery in The Hague, called ‘The Hague Salon’, at the Laan van Meerdervoort 41. The Hague Salon had a flying start, with a successful first exhibition and a ‘Private Dinner’, in late January 2015. Some time later, Stylo Gallery, which specialises in vintage posters, joined The Hague Salon. Stylo gallery provides a rich addition to the Salon with its remarkable, old and original posters. The extensive, collaborative collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco objects at The Hague Salon contains vintage posters, remarkable and exclusive furniture, French and Dutch art glass, sculptures, earthenware, porcelain, lamps and paintings.