Serge Mouille
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Serge Mouille
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Serge Mouille
Instantly recognizable by their long slender armatures and domed, ovoid shades, the best-known floor lamps and other lighting fixtures of Serge Mouille have become emblems of the organic design of the mid-20th century. Along with Jean Prouvé, Mathieu Matégot and others, Mouille brought a fresh, modern aesthetic to metalwork, one of the most tradition-bound mediums in the decorative arts.
Mouille (pronounced: MWEE) was born to a working Parisian family. At age 15, he took up studies in the metalworking atelier of that École des Arts Appliqués, under the tutelage of the goldsmith and sculptor Gabriel Lacroix. After graduating, in 1941, Mouille worked in Lacroix’s studio and began teaching at his alma mater four years later.
In the early 1950s, bothered by the preponderance of new Italian lamps and chandeliers on the market and consumed with the belief that fixtures by Gino Sarfatti and others were unnecessarily complex, Mouille opened a lighting-design workshop. He quickly won commissions from several French schools and libraries. In 1956, the influential Paris gallerist Steph Simon — who also promoted Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Isamu Noguchi — began to show Mouille designs, introducing his work to private collectors. Mouille would continue making handcrafted lighting fixtures at a slow but steady pace until 1964, when he stopped working to begin a long course of treatment for tuberculosis. When it was completed, Mouille returned to teaching at the École des Arts Appliqués for the remainder of his career.
With the biomorphic shades and long armatures of his fixtures, Mouille created one of the most engaging and idiosyncratic lighting aesthetics of his time. Though often described as “insect-like,” his pieces have more in common with the fluid, buoyant forms in the paintings of Jean Arp. (Mouille designed several cylindrical or columnar lamps; though highly collectible, those are interesting outliers in his body of work.)
As with Prouvé’s folded metal forms and Matégot’s perforated steel, Mouille brought a novel lightness and energy to metal furnishings. Since Mouille’s designs found renewed popularity in the early 2000s, licensed re-editions of his pieces are being produced. The disparity in price between vintage and current-day Mouille pieces is great. Older works — identification tip: the interior white reflective enameling has a yellowish cast — cost $20,000 to $40,000, and newer pieces go for 10 to 20 percent less than that. As you will see on these pages, Serge Mouille created icons of 20th century design — at once sleek, suave and friendly — that belong in any modern decor.
Find vintage Serge Mouille table lamps, chandeliers and other lighting on 1stDibs.
- Rare Saturn Lights by Serge MouilleBy Serge MouilleLocated in Los Angeles, CARare Saturn lights for Serge Mouille. Manufactured in France, circa the 1970s. With adjustable shades, slender and curved enameled brass ceiling or wall lamps by Serge Mouille. Each ...Category
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$18,000 / set - Snail Ceiling Light by Serge MouilleBy Serge MouilleLocated in Los Angeles, CASnail ceiling light attributed to Serge Mouille. Designed and manufactured in France circa 1970s. Enameled aluminum, brass fittings. Spiralized shade with a simplistic stem suspensio...Category
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- Lampe Agrafee Deux Rotules by Serge MouilleBy Serge MouilleLocated in Los Angeles, CALampe Agrafee Deux Rotules by Serge Mouille. Designed and manufactured in France in 1958. Elegant desk lamp composed of enameled brass and slender curved shade. The lamp has two poin...Category
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- Pair of Antony Sconces by Serge MouilleBy Serge MouilleLocated in Los Angeles, CAPair of Antony Sconces by Serge Mouille. Manufactured in France, circa the 1970s. Wall mounted black enameled steel and aluminum sconces with timeless de...Category
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$15,000 / set - Rare Single Wall Sconce Attributed to Serge MouilleBy Serge MouilleLocated in Los Angeles, CARare single wall sconce by Serge Mouille. Designed and manufactured in France, circa 1950. Incredibly rare anatomical wall sconce with two points of...Category
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$9,700 / item - Serge Mouille - Small Totem Floor LampBy Serge MouilleLocated in Stratford, CTIn his post black shapes period, Serge Mouille experimented with color and columns. With the TOTEM, he stacked cylindrical shades around a central lighting element. By alternating th...Category
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$9,995 / item - Serge Mouille - Large Signal Floor LampBy Serge MouilleLocated in Stratford, CTSteel pedestals featuring a combination of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. Each glows through rhythmical cuts in solid panes. The upper part is composed of four elements take...Category
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$9,995 / item - Serge Mouille One Arm Floor LampBy Serge MouilleLocated in Centreville, VASerge Mouille’s Floor Lamp (1952) has a kinetic, sculptural aesthetic that evokes a sense of movement in space. All the Mouille hallmarks are here: the sensual form of the reflector, the masterful metalwork, the refined lines of the steel tubing, and the washer and six-sided screw hardware. Bulbs (not included): E26 base, 60W max. Made in France. Biomorphic minimalism — A silversmith by training, Serge Mouille claimed his angular lights were a reaction to the “too complicated” Italian models flooding the market. The Floor Lamp exemplifies his pared-down elegance, with slender legs and cocked heads...Category
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$2,560 Sale Price / item20% Off - Serge Mouille, "TOTEM" Floor Lamp, Tall ModelBy Serge MouilleLocated in London, GBThe TOTEM by Serge Mouille exist in two sizes. The big TOTEM 170 cm and the small TOTEM 117 cm. The fluorescent tube become apparent once switch on. Originally three colors. White, r...Category
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