French Decorative Art 1900-1942 (Book)

About the Item

The Société des artistes decorateurs, founded in 1901, was the first professional association of artists, artisans, designers and architects to emerge in France after the abolition of the corporations in 1791. Created in the aftermath of the Paris Exposition universelle of 1900, the Société set out to revitalize the nation's decorative arts industries and to develop a modern and specifically French style for the twentieth century. The Société assembled all domains of the decorative arts: interior design, furniture, metal-ware, ceramics, lighting, and decorative painting, and sculpture, and counted among its members the most celebrated artists of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles: Hector Guimard, Louis Majorelle, Jean Dunard, Edgar Brandt, Pierre Chareau, Jean Puiforcat, Robert Mallet-Stevens, and Andre Arbus. Its important annual salon to the decorative arts, provided a panorama of the stylistic evolution of the decorative arts in France during the first half of the twentieth century. The Societe played a central role in the Paris Exposition Internationale des arts decorators et industries moderns' of 1925, where it contributed sumptuous furnishings for a French Embassy, launchingthe Art Deco style throughout the world. For its salon of 1930, the Societe hosted the designers of the Deutscher Werkbund directed by Walter Gropius - an event that proved to be a confrontation between fundamentally different approaches to domestic interior as well as between national values. During the 1930s the Societe's members designed magnificent interiors for the luxury oceanliner Normandie and in 1937 the Societe displayed a stunning pavilion at the Paris Expostion internationale des arts et techniques dans la vie moderne. Its last salon before the war, organized in 1939 in cooperation with the Salon de la Lumiere, was strongly influenced by the aesthetics of surrealism. Relying on the unpublished archives of the Societe des artistes decorateurs, Yvonne Brunhammer and Suzanne Tise trace the history of the Societe and its 31 salons held between 1904 and 1942, viewing them in the social, cultural and economic context of the period. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs from the Societe's archives, augmented by photographs of works presented in the salons and currently housed in public and private collections. the content and scope of this book make it a major contribution to our understanding of the foundations of modern design. 288 pages. 1920 grams.

Dimensions:

Height: 12.5 in (31.75 cm)Width: 9.63 in (24.47 cm)Depth: 1.13 in (2.88 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Paper

Period:

20th Century

Date of Manufacture:

1990

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.

Seller Location:

North Yorkshire, GB