Georges Louis Claude

Georges Louis Claude (1879-1963) Still life with fruits, 1938, oil on paper

1938

Georges Louis Claude was born in Paris in 1879. The artist first studied at the Bernard Palissy School of Drawing in Paris. There he learned mythological and religious subjects, the art of portraiture, still life and of course, wall decoration, which became his favourite medium. His career began as an architectural decorator for the Galland house in Paris. He then collaborated with the orientalist architect Alexandre Marcel. Noticed at the at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, he decided to emancipate himself and presented his his own projects. It was at this time that Georges-Louis laude was to seduce some of the most influential personalities of their time with his talent. First of all King Leopold II of Belgium, followed immediately by Baron Empain became infatuated with the artist to decorate palaces and flats. In Belgium, Georges-Louis Claude was chosen to decorate the Royal Palace of Laeken (Japanese Tower and Chinese pavilion). Baron Empain, takes him to Egypt, where he decorates Heliopolis, and the Palace Hotel (current seat of the Egyptian presidency) in a pharaonic project without equivalent at the time. Unfortunately, the war put a stop to hishis meteoric rise. In 1917, back from the front, wounded, his new projects will be more Parisian. He decorated, among other things, the chapel of the dead in the Saint François-Xavier church in Paris and Gambetta's urn in the Pantheon. These worksites made him rediscover the art of stained glass, which became one of his favourite media. He presented numerous projects, always renewing this art of fire. He was awarded the grand prize for stained glass at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1925. He collaborated with the greatest, including Jacques Gruber. The master glassworkers Chigot, Dagrant and Balmet were close friends of his. Finally, he successfully tried his hand at ceramics. The manufacture of Sèvres is one of his main clients and he was responsible for numerous models and decorations. He received state orders and was awarded the grand prize for ceramics at the French Exhibition in Cairo in 1929. Thereafter, he never stopped drawing and painting. He settled in Brittany in the Vannes region, then in Provence, and finally settling permanently in the Paris region. From 1923 to 1938, he was a teacher at the School of Applied Arts in Paris. His pupils included the future master glass artist Paul Bonny and the poster artist Hervé Morvan. He died in 1963 in Montmorency (Val d'Oise) In 1992, the Cairo cultural centre devoted a major retrospective to him, the exhibition "the three Orients of Georges-Louis Claude". In 1995, the Town Hall of Levallois (Haut de Seine) sponsored a retrospective exhibition of all his work. Main achievements: - The Chinese restaurant at the Royal Palace in Laeken (Belgium) - The dome of the Heliopolis Palace (Cairo) - The Saint Christophe Church in Châteauroux - The town hall of Calais - Multiple works for the Manufacture de Sèvres