A designer and ensemblier, Jules Leleu was one of the key authors of the Art Deco movement. While he did not win the fame of such contemporaries as Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Jean-Michel Frank, Leleu had a longer career and was easily their peer in the conception of trim, refined furniture forms and in the use of the opulent materials — from lacquer and ivory to sharkskin and exotic woods — that were a keynote of haute Art Deco design.
Leleu was born into a family of artisans and decorators. Their firm, Maison Leleu, had existed since the 18th century and Jules would guide it through much of the 20th. (The business lasted until 1973, headed at the end by Jules's children.) He studied architecture, served as an aviator in World War I, and after the conflict took up design full-time.
Leleu presented work at the 1925 exposition in Paris that gave us the term Art Deco, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased a burl amboyna wood commode by Leleu directly from the show.
As the desks, dining tables and other furniture on 1stDibs show, Leleu was a stickler for precision craft and preferred to let his materials do the talking — his furniture is generally spare and sleek; its presence is established by figuring (or patterning/graining) in the wood and the occasional marquetry medallion. He had a keen eye for currents in design and an adaptable sensibility.
Maison Leleu would embrace many of the starker forms of modernism after the 1940s, as well as new materials such as artificial lacquer and plastics (then considered cutting-edge rather than cheap). Jules Leleu is a guiding light of 20th-century modernism: a man whose work represents both a devotion to traditional handiwork and an appreciation for the next wave in design.
Find Jules Leleu tables, sideboards, dining chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.
Important Art Deco Console by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Roma, IT
An exceptional and early Art Deco console by Jules Leleu, dating from the early 1920s — a period marking the full emergence of Leleu’s mature decorative style. Presented at a time wh...
Mahogany, Amboyna
Art Deco Rosewood Secretaire by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Miami, FL
A Rosewood marquetry Secretaire with Mother of Pearl and Ebony inlays depicting blossoming small wild flowers branches and butterflies on the front door. This piece has 5 drawers t...
Rosewood
Fine Art Deco Sideboard by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bridgewater, CT
Jules Leleu (1883-1961). An important rosewood cabinet, decorated with a spray of inlay mother-of-pearl flowers and butterflies, legs with gilded bronze sabots. With the original ...
Bronze
Art Deco Secretaire in Feather Mahogany
Located in Montelabbate, PU
Art Deco Secretaire in feather mahogany. Packaging with bubble wrap and cardboard boxes is included. If the wooden packaging is needed (crates or boxes) for US and International Shi...
Bronze
Jules Leleu Attributed Art Deco French Sideboard
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bradenton, FL
A French Art Deco period sideboard attributed to Jules Leleu. Made of mahogany, it consists of four seperate pieces secured together with bolts. A central cabinet with a beveled frame has book matched cabinet doors decorated with an elaborately scrolled brass escutcheon. Inside are two hand dovetailed drawers above a single shelf. Serpentine cabinets on either side each house a serpentine curved shelf...
Brass
$18,000
H 37.38 in W 94.5 in D 16.32 in
A Fine French Art Deco Walnut Music Cabinet or Sideboard by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Long Island City, NY
With two pairs of doors opening to four vinyl record storage compartments, a center drop front opens to receive a turntable and a center speaker compartment; center panel ornamented ...
Bronze
$19,785
H 37.01 in W 98.43 in D 21.26 in
Jules Leleu French Rosewood Diamond Marquetry Art Deco Sideboard, 1940's
By Jules Leleu
Located in Sofia, BG
Jules Leleu French rosewood diamond Marquetry Art Deco sideboard, 1940's This French Art Deco sideboard originates from the 1940s, It was produced by ...
Rosewood
French Art Deco Sideboard in style of Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Split, Splitsko-dalmatinska županija
French Art Deco sideboard in style of Jules Leleu. The sideboard features stunning Lemon tree wood grain with a thin decorative mother of pearl inlay design with butterflies and bird...
Fruitwood
Art Deco Secretaire in the Manner of Ruhlmann
Located in Bridgewater, CT
An exceptional quality Art Deco Secretaire in the manner of J.E. Ruhlmann in Ebene de Macassar with galuchat (shagreen) interior, circa 1930.
Macassar
French Art Deco Credenza After Jules Leleu
By Andre Sornay, Dominique, André Arbus, Jules Leleu, Jacques Adnet
Located in Houston, TX
French Art Deco Credenza After Jules Leleu. This lovely French Art Deco credenza has a beautifully decorated geometric pattern to it with three doors, three drawers with shelves. Our French Deco credenza...
Sycamore
French Art Deco Jules Leleu Style Buffet
By Jules Leleu
Located in North Bergen, NJ
French Art Deco Jules Leleu buffet Having beautiful mother-of-pearl inlay with gorgeous marquetry. Bronze detail highlighting the wood bea...
Wood
French Art Deco Wardrobe Attributed to Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Forest Row, East Sussex
An Art Deco wardrobe attributed to Jules Leleu. Satinwood with brass detail to corners and original capped feet
Satinwood
Art Deco Luminous Vitrine, Display Cabinet, Jules Leleu Style
By Jules Leleu, Jean Pascaud
Located in Bochum, NRW
Art Deco interior illuminated vitrine, dry bar, display cabinet, in the manner of Jules Leleu, France, 1940s Wood veneer display cabinet, glass door opening, mirrored interior, origi...
Bronze
$48,500
H 36.25 in W 170 in D 20 in
Fine Art Deco Mahogany and Rosewood Sideboard Buffet by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Montreal, QC
Rare and elegant mahogany and rosewood Art Deco buffet by Jules Leleu inset with mother of pearl floral motifs and gilt-bronze mounts. Impressed mark and number to reverse 'C A' an...
Mahogany
Art Deco Secretaire Abattant by Jules Leleu Signed, Circa 1935
By Jules Leleu
Located in Forest Row, East Sussex
An Art Deco Rosewood marquetry secreraire cabinet by Jules Leleu (1883-1961). Stepped top over a parquetry and marquetry inlaid drop-front secretaire cabinet, with ebony and mother o...
Rosewood
Jules Leleu, Secretary Cabinet, France, C. 1930
By Jules Leleu
Located in New York, NY
Art Deco drop front secretary / cabinet in French walnut with nickeled bronze ornaments by Jules Leleu Provenance: A residence near Pa...
Bronze
Fine and Rare Secretary by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in New York, NY
Fine and rare secretary with mother of pearl and ebony inlay by Jules Leleu (1883-1961) This secretary was exhibited in the museum show "Leleu 50 ans...
Ash, Ebony, Mother-of-Pearl