1930s Compagnie des Arts Francais Cocktail Table

This 1930s Italian bench is so over-scaled, and monumental in appearance, that it seems to have been made for the large room it was destined, rather than the comfort of a typical sitter. As such, it would function equally well as a low side table or a high cocktail table. We’ll allow the buyer to determine its use. The designer was Pierluigi Colli, and the fabricator Martinotti, the Turin furniture and interior decorating firm that was established in 1831, and exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair. Colli’s family owned a textile company that supplied Martinotti with upholstery fabrics, suggesting nepotism had something to do with his being hired as the firm's director in 1926. Nevertheless, he proved himself worthy as a designer and a businessman. Having studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, he befriended leading French designers, and arranged for Martinotti to retail Lalique glass and Jean Perzel lighting. In addition, the quality of their work, and Colli’s dedication to the modern design movement, prompted Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, and Gino Levi-Montalcini, among others, to have Martinotti fabricate some of their furniture. Colli’s claim to fame, however, is his own work as a designer, and his ability to master the vocabularies of every trend from Art Deco to midcentury modern. During the Great Depression, when nearly every nation floundered economically, fascist Italy...

Our table was made of birch, solid and veneered, stained a rich brown, and topped off with a slab of Bohemian breccia marble. We date it to around 1928, and attribute the design to Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, who coined the term Kultivierte Sachlichkeit (Cultured Objectivity) to describe his work, and distinguish it from the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) practiced by his contemporaries Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and Lily Reich. The table bears a passing resemblance to a considerably simplified, marble-topped ovoid one that he designed for his 1934 Berlin living room. Breuhaus was a man on the make. The first of his three marriages was to the daughter of an industrialist, who financed the building of luxury villas and workers’ housing designed by his son-in-law. In 1929, Breuhaus, the son of a dentist, added “de Groot” to his name, falsely linking himself to a distinguished family of painters. By then, he’d been fudging his academic record for years. That didn’t prevent a teaching appointment at the State University of Bavaria, which allowed him to add the prestigious “Herr Professor” prefix to his name. Yet he never followed through on the teaching — he was far too busy designing more luxury villas (commissions he accepted only if he could furnish them as well), and products for his own company, which included furniture, textiles, wallpapers, lighting, and fine silver. In addition to designing aircraft interiors for Lufthansa, and pullman railroad...

This English 1930s mirror-framed dressing table mirror could also serve as a frame for a photograph. On the cresting are three acid-etched plumes...

This late 1930s Venini chandelier has two rings of curved-glass elements suspended from a brass frame. It appears to glow magically from within because the glass elements are infuse...

Véronese was established in 1931 by Marcel Barbier. The firm was unique in having a design office in Paris and a glasswork on Murano. They developed a product line of clear translucent glass that was promoted through extensive advertising, and sold from striking modern showrooms in Paris and Nice. Their master glassblower was Giovanni Veronese, but the name was probably meant to evoke the 17th century Venetian painter Paolo Veronese, who depicted glassware and other luxury goods. Launched during the Depression, Véronese devised a lean business model. Rather than having an in-house art director they commissioned designs from independent architects, like Marcel Roux...

These earthbound chairs appear to be weightless. Such is the illusion that the designer René Prou was able to create in 1930s Paris with the aid of a highly-skilled upholsterer. Befo...

About this "Bar Table" by Jacques Adnet Bar table with steel structure entirely covered with rush. The top made up of 3 thick oak elements resting on ties covered in saddle stitche...

Pair of side tables in steel entirely covered in saddle stitched leather. Particularly elegant in shape, these tables are made of a single sheet of steel forming the top, bottom and ...

Very nice Italian side table, 1930's. This lovely table is handcrafted out of wood. Please take notice of the very nice patterns. The table has the normal traces of use, see the p...

Jean Pascaud (1903-1916) - A fine French Art Deco coffee table by Jean Pascaud.

Side table with wings in walnut wood in the Spanish Castilian style. Beautiful small side table with side wings. A very fine quality early 20th ce...

Art Deco Macassar and walnut veneer occasional coffee table, made in the 1930s in Central Europe. It features a storage space for magazines, documents etc. Very elegant design. It ha...