Susan Bittan, of Big City Galleries, has been in the business of antiques for more than twenty years. She started in New York City at the flea markets and soon afterwards was hired by a prominent NY estate buyer where she received a broad and comprehensive education in almost every facet of antiques. You had to have a diverse field of knowledge to go into a Fifth avenue apartment overlooking Central Park and buy its entire contents. When the student surpassed the teacher, she opened her own shop in Manhattans antique district, specializing in the objects she was attracted to the most, twentieth century antiques, Art Nouveau and Art Deco with an emphasis on art glass.
Her love and study of art glass brought her in particular to the work of Charles Schneider, a French glassmaker who apprenticed at Daum around 1900 and opened his own glassworks in Nancy, France in 1918. His use of color and stylized design was innovative and groundbreaking. He soon became the largest and most successful glass producer in France, eclipsing Lalique and Daum. His success lasted until the mid 1930’s, when in the middle of the Depression, demand for hand blown art glass fell off worldwide. His vases are still as visually exciting and fresh as they were when shown at the 1925 Exhibition of Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Susan has amassed one of the premier collections in the world of Schneider glass and recently contributed many pieces to the new reference work on Schneider by Joulin-Maier. It is now the definitive book on his art.
She exhibits at Modernism shows and maintains an inventory of glass and other Twentieth Century items, such as sculpture, ceramics, fine art and jewelry. She also helps a select private clientele assemble personal collections and regularly gets calls from auction houses for authentication.