DESIGN-English 2.Indd 387 5/9/14 2:42 PM Preceding Page Opposite 479
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france Dominique Forest DESIGN-english 2.indd 387 5/9/14 2:42 PM preceDing page opposite 479. Pierre Paulin (1927–2009) 480. Eileen Gray (1878–1976) 577 or Tongue chair, 1967 Lounge chair for Villa E 1027 Made by Artifort (Netherlands) in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, See plate 543. France, 1926–29 Varnished sycamore, synthetic leather, nickel-plated steel Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris The InTerwar Years and reconsTrucTIon In France, as in many other European countries, the Architecture played an essential role in this surge interwar years were an important period of critical of fresh ideas. During the decisive decade of the 1920s, reflection on lifestyle and its artifacts. Furniture design a number of newly built structures served as laborato- remained predominantly traditional in its approach, ries of modernity, combining architecture and furni- although the modernist movement made some inroads. ture design. They included Le Corbusier’s La Roche and The heritage of fine cabinetmaking, exemplified by Jeanneret villas of 1924, Robert Mallet-Stevens’s Villa the great Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, endured through Noailles of 1928, Eileen Gray’s Villa E 1027 of 1926–29 the 1930s and ’40s with distinguished practitioners (plate 480), and Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre of including René Arbus, Jacques Adnet, Paul Dupré- 1928–32. However, the concept of creating architec- Lafon, Jacques Quinet, and Maxime Old. At the same ture, interior design, and furnishings as an ensemble time, the unclassifiable Jean Royère developed the fan- remained the exception, being applied only to a very tastical style that became his trademark. A taste for limited number of prestigious commissions. In order period furniture also persisted, thanks to a thriving to emerge from the shadows and actively promote their market for antiques and, in Paris, the furniture mak- theories, most avant-garde designers associated them- ers of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. However, the com- selves with the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM), placency of this bastion of tradition had been shaken established in 1929 by a group of architects, decora- during the 1910s by the independent-minded designer tors, graphic designers, and artists. Whether or not Francis Jourdain, son of Frantz Jourdain, the architect they were among the founding members, almost all of the Samaritaine department store. In 1912, this com- the advocates of the avant-garde participated in the mitted socialist founded the Ateliers Modernes, where UAM’s exhibitions, including Jourdain, Le Corbusier, he devoted himself to the study of materials and func- Mallet-Stevens, Gray, Chareau, René Herbst, Charlotte tions, developing prototypes for furnishings that were Perriand, and Jean Prouvé. The group supported the simple, interchangeable, and mass-produced. Jourdain industrialization of production methods and endorsed was the first to promulgate the theories of the Viennese the value of industrial expertise and materials, al- architect Adolf Loos. In 1913, he published a French though their ties with business were nevertheless more translation of Loos’s Ornament and Crime, originally tenuous than they would have liked. The iconic chaise issued in 1908. Like Loos, Jourdain continued to advo- longue designed in 1928 by Le Corbusier, Perriand, and cate an ethic of simplicity throughout the 1920s: “Our Pierre Jeanneret has, it is true, been distributed by Tho- need for comfort is increasing, and the space available net since 1931, but it remains the exception. Many proj- to us is diminishing. We no longer have the right or ects remained at the prototype stage, or were produced the resources to waste space for purely decorative pur- as one-offs. poses. The luxury of large rooms is obsolete. How best The advocates of industrialization heard little but to furnish small spaces . that is the distinctively mod- echoes in the years between the wars, but their ideas ern problem.”1 Jourdain defended rationalism, as did were better received in the aftermath of World War II. Le Corbusier, who also called for profound intellectual Wartime devastation compelled France to embark on a change, questioning the “art” of living and furnish- massive reconstruction program, particularly for hous- ings, referring to the “equipment” of a house, criticiz- ing. The Ministry of Reconstruction and Urban Devel- ing decoration, and seeking simple, economical forms opment was created in 1944, and Eugène Claudius-Petit and materials. was named its director in 1948. A close friend of Le 388 France DESIGN-english 2.indd 388 5/9/14 2:42 PM 389 DESIGN-english 2.indd 389 5/9/14 2:42 PM below opposite 481. René Gabriel (1890–1950) 482. Marcel Gascoin Living room of a model (1907–1986) apartment for the Le Havre Child’s bedroom for the reconstruction project, Sotteville-lès-Rouen recon- in Le Décor d’aujourd’hui, struction project, presented November–December 1947 at the Exposition Interna- tionale de l’Urbanisme et de l’Habitat, Paris, 1947 Bibliothèque des Arts Décora- tifs, Paris; Gascoin Archives Corbusier, he was very open to modernist ideas. At Gabriel imposed his vision of a highly rationalized the initiative of the state, the International Exhibition home and established the tone of reconstruction furni- of Urban Development and Housing was held in the ture: simple, unadorned, and mass-produced (plate Grand Palais in Paris in 1947 to showcase a number of 481). For many, the abandonment of an artisanal ap- reconstruction projects that brought together architec- proach became a vital goal, although the true democra- ture and furniture design (plate 482). Having adopted tization of modern furniture would await the arrival of prefabrication techniques to reduce the cost of the new manufacturers and the gradual development of a structures themselves, the architects of these projects nationwide distribution network, beginning in the also enlisted designers who had expertise in simpli- mid-1950s. fied modes of production. Marcel Gascoin worked with Already active before the World War II, Perriand, the architect Marcel Lods in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, and Prouvé, and Gascoin were among the pioneers who con- Jacques Dumond with Pierre Sorel in Boulogne-sur- tinued, after the war, to crusade for the modern home. Mer. Perriand furnished the minimalist family home Prouvé was one of the few who had his own production designed by Paul Nelson, Roger Gilbert, and Charles facility: the Ateliers Jean Prouvé, which he maintained Sébillotte, while Le Corbusier offered models and plans in Maxéville, a suburb of Nancy, between 1931 and 1954 of the future Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, which (plate 486). He abandoned the metal tubing that had would be completed in 1952. been favored by the avant-garde, selecting folded sheet Of all the projects presented, that for the re con- metal as his preferred material (plates 483, 484). Perri- struction of Le Havre, which had been largely de- and, also an early proponent of metal, soon turned to stroyed, was a standout. The highly experienced wood. This choice was consistent with her interest in architect Auguste Perret rose to the challenge of re- alpine style furniture and her familiarity with Japanese building an entire city. On the interiors, he collaborated traditions. When she traveled to Japan in 1940, she with the designer René Gabriel, then aged fifty-seven, embraced the country’s approach to housing design, who was well versed in industrial methods of produc- just as Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruno Taut had earlier. tion and had created a very simple collection of furni- “It wasn’t a question of folkloric charm. It was a seri- ture in 1944 for those affected by the war. In Le Havre, ous analysis of the timeless qualities of these houses 390 France DESIGN-english 2.indd 390 5/9/14 2:42 PM DESIGN-english 2.indd 391 5/9/14 2:42 PM above, leFt 483. Jean Prouvé (1901–1984) Antony chair, 1954 Made by Ateliers Jean Prouvé (France) Sheet steel, metal tubing, beech plywood Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris above, right 484. Jean Prouvé (1901–1984) Standard chair, 1951–52 Made by Ateliers Jean Prouvé (France) Sheet steel, lacquered metal tubing, oak plywood Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris right 485. Jean Prouvé (1901–1984) Compas desk, 1958 Made by Ateliers Jean Prouvé (France) Distributed by Steph Simon (France) Lacquered sheet steel, Formica veneer, wood Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris opposite 486. Advertisement for furniture by Ateliers Jean Prouvé distributed by Steph Simon, 1949 Private collection 392 France DESIGN-english 2.indd 392 5/9/14 2:42 PM DESIGN-english 2.indd 393 5/9/14 2:42 PM that fascinated me with their modernity. I wanted . in university complexes, the Compas employed a canti- to prove by example that standardized modules would levered structure, replacing the conventional perpen- not inevitably result in monotony, but rather in har- dicular legs with striking acute angles. This dynamic mony.”2 When she returned to France, her work was form became one of the designer’s trademarks. Several marked by the materials, methods, and low profiles she other famous designs by Perriand and Prouvé origi- had observed in Japan (plates 487, 488). Perriand had nated in these university projects. For the campus in been Le Corbusier’s assistant before the war, and, like Antony, Prouvé designed conference tables with folded Prouvé, she retained close ties with the architectural metal bases that evoked airplane wings. For the Mai- world. Both were to benefit from the country’s massive son de la Tunisie, Perriand designed the Tunisie book- reconstruction program. shelf, in which metallic blocks serve both as supports Postwar France needed to make up for its inad- for the shelves and as storage spaces. Perriand believed equate school and university facilities. Huge building that “storage takes precedence,” and her research with projects were launched in both Paris and the provinces, Pierre Jeanneret focused primarily on “equipping the including the university complex in Antony, inspired house.” by American campuses; fifteen new pavilions in the Gascoin, an early comrade of Prouvé and Perriand, Cité Internationale in Paris; and the Aix-Marseille had a similar point of view.