1950s Pair of Atelier Marolles Black Wrought Iron Candelabras
View Similar Items
1950s Pair of Atelier Marolles Black Wrought Iron Candelabras
About the Item
- Creator:Atelier Marolles (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 7.09 in (18 cm)Width: 13.78 in (35 cm)Length: 7.09 in (18 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Saint-Ouen, FR
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU985826544832
Atelier Marolles
The stark brutalist furniture and decor created by Jean Touret and Les Artisans de Marolles during the 20th century is ripe for a comeback, and it is today drawing the attention of galleries and collectors.
French artist Jean Touret was the founder of Les Artisans de Marolles, a group of furniture makers based in the Loire Valley in the postwar era. The rustic but exquisitely proportioned pieces they produced included benches made from gouged wood, a wrought-iron sconce in the form of a cockerel, three-legged stools with seats carved to hug the body and a series of exceptional credenzas whose doors were sculpted by Touret himself, with themes like the seven deadly sins and pastoral life.
Touret’s talents were not deployed only on tables and lighting. From the mid-1960s until shortly before his death, in 2004, he earned his living largely through ecclesiastical commissions, the most famous of which was the altarpiece at Notre-Dame de Paris. Installed in 1989 and destroyed in the fire that swept through the cathedral in 2019, the work consisted of a brass chest clad with bronze panels depicting the evangelists and the four great prophets.
More than anything, Touret was a sculptor, although a rather unsuccessful one during his lifetime. He rarely exhibited, sold next to nothing and was never able to afford a heated studio.
Touret was born in 1916 and largely brought up in Le Mans, in western France. He worked in the legal department of a local insurance company before fighting in World War II, during which he spent five years as a prisoner of war on the German–Czechoslovakian border. There, he had his first real contact with wood while being forced to work as a lumberjack. At the end of hostilities, he returned to France, settled in Marolles with his wife, Odile, and declared that he would become an artist (he had previously taken evening classes with a painter in Le Mans). In 1950, the manager of the Château de Chambord commissioned him to create a number of sculptures of deer and wild boars for the pavilions in the château’s park. That same year, Touret established Les Artisans de Marolles. For him, it was more a social venture than an artistic one. As industrialization expanded in postwar France, the village’s craftsmen found themselves in need of work.
The collective’s founding members were a basket maker, a potter, a blacksmith and a carpenter. The last, Émile Leroy, continued his work as a coffin maker while participating in the group. Touret acted as artistic director, imposing his aesthetic vision through direct discussions with the craftsmen in their workshops rather than through drawings. Over the years, the collective’s output was regularly exhibited in both the Marolles village hall and the more magnificent setting of the nearby Château Royal de Blois. Certain items were also stocked by the Primavera boutique in Paris, an offshoot of the department store Le Printemps.
To respond to the increasing demand, craftsmen from other villages were brought in, and as their numbers rose, so did tensions and disputes. Uninterested in ego management, Touret increasingly took a back seat, moving to a village on the other bank of the Loire in 1963 before officially quitting the following year. Although Atelier Maroles continued to exist until 1970, the aesthetic quality of its production took a marked turn for the worse.
Touret then stopped creating secular furniture altogether. In 1965, he met a young chaplain at the Sorbonne, Jean-Marie Lustiger, who went on to become not only his most indefatigable supporter but also a cardinal and the archbishop of Paris. It was Lustiger who initiated most of Touret’s commissions for the Church, whether monumental sculptures of Christ, liturgical furniture or the Notre-Dame de Paris altarpiece.
Until recently, Touret’s furniture and decor had been forgotten for decades. Its rediscovery is largely due to dealers like Benoist F. Drut, at Maison Gerard in New York, and Yves and Victor Gastou, in Paris, who were attracted to its elemental forms and handcrafted spirit. An exhibition in 2022 at the Galerie Gastou posthumously shed light on the work.
Find vintage Atelier Maroles furniture on 1stDibs.
- 1960 Pair of mosaic candlesticks Atelier VallaurisBy Atelier Cerenne of VallaurisLocated in Saint-Ouen, FROriginal pair of mosaic candlesticks composed of different-colored stone forming a rising curve set in two hammered copper plates positioned on both outer faces and held to the groun...Category
Vintage 1960s French Candelabras
MaterialsCopper
- 1950 Giraffes des Ateliers VallaurisBy Atelier Cerenne of VallaurisLocated in Saint-Ouen, FRThese stylized giraffes are made from two pieces of sheet metal, hand-worked and lightly hammered together to a fine, delicate finish. They stand on 4 tapering feet. The work is akin...Category
Vintage 1950s French Animal Sculptures
MaterialsWrought Iron
$1,483 / set - 1950 Pair of bronze sconces Atelier PetitotBy Atelier PetitotLocated in Saint-Ouen, FRComposed of a wall bracket in the shape of an inverted trapezoid, gilded on the outside and black on the sides, from which emerge two gilded light arms positioned on either side, for...Category
Vintage 1950s French Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsBrass, Bronze
$2,857 / set - 1950 Pair of wall lamps Atelier PetitotBy Atelier PetitotLocated in Saint-Ouen, FRComposed of a curved wall plate on the lower part in black satin lacquer, it is enhanced on the wall part by fine golden brass loops placed on each side of the sconce and decorated i...Category
Vintage 1950s French Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsBrass
$2,747 / set - Pair of 1940s Table Candlesticks in Bronze and CristalLocated in Saint-Ouen, FRPair of 1940s candlesticks in bronze and crystal. Bronze body. Dagger, base and candleholder in carved crystal. Opaline candle. Two bulbs per candlesticks.Category
Vintage 1940s French Candle Holders
MaterialsCrystal, Bronze
- Pair of 1970s Candleholders "La Notte" Model Signed by Chrystiane CharlesBy Chrystiane CharlesLocated in Saint-Ouen, FRElegant pair of 1970s candleholders "La Notte" model signed by Chrystiane Charles. Pair of candleholders in silver plated and gilt metal. Sphere decor separated by a rod enhanced in...Category
Vintage 1970s French Candelabras
MaterialsSilver Plate, Bronze
- Wrought Iron Candlestick in the Style of Ateliers de Marolles, France c.1950By Atelier MarollesLocated in Brussels, BEElegant candlestick in the style of Atelier de Marolles, circa 1950, France. Blackened wrought iron. Dimensions: 41 cm H, 32 cm W, 11 cm D. Good original condition. All purchases are...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Candlesticks
MaterialsWrought Iron
- Rare Pair of Post-Modern Wrought Iron CandelabraLocated in San Diego, CAVintage rare pair of post-modern wrought iron candleholders. The two pieces are graphic and clean lined. Wrought iron in wave-like shapes peak with a golden disk that holds the candl...Category
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsWrought Iron
$236 Sale Price / set20% Off - Brutalist wrought iron candelabra folk art 50's in style of atelier de marollesLocated in Lyon, FRLarge French Brutalist candlestick from the 1950s, handcrafted in the style of the De Marolles workshops. Wrought-iron candleholder structure with seven candle bases and a quadripod ...Category
Vintage 1950s French Brutalist Candlesticks
MaterialsWrought Iron
- Pair of Helicoidal Iron Candelabras, France, circa 1950sLocated in Isle Sur La Sorgue, VauclusePair of heavy, textured iron candle holders raised on a helicoid tripod base. Each candelabra holds four candles.Category
Mid-20th Century French Candelabras
- Brutalist French Iron candelabra candlestick - after Marolles c1950sLocated in Gravesend, GBFrench Brutalist Candelabra 1950s Excellent condition In the style of Artisans of Marolles.Category
Vintage 1950s French Candelabras
MaterialsIron
- Pair of Italian Wrought Iron CandelabrasLocated in Hollywood, SCPair of Italian wrought iron two candle candelabras with telescopic tapered spike and terminating on tripod stylized penny feet. Dealers pleas...Category
Antique 18th Century and Earlier Italian Candle Holders
$2,800 / set