Beaux Arts Decorative Objects

BEAUX ARTS STYLE

Beaux Arts furniture included chairs replicating models from the Renaissance and sofas inspired by Louis XIV. These pieces filled high-ceilinged rooms that featured tapestries fit for a medieval castle and were illuminated by crystal chandeliers reminiscent of those in European palaces. Leon Marcotte Company created furnishings for the White House mimicking the style of Louis XVI, while in France, cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle reproduced 18th-century pieces that would influence his later Art Nouveau style.

Students at the École des Beaux-Arts in 19th-century Paris meticulously sketched Roman and Greek art and architecture as part of a curriculum that elevated the classical world. This reverence for history informed the architecture and design being constructed in the French capital and beyond, where columns and pediments were joined with elements referencing the Renaissance and Baroque eras, culminating in grand civic buildings such as the Palais Garnier opera house constructed under Napoleon III.

Beaux Arts style, also known as Classical Eclecticism for its flamboyant mixing of influences, made its way to the United States in the late 19th century through American architects who studied in Paris, like Richard Morris Hunt and Charles Follen McKim. They designed monumental turn-of-the-century buildings like train stations, libraries, museums and mansions that featured soaring entry halls and grand stairways with nearly every surface embellished, from mosaic floors to stained-glass ceilings. The luxurious interiors of these Beaux Arts buildings, which weren’t crowded with objects as in the Victorian era, matched this spirit of opulence and embraced the past.

Find a collection of Beaux Arts decorative objects, lighting, wall decorations and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Style: Beaux Arts

Bowl on tray in glazed ceramic with pearly white interior by Gisèle ButhodGarçon

By Gisele Buthod Garçon

Located in Saint-Ouen, FR

Bowl on tray in glazed ceramic with pearly white interior by Gisèle Buthod Garçon. Raku fired. Artist monogram and signature under the base. Circa 1980-1990. H : 5.1’ x 11.2’ x 8....

Category

20th Century French Beaux Arts Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic

Bowl on tray in glazed ceramic with pearly white interior by Gisèle ButhodGarçon

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer, 2022

By Wayne Fischer

Located in Saint-Ouen, FR

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer. Perfect original conditions. Signed. Unique piece. 2022. How can an inert object produce deeply unsuspecting, indecipherable, uncontrollable emotions? Wayne Fischer is an artist who can create works that force one to ask such moving questions as this. If he doesn’t know why, if he can’t explain the deepest reasons of his artistic research, he definitely knows the workings and limitations of the artistic process he invented. He has never deviated from the course he set for himself since university; translate life. The works presented here show the evolution of his creations over the past thirty years. If Wayne Fischer has received several international prizes and quickly obtained the recognition of his peers in ceramics, nevertheless he retains a singular position at once unavoidable and disturbing. His sculptures are paradoxical, powerful and sensual, and cause a certain unease. They are beautiful, carnal, touchable, all the while being outside the standard idea of beauty. The ambiguity of attraction and rejection is at the heart of this evolution. The pieces from the 1980s and 90s are imposing by their size, stature and symmetry, which give them balance. They generate surprise, curiosity and play between contrasts that are both soft and aggressive. They reference the body, muscles, and torso, without presenting an exact reality. They are double-faced, seductive, and enigmatic. Wayne’s shapes are inspired by shells, bivalves, sometimes presented as though they are floating in space. But the reference of the marine world to the mysterious female body has only one interpretation and only history and emotion condition the reaction of the spectator: he accepts or refuses to see, to be seduced. He is touched or he flees. The more recent sculptures are appreciated in the fullness of their round volume and the search for a pure universal beauty. “Metamorphosis,” the work recently awarded by the Bettencourt Foundation, is from this series of pieces wheel- thrown and deformed which pushes the porcelain from the inside so the bulges evoke the movement of waves or the musculature of several bodies. The exactness, the clean breaks, the assurance of lines and valleys are testimony to the interior power that governs the creation. The life energy expressed is also felt by the artist as the origin of ceramics. All the pieces are curved and tense. They show no marking, no sign of the hand, no imprints, and yet give an impression of spontaneity, as if a dropped piece of clay found its form by chance. Depending on the angles, the content becomes “the origins of the world”. Femininity and sensuality are exalted. Inspired by the body, before and after birth, or simply the sea, the parts of the sculpture conjugate around a mysterious interior cavity, secret and troubling. The interior wall doesn’t correspond to the exterior, and has its own volumes, deformities, and intimacy. The pieces present two kinds of interior: one open, and partially uncovered, the other totally hidden inside. The differences of their respective deformation reinforce the impression of life : the subjective representation of muscles and bones, of bulges pushed by an interior force, like a visceral movement of respiration. The surface of the ceramic is crackled but soft and fine, even reflecting light like the skin. The nuances of color reinforce the expression of sensuality. The alignment of technique and what it causes one to see and feel has rarely been so intimately successful. Wayne Fischer perfected his technique in the 1970s and has remained faithful to it. He adds fibers to porcelain clay that has been chosen for its whiteness to create and accentuate volume around empty space, by assembling slabs or thrown pieces. Then, he makes another piece that takes its place inside; both parts are formed with no hand...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary French Beaux Arts Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic

Louise Bourgeois, « Fallen woman »

By Louise Bourgeois

Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR

Sculpture in Sèvres porcelain, titled « Fallen woman », by Louise Bourgeois for the manufacture nationale de Sèvres, France circa 1996. Edition numbered 21/25. Stamped « Manufacture ...

Category

1990s French Beaux Arts Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Louise Bourgeois, « Fallen woman »

Beaux Arts decorative objects for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Beaux Arts decorative objects for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 20th Century, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage decorative objects created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include decorative objects and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with ceramic and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Beaux Arts decorative objects made in a specific country, there are Mexico, and North America pieces for sale on 1stDibs. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for decorative objects differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $600 and tops out at $650,000 while the average work can sell for $145,000.