Andre Arbus and Gilbert Poillerat Small Table

About the Item

French Forties Art Deco petite drinks/coffee/cocktail table designed by Andre Arbus and executed by Gilbert Poillerat, circa 1945 in patinated iron with gilt details. This small gem uses the exuberant styling of the immediate post-World War II movement. Measures: 20” long x 12” wide x 16” high. Andre Arbus (1903-1969) French Art Deco Architect and Designer, ANDRE ARBUS, WAS born in Toulouse, France. A third-generation cabinetmaker, Arbus became active in the Salons of the Societe des Artistes Decorateurs and the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1925 at the young age of 22. His work included commissions for the 1922 oceanliner Bretagne, the 1927 La Provence and Ile-de-France as well as the 1961 France. He often used rare and exotic materials in his refined designs. These were elegant and pure and often gave the appearance of fragility – as in his neo-classical presentation at the Paris International Exposition of 1937. He compared the joints in his furniture to the joints of the human hand. His commissions also included private townhouses as well as Le Mobilier National for which designed a desk for U.S. Ambassador W. H. Harriman, and the post World War II Medici Room of the Chateau de Rambouillet. Gilbert Poillerat (1902-1988) French ironworker/designer Gilbert Poillerat is one of a handful of the most renowned metalworkers of the 20th Century. He studied engraving at the Ecole Boulle in Paris. And from 1921 until 1927 he worked for the world-famous Edgar Brandt in the rue Marat in Paris as a designer and creator of wrought-iron furniture and furnishings. In 1927 he joined the carpentry and metal construction workshop of Baudet, Donon et Roussel, in charge of its new wrought iron section. He designed and produced grillework, tables, chairs, consoles, screens, lighting and firedogs. His work was exhibited for the first time at the 1928 Salon d’Automne. Working in a variety of media from jewelry to clothing, Poillerat’s metalwork was rendered in characteristic curvaceous calligraphic forms. He designed a bronze door for the 1935 oceanliner, Normandie. His commissions included work for the Bibliotheque Nationale and the Palais de Chaillot. In 1946 he became a professor at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs and set up his own workshop. Abandoning furniture and furnishings he turned to monumental wrought iron work, filling a number of commissions including public and governmental buildings and the Palais de l’Elysee (the French White House). In 1957 he designed the façade ironwork of the new synagogue in Strasbourg. He often worked with another prominent French designer, Jacques Adnet.

Creator:

Gilbert Poillerat (Metalworker),André Arbus (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 12 in (30.48 cm)

Style:

Art Deco (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Iron,Gilt

Place of Origin:

France

Period:

1940-1949