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Jules Leleu Benches

French, 1883-1961

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.

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Creator: Jules Leleu
French Art Deco Ebonized Bench By Jules Leleu
French Art Deco Ebonized Bench By Jules Leleu

French Art Deco Ebonized Bench By Jules Leleu

By André Arbus, Jules Leleu, Maison Jansen, Jacques Adnet, Dominique

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French Art Deco Ebonized Bench By Jules Leleu. This stunning French Art Deco ebonized bench or ottoman designed by Jules Leleu has beautifully curved legs and is professionally uphol...

Category

1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Benches

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Velvet, Wood

Jules Leleu, Art Deco Bench with Fluted Mahogany Frame, France, circa 1925
Jules Leleu, Art Deco Bench with Fluted Mahogany Frame, France, circa 1925

Jules Leleu, Art Deco Bench with Fluted Mahogany Frame, France, circa 1925

By Jules Leleu

Located in New York, NY

Please note that the fluted carving seen on our bench is an element of the design vocabulary used by Jules Leleu in the mid-1920s, as seen on the chair featured on the dust jacket of the French edition of the book "House of Leleu." This is possibly a grand piano bench and was purchased several decades ago from the Calderwood Gallery...

Category

1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Benches

Materials

Upholstery, Mahogany

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Jules Leleu benches for sale on 1stDibs.

Jules Leleu benches are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Jules Leleu benches, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original benches by Jules Leleu were created in the Art Deco style in france during the 1920s. Prices for Jules Leleu benches can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $32,000 and can go as high as $32,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $32,000.