(Los Angeles) Elegant and sensual, Biedermeier furniture has enjoyed several revivals since the style's emergence in 1815. In the U.S., the market for these masterfully veneered pieces has been growing steadily since the 1970s. Two years ago, Adam Brown and Andrea Zemel opened Iliad Antik in New York City's design district. Offering the finest in classic Viennese Biedermeier, the gallery was an instant success. Now, Los Angeles, too, has a prestige resource for Biedermeier furnishings as Iliad Antik L.A. opens November 2002.

Located in the newly-renovated landmark Denenberg Fine Arts Building, Iliad Antik L.A. exhibits Biedermeier furniture in a spacious modernist environment. Sharing the space with Denenberg Fine Arts, Iliad Antik presents choice pieces in harmonious vignettes surrounded by Beverly and Stuart Denenberg's collection of important artworks from old masters to impressionists to the modernists. The airy gallery showcases the furniture to optimal effect, highlighting its linear geometries and sumptuous surfaces.

Iliad Antik's quick rise to prominence is a tribute to the singular sensibility and contagious enthusiasm of Andrea Zemel and Adam Brown. Dedicated to showcasing the inherent modernity of the style, the gallery imports only pieces from the "high" era of Austro-Hungarian Biedermeier, from 1815 to 1830. These works reveal true innovation, elegance and playfulness in sculptural, often whimsical, forms. Made from native forest hardwoods and fruitwoods, the exotic veneers and decorative restraint of Biedermier furnishings lend each piece a sophistication appealing to the modern eye.

Although highly selective, Iliad Antik maintain's one of the world's largest Biedermeier inventories. With relationships developed over many years, the gallery has access to homes and private collections throughout Central and Eastern Europe, enabling Iliad Antik to acquire rare and unusual pieces unseen in the U.S. market. And, as New York designers have come to know, Iliad Antik features works of impeccable quality. All of Iliad Antik's Biedermeier is expertly restored by an atelier exclusive to the gallery. Using period craft techniques for guilding, polishing, woodworking and upholstery, Iliad returns pieces to their original appearance to Vienna Museum standard.

While the New York showroom displays furnishings from periods complementary to the Biedermeier style, including Empire, Neoclassical and Art Deco-Iliad Antik L.A.'s main focus is high period Austrian Biedermeier. The style encompasses many furniture types definitive of the genre: armoires, vitrines, sofas, bergeres, side tables and pedestal dining tables. Among the more unusual pieces exhibited in Los Angeles are a very rare Viennese recamier (chaise) circa 1830 and Egyptian-influenced cherry faux semaniers armoires circa 1820.

Features from the New York showroom due to arrive in Los Angeles at a later date include examples from a collection of Hungarian and Czech Impressionist and Modernist paintings. Not available during the Communist era, these significant works comprise oils by Bela Kadar, Istvan Szenyi and Oszkar Nagy, among many others.

With its distinctive selection, elegant presentation and high-quality, Iliad Antik L.A. is designed to be the premier resource for Biedermeier on the West Coast. Suitable to both contemporary and traditional interiors, Biedermeier furnishings lend their sculptural simplicity and lustrous surfaces to any environment.

Iliad Antik L.A. is located at the Denenberg Fine Arts Building, 417 N. San Vicente Boulevard. in the heart of West Hollywood's Avenues of Art and Design. Hours are by appointment. For more information, the public may contact the gallery at (310) 360-9360 or through www.iliadny.com.