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.
$11,000 / set
Jules Leleu Pair of French Art Deco Side Tables
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bridgewater, CT
A pair of French Art Deco side tables, circa 1930s signed LELEU, in rosewood with mother of pearl inlaid.
Rosewood
French Midcentury Rosewood End Table by Jules Leleu, 1940s
By Jules Leleu
Located in Queens, NY
French midcentury rosewood round end table with a floral inlaid top of mother of pearl and ebony supported on three scroll legs connected with a stretcher base (JULES LELEU). Jules...
Rosewood, Glass
$9,300Sale Price|33% Off
Jules Leleu Documented Coffee Table in Mahogany and Brass, France, c 1957
By Jules Leleu
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This exquisite coffee table by Jules Leleu was executed in circa 1957 France, in Mahogany with patinated metal stretchers, brass accents and a antiqued mirrored glass top. Documented in Leleu Decorateurs Ensembliers by Francoise Siriex, the underside is impressed with Maison Leleu inventory numbers '29090'. Jules Leleu first opened Maison Leleu, a Paris gallery, in 1924 and won a grand prize at the 1925 Exposition Industrielle et Arts Decoratifs. Later, Leleu designed the Grand Salon of the Ambassadors at the Society of Nations in Geneva and the French Embassies of several nations and the SS Ile de France...
Brass
$16,500 / set
H 23.5 in W 20.5 in D 12.5 in
Breathtaking Restored Pair of Art Deco Small Chests by Widdicomb, c 1938
By Widdicomb Furniture Co.
Located in Atlanta, GA
These magnificent small chests are shipped as professionally photographed and described in the listing narrative: Meticulously professionally restored and completely installation rea...
Brass
$3,400 / set
H 22 in W 18 in D 21 in
Pair of Art Deco Burl Wood End Tables Nightstands with Brass Hardware Pulls
By Gilbert Rohde
Located in Rockaway, NJ
Pair of very nice Mid-Century Modern or Art Deco end tables in burl walnut with brass hardware.
Brass
French Art Deco Table By Jules Leleu
By Paul Follot, Maison Dominique, Jean Dunand, Jules Leleu, Eugene Printz
Located in Houston, TX
French Art Deco Table By Jules Leleu. Offered is a gorgeous 1930's era French Art Deco sycamore table trimmed in stunning bronze accents and sabots and topped with a beautiful gold e...
Bronze
$2,293
H 20.87 in W 41.34 in D 33.47 in
Romeo Rega Italian Coffee Table in Brass and Chrome Smoked Glass Lucite 1970s
By Romeo Rega
Located in Roma, IT
Mid-Century solid brass and chromed coffee table with smoked glass top and amethyst Lucite blocks. This fantastic object was desi...
Brass, Chrome
French Art Deco Period Jules Leleu Manner Burlwood Work Table
By Jules Leleu
Located in Forney, TX
A visually striking Art Deco period inlaid burlwood travailleuse / work table, in the manner of iconic French designer Jules Leleu (Paris, France, 1883-1961) France, circa 1930s, ex...
Brass
Dudouyt Pedestal End Table, France 1940's
By Charles Dudouyt
Located in New York, NY
Quad footed pedestal table with a large diameter ringed stem and a parqueted top.
Walnut
Bronze Occasional Table, C. France, 1940s
By Maison Jansen
Located in Westport, CT
Elegant 1940s French occasional table executed in solid bronze, showcasing a refined Streamline Moderne silhouette. The sculptural tripod base features gracefully arched legs joined ...
Bronze
$1,200Sale Price|20% Off
H 22 in W 26 in D 18 in
Tole Painted Italian Lidded End Table Marblized End Papers 1940s/50s
Located in Camden, ME
This rare and whimsical Italian end table, crafted in the 1940s–50s, takes the imaginative form of a stack of antique books, rendered in hand-painted tole. With its lively palette of...
Tôle, Tin
Jules Leleu French Art Deco Bedside Nightstand
By Jules Leleu
Located in Forney, TX
A rare French Art Deco sycamore inlaid nightstand or end table attributed to Jules Leleu (1883-1961). Handcrafted in France in the mid 20th century, having a shaped front rectangular...
Sycamore
Fine Art Deco Coffee Table by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bridgewater, CT
Jules Leleu (1883-1961). A modernist French Art Deco mirrored table, created circa 1936. In sycamore, with gilt bronze accents. Signed and referenced in "Mobilier et Decorati...
Brass
$823
H 16.15 in W 14.18 in D 22.05 in
Romeo Rega style Coffee Table in Brass and Smoked Glass, Italy, 1970s Midcentury
By Romeo Rega
Located in Roma, IT
Elegant coffee table in brass, smoked glass adds to the seductive elegance of this midcentury piece. Measurements: 56 x 36 H 41.
Brass
$6,750
H 20 in Dm 25 in
French Mid-Century Modern Round Walnut Side or Coffee Table Attr. to Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in New York, NY
An Elegant French Mid-Century Modern Neoclassical End or Side or Cocktail / Coffee Table in hardwood attributed to the French Master designer of the Art Deco and Midcentury periods, ...
Hardwood, Walnut
Sold
H 25 in W 15.75 in D 15.5 in
2 Fine French Art Deco Mahogany and Rosewood Side Tables by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Long Island City, NY
Two fine French Art Deco side tables by Jules Leleu with a solid mahogany base and a rosewood veneered top. Stamped. Dimensions: Bigger one is H 25" x W 15 3/4" x D 15 1/2" Smaller...
Mahogany, Rosewood
French Midcentury 1930s Ceruse Oak End/Side Table
By Jules Leleu
Located in Queens, NY
French midcentury 1930s bleached ceruse oak end or side table with a round sunburst design top resting on a four-panel pedestal base with bronze sabot feet (LELEU). Jules Leleu was ...
Bronze
Four-Leaf Clover Table
By Jules Leleu
Located in New York, NY
Burled walnut, glass top and bone rings.
Jules Leleu, Rare Coffee Table, France, 1930
By Jules Leleu
Located in Encino, CA
Jules Leleu (1883-1961). Very rare and Fine Art Deco two tiered rectangular burled amboyna veneer side table by Jules Leleu, France, circa 1930. The table is stamped. The table ha...
Burl, Amboyna
Pair of Side Tables by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bois-Colombes, FR
Pair of tables designed by Jules Leu, circa 1960s. Numbered.
Iron
Two Tiered Walnut Side Table by Maison Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in New York, NY
Two tiered side table in walnut with gun metal patinated legs and gilt-bronze sabots, by Leleu
Ormolu
Jules Leleu, Mahogany Art Deco Side Table, France, C. 1930
By Jules Leleu
Located in New York, NY
Fine early Art Deco two-tiered flamed mahogany side table by Jules Leleu (1883-1961) Illustrated in Mobilier et Décoration 1931, p. 490 and p. 491 (Interiors of the Comtesse de Ma...
Mahogany
Jules Leleu Pair of French Art Deco Side Tables
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bridgewater, CT
A pair of French Art Deco side tables, circa 1930s signed LELEU, in rosewood with mother-of-pearl inlaid.
Rosewood
Pair of French Art Deco Mirrored Tables by Jules Leleu
By Jules Leleu
Located in Bridgewater, CT
A pair of French Art Deco side tables stamped Jules Leleu, in mahogany wood and featuring two circular mirrored shelves.
Mahogany