modern movements in Europe since 1890
EUROPEAN
MODERNITY(IES)
(1895-1935)
September 20 –– November 10, 2022
Edition II
GERMANY
. A member of the Mathildenhöhe artists' colony in Darmstadt, Patriz Huber (1878-1902) designed this rare armchair in 1901 for the studio house of the painter Paul Bürck, on the occasion of the International Architecture Exhibition, of which only two were made. It was clearly designed for relaxation. The simple but precious silk velvet underlines the exceptional architecture of this chair, with all its details: the legs, the interesting arc developed from the rear legs and supporting the armrests, which widen towards the front and have an almost organic shape. Huber died suddenly at the age of 24, at the very start of his budding career. His ideas and vision of the decorative arts were so avant-garde that he had every reason to be one of the great artists of the twentieth century.
PATRIZ HUBER
GERMAN SCHOOL CIRCA 1920
GERMANY
. Founded in 1872, Hess & Rom, a Berlin furniture manufacturer, is the creator of this important high-back armchair featuring a richly sculpted decoration. Its arched armrests and backrest are defined by stylised flowers and foliage, echoed in the silk damask of its seat, which is said to have been modelled on the tapestry of the rooms at Ludwigsburg Castle in Germany, redesigned by Johann Georg Barca (1781-1826).
HESS & ROM
FRANCE
. French architect and designer Eugène Gaillard (1862-1933) collaborated with Georges de Feure (1868-1943) and Édouard Colonna (1862-1948) to create the interiors and furniture for the famous Bing Art Nouveau Pavilion at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. Under Bing's direction, these artists pursued an aesthetic programme based on the ‘old French tradition’ and imbued with a ‘lively spirit of modernity’. Gaillard was responsible for three rooms in the pavilion, including the dining room, which featured a sideboard identical to this one, although with different bronze drawer handles.
EUGÈNE GAILLARD
EUGÈNEGAILLARD
EUGÈNE GAILLARD
FRANCE
. French interior designer Paul Follot (1877-1941) was one of the pioneers of Art Deco. Although his beginnings were marked by the curves and counter-curves of Art Nouveau, he quickly made a transition in his style - as shown by these richly sculpted chairs created between 1911 and 1913, with backs depicting a bouquet of roses surrounded by stylised foliage. Their lines, early for their time, heralded the birth of Art Deco almost fifteen years before the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The accuracy and elegance of the shapes and the floral motifs of these chairs are characteristics that will persist throughout his work.
PAUL FOLLOT
FRANCE
. A prolific painter, decorator, poster artist and designer, Georges de Feure (1868-1943) was chosen by Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) to create the exterior décor for the Bing Art Nouveau Pavilion at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. In addition to this design, their collaboration continued with the creation of two interiors for the same pavilion - including a bathroom cabinet in which this dressing table, or an identical model, was exhibited.
GEORGES DE FEURE
BELGIUM
. A French decorator and architect based in Belgium, Alban Chambon (1847-1928) designed major monuments in the Belgian capital and along its coastline. As the head of a company founded in Brussels in 1868, he worked with many architects before later collaborating with his own sons. Among them was Alfred Chambon (1884-1973), who developed a passion for modern architecture and furniture. Together, father and son created major decorative ensembles, including this chandelier with its neo-classical motifs. A similar chandelier, albeit incomplete, is preserved at the CIVA in Brussels.
ALBAN & ALFRED CHAMBON
EUGÈNE GAILLARD
FRANCE
. Recognised as a key figure in the Functionalist movement, Francis Jourdain (1876-1958) initially set his sights on painting, a practice he inherited from his multi-disciplinary apprenticeship and his exposure to the artistic circles of the time thanks to his father, Frantz Jourdain (1847-1935), a famous architect and the first president of the Salon d'Automne. However, he turned to the applied arts, in particular furniture design. A committed artist, sensitive to the living conditions of workers, he created ‘interchangeable furniture’, simple and accessible to all, which he mass-produced from 1912 onwards in his Ateliers Modernes.
FRANCIS JOURDAIN
NETHERLANDS
. The Dutch architect and furniture designer Piet Klaarhamer (1874-1954) influenced many of his contemporaries, including the famous Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964), who remembers him as a ‘craftsman, predecessor and innovator’. [...] In particular, Klaarhamer passed on to him his love of concrete and the cheap materials used in civil architecture. Thus, most of the qualities that we now attribute to Rietveld would seem to have fallen to his teacher. In 1919, however, Klaarhamer withdrew himself, feeling that he had been surpassed by his pupil, who was promoted in his place by Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931).
PIET KLAARHAMER
NETHERLANDS
. Lucas Christiaan Dumont (1865-1935), chief architect and town planner for the city of Haarlem (Netherlands) from 1902 to 1930, was one of the most eminent representatives of modern architecture in the Netherlands, along with Hendrik Petrus Berlage in Amsterdam and Willem Marinus Dudok in Hilversum. The only example known to date, this armchair is a historic piece from the Dutch avant-garde Nieuwe Bouwen & De Stijl, essential sources of the Bauhaus and modernist architecture of the 1930s. A very similar model, in oak and brown leather, furnished the Wethouderskamer (literally the Law Makers' Chamber or Aldermen's Chamber) in Haarlem Town Hall, whose modernisation and design were successfully entrusted to Dumont around 1925.