Jules Leleu Club Chairs
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.
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Velvet
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Mahogany
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Fabric, Sycamore
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Velvet, Mahogany
Early 20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Fabric, Oak
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather, Beech
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Upholstery, Wood, Beech
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Tapestry, Walnut
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Faux Leather, Beech
Mid-20th Century Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Velvet, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary American Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather
1930s German Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Fabric, Oak
1950s French Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Velvet, Rosewood
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Mahogany
French Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Leather, Mahogany
1960s French Vintage Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Bronze
Bergeres numbered: 25279.
An identical pair of chairs are illustrated...
20th Century French Jules Leleu Club Chairs
Wood