Posts Tagged ‘Europe’

Antique Mid 19th Century Russian Furniture.

WHILE RUSSIA’S SERFS scraped a meagre
existence tied to the land, the affluent society centred around the Imperial Court in St Petersburg enjoyed an extremely high standard of living that was reflected in the grand furniture they commissioned.
EUROPE’S MELTING POT
St Petersburg was a cosmopolitan city in the mid 19th century, with strong ties with France, the Low Countries, and the German and Italian states. Craftsmen from each of these areas flowed into the Russian capital, bringing with them ideas and designs from across Europe. French influence, in particular, was very
strong. Many of these journeymen were masters of their professions – Leo von Klenze, for example, was Court architect to Ludwig I of Bavaria before he designed interiors for the New Hermitage. He continued to champion the Russian Empire style well into the mid 19th century with his malachite and marble furniture. Russian rule over Finland meant that there was a free exchange of information between the two countries, and many Finnish craftsmen plied their trades in St Petersburg. As a result, the dominant Russian style of the period was an amalgam of fashions from many different places. The heavy
aspect of polite Russian furniture, designed for use in large spaces, was complemented by grand mounts of gilded wood or brass, featuring Classical motifs drawn from the European tradition.
Among the peculiarly Russian specialities of the period was metal furniture, which was used more frequently here than elsewhere in Europe. The Tula Imperial Armoury, an important weapons foundry, became famous for its iron furniture, such as the dressing room suite on display at the Pavlovsky Palace Museum. Carl Faberge, jeweller to the Imperial Court from 1884, designed a
handful of superb items of furniture that exerted an enormous influence on the fashionable elite. These high-fashion pieces were the exception, however, as a general decline took place in the Russian furniture industry during the late 19th century. Increased mechanization was the death knell for many craftsmen who could not compete with the new factories in terms of output or cost. In these factories, machine-cut pine carcasses were covered with very thin machine-cut hardwood veneers before finally being finished by hand. In this way, furniture that appeared to equal the quality of that created by the artisan was produced far more cheaply.
UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR
From a suite of furniture made for the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, this carved and gilded armchair is upholstered in crimson silk. It was created in Louis XV style.
Winter Palace interior Designed by Alexander Bryullov, the Malachite Room was rebuilt in 1837 as a drawing room for Alexandra Fyodorovna, the wife of Tsar Nicolas I. The richly gilded furniture was produced by the workshop of Peter Gambs from sketches by Auguste de Montferrand.
GOTHIC CHAIR
This Gothic-style, high-backed chair carved out of walnut was designed by E. Gambs for the Gothic Study of the Golitsyn-Stroganov estate in Maryino. Mid 19th century.
CYLINDER BUREAU
The drum-shaped case of this mahogany desk is supported by two shaped legs with carved and gilded swans at the top and partly gilded claw-and-ball feet at the bottom. The legs are joined by a flat, carved cross-stretcher. The
desk has a fitted interior, containing shelves and compartments for letters and writing equipment, and a leather writing slide. A series of wooden slats attached to a single piece of cloth composes the roll-top lid, which retracts to the back. Late 19th century.

MALACHITE TABLE
Alexandre II malachite low table is mounted with lour scroll and foliate ormolu cartouches. Beneath the table lop, a baluster stern, ending in a foliate motif carving, is flanked by four scroll legs on scroll and foliate sabots. The table stands on glass bun feet, which were added at a later date. The malachite used to create this table
was mined at Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Malachite from the same source was also used to create the Malachite Room at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg (see above right). Russian craftsmen from the Peterhof and Yekaterinburg works used the Russian mosaic technique to cover large surfaces; they cut pieces of malachite into 3mm thick slices and attached them to a base to produce an attractive overall pattern. c.1860.
SILVER-MOUNTED TABLE
The top of this Louis XVI-style Faberge table has a beaded silver border, The drawer is applied with a silver laurel wreath with ribbon cresting. The fluted legs are joined by a silver-mounted stretcher. Late 19th century.
MAHOGANY BOOKCASE
This two-door glazed bookcase has a broken pediment with a brass moulded edge and brass fluted decoration to the central frieze. The doors have well-figured mahogany frames with central glazed panels and boldly modelled
brass astragals. The doors have canted corners with brass flutes, surmounted and supported by brass square paterae. The sides are inset with panels, bordered by brass lines. The whole
stands on a plinth, supported on square, tapering legs, terminating in brass sabots. c.1840.

THE GERMAN-SPEAKING world developed its own style years before the modern German state took shape. Although the Biedermeier style had evolved from the Neoclassical movement, particularly the Empire look that emerged from Napoleonic France, it was distinctly Germanic. Its popularity was such that Biedermeier furniture never quite disappeared in the 19th century and a number of popular revivals occurred, particularly in the 1860x. At the same time,
Germany and Austria embraced the same eclectic historicism that was popular throughout Europe during the mid 19th century.
ROCOCO REVIVAL
The Rococo revival was met with particular favour in Vienna, a city whose conservative nature was such that the court had never relinquished the original Germanic Rokoko of the 18th century, and so there was a seamless progression to the revival
style. New processes and technologies ushered in by the Industrial Revolution made it possible to recreate Rococo forms from published patterns at a Fraction of the original cost and in less time, making them accessible to a wider market. Machines cut much finer veneers and carved Rococo ornament for application to carcases constructed from local woods.
One of the pinnacles of the Rococo-revival style was the refurbishment of the Palais Liechtenstein in Vienna,
which made a lasting impression on public taste. Michael Thonet (see pp.284-85), who assisted Peter Hubert Desvignes in this mammoth task between 1837 and 1849, went on to revolutionize the furniture industry in his adopted Austria with his mass-produced bentwood furniture. Other accomplished masters included Anton POssenbacher, whose lavish carved and embroidered chairs for King Ludwig 11 represent the zenith of Bavarian Rococo.
SIDE CHAIRS
These two chairs are from a set of six Biedermeier style, walnut veneered and polished side chairs made in Austria. The curved crest rail is supported on flat supports above a rounded, upholstered seat with lightly sweeping legs. c.1900.
GAMES TABLE
This Louis-Philippe-style mahogany games table has a moulded table top above a serpentine apron with carved finials at the corners. The rectangular table top opens up to reveal a playing surface, supported on a baluster column and four cabriole legs with floral carving. 1850-60.
PRESS CUPBOARD
This massive cupboard is made of oak, and is decorated with architectural style motifs. The design is completely symmetrical, in keeping with the Neoclassical style. The Lipper section of the cupboard consists of a moulded cornice, which projects above a carved frieze. Pilaster supports are positioned either side of two trained doors, which are designed
to resemble those found in Classical architecture. Below this are four narrow drawers. The lower section of the cabinet consists of two small cupboards with heavily inlaid and carved doors, also flanked by fluted pilasters. The whole piece is supported on a base that contains a further four drawers. Such an impressive piece would have belonged to a wealthy household. Late 19th century.
UNIFICATION AND RENAISSANCE Reworking of historical styles was characteristic of German and Austrian furniture design at this time. The same Gothic, Rococo, and Renaissance revivals that informed furniture design in Paris and London diffused through the continent far more quickly after the development of an integrated rail network in the mid 19th century. After the eventual unification of the German states under Bismarck in 1871, there was a general reappraisal of the roots
of German culture, creating a fusion of traditional vernacular design with these wider European trends.
Just as the United States embraced the Neo-Renaissance style after winning their independence from Britain, German designers developed a particular affinity for the style following the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. Known as the Granderzeit, this style continued to be popular into the 20th century, remaining fashionable in some circles in parallel with the
more radical jugendstil. New wealth, industrialization, overseas trade, and colonial acquisitions all contributed to a burgeoning confidence in the
new German state.
GOTHIC STYLE
The German Gothic revival, a lighter and fussier aesthetic than its British counterpart, often featured boullework – a product of Louis XIV’s France
rather than of the
medieval period.
The German version of the Gothic style was more elaborate, making use of multiple colours where the original French version had been predominantly monochrome. A carved oak bookcase designed in Gothic style by Austrian cabinet-makers Bernardo de Bernardis (1808-68) and Joseph Cremer (1808-71) was displayed at the Crystal Palace exhibition in 1851, and afterwards it was presented to
Queen Victoria by Emperor
Franz Josef.
Ebonized cupboard This piece is richly decorated with Meissen porcelain mounts, the most prominent being the oval panel on the cupboard door. They have chased gilt-metal borders and depict courting couples. The cupboard has a rectangular top with conforming gallery and is flanked by four polychrome, floral-decorated detached columns above turned, bulbous feet. c.1880.
PORCELAIN MOUNTS
GERMANY MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF EUROPEAN FURNITURE DESIGN IN THE MID I 9TH CENTURY, BUT THE PORCELAIN MOUNTS PRODUCED WON INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM.
Ever since Meissen produced the first European porcelain, Germany has been a market leader in the ceramics industry. During the mid 19th century, enterprising cabinetmakers undertook to harness this resource and combine it with their own stock-in-trade. Cabinets decorated with porcelain mounts were not an entirely new concept - Oriental craftsmen had been making furniture with applied ceramic plaques For centuries, although their minimalist designs
were a far cry from the elaborate models produced in Germany. In France, Sevres plaques had been used to adorn cabinets on occasion, but it was in Germany that the most celebrated examples were made.
The carcases of these cabinets were roughly constructed from pine in Renaissance forms. An ebony veneer or, more usually, a coat of black paint provided a suitably dark ground on which to mount elaborate porcelain plaques, pillars, and feet: the dark wood acted as a foil to the richly decorated white ceramic. The best examples, many of which came from the Meissen factory, were hand-painted with scenes taken from 17th-century paintings with antiquarian or folk themes. The public appetite for these cabinets was vast, and William Oppenheim won widespread acclaim for an example he exhibited in Paris in 1878 For the Royal Dresden Factory.

Mould-blown glass
Mould blowing, a technique that dates back to Roman times, became fashionable when it was used to make Irish and Anglo-Irish glass in the late 18th century. However, its popularity in the USA, where it is known as “blown-three-mould” glass after the three-part mould in which it was produced, declined with the growth of pressed glass in the 1820s.
EARLY GLASS
Mould blowing was first introduced by the Romans C.AD 25 and was one of the most important developments in the production of glass. The simple technique involves blowing a molten, sometimes partly formed, gather of glass (paraison) into a mould. Once shaped by the mould, the piece can be removed and finished, perhaps by reheating and further blowing to enlarge it. The mould, which gives the object both shape and decoration in one operation, was typically made of a non-combustible material such as pearwood, clay, or metal. It was usually made in two or more parts to enable the glass, which does not shrink as it cools, to be removed without damage. Wares made include plain unguentaria, bottles, beakers, and drinking cups, as well as more decorative wares such as inverted bell-shaped “lotus-bud” beakers, hexagonal flasks with decoration showing scenes from the Roman circus, and “mythological” beakers, decorated with events and characters from Roman mythology.
EUROPEAN GLASS
Glassmakers in northern Europe continued to produce mould-blown glass after the Romans left the region. The type of unsophisticated glassware, which included cone and claw beakers, was made of green-tinted soda-lime glass in the forested regions in the Rhineland, France, and Belgium between C.AD 400 and C.AD 700. The most common wares were simple drinking vessels decorated with trailing.
In the 18th century mould blowing was popularly used in Ireland to mass-produce wares such as glasses and decanters, with decoration in imitation of cut-glass designs. Most wares were part rather than fully mould blown; this involved blowing a gather of glass into a shallow patterned mould to form the base of the ware – the bowl of a glass or the base of a decanter. The mould enabled the glassblower to produce a range of wares with a uniform shape and the moulded pattern (typically fluted on Irish decanters) helped to hide flaws in the surface of the glass or unsightly sediment from wine settled at the bottom. By the late 18th century Irish glassmakers were also working their factory marks into the base of the mould.
NORTH AMERICAN GLASS
Large quantities and many varieties of blown-threemould glass, often imitating Anglo-Irish cut glass, were manufactured in Western Pennsylvania,
Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana from c.1815. The full-size hinged moulds had two, three, or more parts – the name is slightly misleading – and were used to produce pieces with patterns imitating cut glass;
wares, which were usually clear, included punch-bowls, decanters, tumblers, and even toy wine glasses decorated with a range of motifs from sunbursts and vertical and horizontal ribs to plumes and scrolls. Very popular at the time were flasks decorated with presidential portraits, the American eagle, or other political symbols, and portraits of celebrities. They were produced from c.1815 in a variety of sizes and colours – most common are clear or bottle-green examples, but wares in amethyst, blue, and various shades of green are also known.
Vast quantities of mould-blown glass were manufactured in North America during the 19th century for wine and spirit bottles, patent medicine bottles, and home preserving jars. However, in
the 1820s with the development of mould-pressing machinery they were able to mass-produce imitation cut glass.
General
• DECORATION unlike that on cut or mould-pressed glass, the design may be felt on the inside of the piece; as the glass stretches when blown, patterns are often contorted; mould-seams may be visible down the piece’s side
Early glass
• WARES flasks, beakers, cups, bottles, and bowls
• COLLECTING many domestic wares can be commonly found; unusual, coloured, or highly decorated items are very collectable and command high prices
European glass
• COLLECTING part-mould-blown Irish decanters (always of clear glass) are particularly sought after
American glass
• TECHNIQUE mould blowing mostly used in North America between c.1820 and 1870
• WARES much used for the production of inexpensive bottles, although other wares, including vases, punchbowls, and drinking glasses, were also produced

Furniture and the Renaissance
There was a revolution in thinking in the fifteenth century which was much apparent in the visual arts but fed through more slowly to the design of furniture. Most of what was made was just a reworking of old themes and styles, even in Italy which was the forerunner of new forms of arts at this time. It was in Italy that late Gothic elements were first replaced by architectural forms such as pilasters, rounded arches, and columns. These designs were decorated with motifs borrowed from classical antiquity.
A 16th century carved cupboard attached to a wall.
This included rosettes, toothed friezes, parallel, and egg and tongue mouldings. Where the structure of the furniture had previously been obvious it was now less obvious and greater emphasis was placed on the beauty of the shape of the piece itself.
Interior furnishing of the home was further extended during the Renaissance with hat stands, mirrors, busts, and bookcases. The choice of furnishings were largely dictated by the architectural character of Renaissance homes.
The functional form of the furniture was partly determined by aesthetic considerations.
CHESTS
This new style was found in chests of the time which became one of the main decorative pieces in the homes of the era. At first the chests were assembled from framing and panels which were initially solely decorated with simple geometric patterns. Subsequently the tops of these chests were embellished with human figures placed at the corners and the panels were often supplemented with mythological or historical scenes.
Chests changed shape in the second half of the fifteenth century, becoming more cubic.
The geometric shapes of the surfaces were now enhanced with figurative decorations and also with plant forms. The feet of these chests were strikingly decorated.
CABINETS
Cabinets and cupboards became increasingly more important in the furnishing of homes. At first these had appeared in town halls and sacristies but they now started to turn up in private homes.
A credence table was used as a dresser. This is a two-door cupboard with sliding leaves beneath a folding leaf with quite limited decoration.
Two cupboards were placed one on top of another in less important rooms that were decorated even less. Cabinets sometimes also possessed a slide out or fold-down leaf which could be used as a surface to write on so that they could act as a bureau.
There were also bookcases, with and without doors and chests of drawers.
A 17th century oak pillow cabinet inlaid with walnut and palisander from the southern Netherlands.
BEDS
A higher standard of living brought a further showpiece into homes — the bed. This formed part of the fitted furniture, attached to the walls. The principal end of the bed was raised and at first sat on a chest-like base but this disappeared around 1500.
During the high Renaissance the bed featured superb examples of sculpture. The richly embellished pillars bore a canopy.

TABLES
Ancient stone furniture inspired Italian craftsmen in their construction of tables leading to two or three highly decorative side-pieces, with caryatids, acanthus scrolls, and winged fantasy animals.
SEATING
Great value was placed upon elegance and comfort by people in this era and this is apparent from their stools, backed chairs, and other seats. Regional variations now arose in the different types of seating.
France
The French were the first to be influenced by Italian arts — because of their eager meddling in Italian politics. Hence the first foreign country to adopt elements of the Italian Renaissance was France. The French were attracted by the reverence for classicism and the humanist attitude of the Italians. Italian artists were attracted to their court circles by the French aristocracy and yet the Gothic influences lived on long after this.
The early French Renaissance period saw development of the Frans I style, which saw late Gothic furniture acquire baluster legs, Corinthian capitals, friezes, pilasters, and decorative mouldings mixed with late Gothic characteristics. Chests, buffets, and benches retained an upright Gothic appearance.
Hence chests remained unchanged for a long time but dressers were used to store cutlery, tableware and other valuables.
The centre section was provided with a drawer for storage or was used to set out the cutlery and tableware. The top sat on Gothic pillars. Early dressers had the corners set back at an angle but later examples were more cubic in form as a result of the pilasters and pilaster legs.
The Gothic form of chair was retained but the armrests were raised and new ,architectural’ details were added. Despite the tremendous influence of the Italians, a new generation of French artists emerged who smothered furniture with a wealth of mouldings. These artists were mainly active in south-western France for in the north there was greater interest in functional design with both form and geometry arrived at logically. This found expression in an harmonic blend of neutral framework with modest decoration.
Cabinets were increasingly constructed with ever more slender legs. The body changed and was decorated with rich reliefs depicting the four seasons, the four elements, and ancient gods. Further south the form remained altogether more plump and cabinets still comprised two parts of equal size.
France already led the way in terms of style for the building of palaces for Royalty and the aristocracy by the sixteenth century. These needed to meet the increasingly refined way of life of the nobility. France also led the way in the style of the interior decoration and furnishings of such aristocratic dwellings. High-backed chairs are very characteristic of this era.
By the late sixteenth century, the shape of people was once more a consideration in the design of chairs and chair backs were lightly curved in order to make them more comfortable. Armrests ending with ram’s heads or scrolls rested on small turned column-like legs.
The high back of the Low Countries was exchanged for the low back of Italy. This development ended though when the Louis XIV style prescribed high chair backs. Very few chairs from this time have survived.
The bed with canopy established a firm place for itself in interior design in France in the sixteenth century. These used upright posts in the form of pilasters or caryatids (female muse forming a pillar) in the Italian manner and for the design of their tables too the French looked to Italy. The leaf was carried by two moulded side-pieces in the form of chimeras or Hermes. There are often column supports between the side pieces and the table leaf. Column legged tables were very popular. These had horizontal stretchers linking them in the form of a double T.
The centre of large halls were often filled with tables with six, eight, or nine legs. It is difficult to differentiate between Louis XIII and Louis XIV tables. This often makes it difficult to date such a piece.
Germany
The Italian Renaissance style die not make headway in Germany before 1500. Its adoption is largely due to the German artists Holbein and Durer. A great deal of work was done between 1525 and 1550 with drawings of ornamentation by the so-called ‘minor masters’. Their influence only extended though to the decoration of the surfaces while form and function remained unchanged.
Only the aristocracy really adopted Italian examples. The citizenry continued to use furniture with Gothic style elements until the arrival of Baroque.
Furniture increasingly became more centrally made in France during the Renaissance but this did not happen in Germany, which was largely fragmented at the time. Furniture in Germany therefore differed from region to region.
NORTHERN GERMANY
The greatest response to the new style was in northern Germany, largely due to examples in the engravings of Heinrich Aldegrever. Yet here too the field was not
wide open for greater ornamentation. There were two important types of cabinet: a large one with a Gothic style front with symmetrical mouldings, and a cabinet on tall legs that resembled a French dresser. The first of these types was decorated in a manner also found with chests from the Rhineland and Westphalia where the Gothic style endured. These chests were often decorated with long panels with lettering.
Most northern cabinets were made of oak while the preference in most other parts of Germany was for ash, larch, or deal (pine).
These timbers remained popular until well into the seventeenth century. High relief carving is particularly characteristic of northern German furniture of the time. The carcass was also decorated with allegorical or religious representations such as fertility rites and scrolls on the top moulding and also with sculptures of female muses as pilasters. This type of cabinet was made in Schleswig-Holstein until late in the Baroque era. Another type of piece that is typical of northern Germany is the small but tall ‘farmer’s’ cabinet.
There were a number of variations in type of northern German chests of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The variant originating from Luneburg was the least changed of these from its predecessors. This type was made by joining planks together and it stood on tall legs.
Those from Holstein were supported on chest-like bases and were decorated in the same manner as cabinets from this region. Chests from Bremen had the form of cube that is slightly taller than it is wide.
SOUTHERN GERMANY
There was a marked preference for fine inlay in southern Germany. Italian architectural features were introduced via Augsburg where the local cabinetmakers were very active in the use of exotic woods such as palisander and ebony and also native timbers like maple, beech, cherry, and poplar for inlaying. A characteristic of late Renaissance furniture is the thoroughness of its making. Decorative designs were made by famous artists such as Burgkmair and Holbein. The plinths, centre parts, and cornices of these cabinets gave them a somewhat horizontal appearance. The main lines of southern German cabinets are largely lost beneath a welter of ornamental and architectural detail.
In reality they still consisted of two pieces. The decoration comprised Doric friezes, vines, symmetrical grotesque motifs, egg and tongue mouldings, and triglyphs. The sculptor and architect Peter Flotner exerted considerable influ-
This early 18th century southern German or Czech trois corps or three part cabinet is of amboyna over deal. These cabinets incorporating a secretaire were made from Strasbourg to the Balkans.
The grain of the wood was also allowed its full expression. Southern German chests often had drawers in the bottom and the lids featured decoration divided into panels. The status of chests gradually reduced until eventually they were only found as furniture in farmhouses. Despite this chests were still made in southern Germany, with walnut being increasingly used.
Tables based on chests arrived in southern Germany from France and remained until late into the Baroque period. The influence of Gothic continued to be readily apparent.
Beds were free-standing with canopies mounted on posts with short valances or curtains. Very few chairs of this period from southern Germany have survived and those that have show clear signs of Italian Renaissance and German Gothic.
The ‘farmer’s chair’ with square seat is the simplest form. Extensively carved chair backs and angled legs were adopted from Italy. This type of chair continued in existence until well into the eighteenth century in the Alps and southern Germany. In addition, there were many chairs with square rear legs that extended upwards to form the uprights of the back of the chair. Richly carved horizontal stringers were placed between the legs to make the chair more rigid.
Another widely found type of chair has arms, leather seat, and scissor-legs. A new type of ‘Dutch’ armchair appeared around 1600 with turned legs or moulded balusters that became very popular in the seventeenth century. Folding chairs also continued in use, especially in Switzerland.
The Low Countries
The Catholic southern part of the Low Countries was mainly influenced by the French but the north went its own way. Furniture makers in the north were influential upon sculptors in Mecklenburg and Lubeck.
The preference in the Dutch Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was for inlay with contrasting coloured woods, especially with ebony and rails, balusters, and carved pilasters were greatly favoured. Chests of this period exhibit the same features. Between 1725 and 1750 there was a marked preference for richly carved pieces.
By the late sixteenth into the seventeenth century many homes had a two-storey cabinet with protruding cornice. The upper part of the cabinet was slightly set back.
There were many regional variants on this theme with cabinetstypical of North and South Holland, Zeeland (with tall legged underframe), and Gelderland. This type of cabinet was also much desired in Cologne where they developed their own richly embellished style.
England
There was some small but increasing influence from the European mainland on England during this period. The dominant style was Elizabethan, after the name of Queen Elizabeth, characterised by simple interpretation of French but mainly Flemish Renaissance. Gradually the Gothic pointed arches and rosettes were replaced by heavy baluster legs, friezes, and other classical architectural elements.
The solid oak ‘four-poster’ canopy beds of this era are famous and many can still to be seen in castles and great stately homes.

After World War I, furniture designers combined luxury and practicality in their products, and created both traditional types of furniture and innovative forms. In France, traditional Art Deco furniture was typified by elegant styles looking back to the 18th or 19th centuries, using inlay and exotic woods. After 1925 French makers started to incorporate the “new” materials
that were part of the Modernist aesthetic, such as chromium, aluminium, and tubular steel — as advocated by the innovative German Bauhaus, whose industrial designers created functional furniture for mass production. In the USA, designers were influenced by both traditional and Modern European Art Deco, using materials such as laminated wood and chromed metal.

In the early 20th century, Dutch, German, and
Scandinavian furniture designers were at the forefront of the Modern movement. Designing specifically for Machine production, they rejected ornament and experimented with the new materials of tubular steel, aluminium, chromium, and preformed plywood, aiming to create standardized, functional furniture accessible to all markets.
THE NETHERLANDS
Among the earliest furniture designs inspired by the new machine aesthetic ere those of Gerrit Rietveld 1888-1964). From c.1918 Rietveld was associated with the Dutch magazine De Stijl (Style), whose contributors, a group of avant-garde architects, painters, designers, and theorists, aimed
to create a new “universal” art based on lines, geometric shapes, primary colours, and black and white. Rietveld’s “Red-Blue” chair, designed in 1918, is one of the best-known expressions of De Stijl ideas. Its straightforward construction meant that it was highly suitable for mass production. Versions made before 1923 are stained, varnished, or limed, reflecting Rietveld’s traditional training in carpentry. Only after this date was the chair painted in red, blue, black, and yellow. From c.1918 Rietveld’s furniture designs were constructed from linear wooden elements; from the mid-1920s they featured flat Wooden planes. Rietveld produced his own furniture until 1924, when he sold his business to his assistant Gerard van der Groenekan. Rights to the designs were sold in 1971 to the Italian furniture company Cassina, which still reproduces them today.
GERMANY
Most of the well-known furniture designers in Germany in the inter-war period were associated with the Bauhaus. Founded in 1919 in Weimar by the architect Walter Gropius (1883– 1969), the Bauhaus was one of the first schools to train artists and craftsmen to design high-quality goods specifically for industrial production. It is particularly renowned for the functional, geometric style of its products and its experimentation with new Materials such as tubular steel and plywood.
The best-known furniture designs associated with the Bauhaus were those produced by the Hungarian-born architect Marcel Breuer (1902-81), head of the school’s carpentry workshop from 1925 to 1928. His earliest designs feature linear wooden components, similar in
style to Rietveld’s furniture. However, by c.1925, Breuer was designing chairs with tubular steel frames, and his “Wassily” chair (1925) was one of the first tubular steel pieces to be produced on a large scale. Designs including the “Wassily” chair and the tubular steel-framed, cantilevered “B32″ chair (1926) were manufactured by such firms as Standard-Mobel Lengyel & Co. in Berlin and Thonet in Vienna. In 1932 Breuer began to design aluminium furniture for the Wohnbedarf furnishings stores in Switzerland; since aluminium is weaker than steel, these designs are more complex in construction than his tubular steel pieces. In 1935 Breuer emigrated to Britain, where he met Jack Pritchard (b. 1899), owner of Isokon (1932-9), which produced furniture in the Modern style and promoted the use of plywood. For Isokon, Breuer designed the “Long Chair”, a sculptural plywood reclining chair that moulded to the position of the body, and lightweight tables and chairs created from single sheets of cut and moulded plywood.
The avant-garde architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), artistic director of the Bauhaus from 1930 to 1933, designed cantilevered tubular steel furniture for mass production by the firm of Berliner Metallgewerbe
from 1927 to 1931. Many of his other designs, although functional in appearance, were in fact handmade for the luxury market. A notable example is his padded leather and chrome “Barcelona” chair and stool, designed for
the German pavilion at the 1929 International Exhibition in arcelona. With a curved X-frame inspired by Classical furniture, the chair was designed as a “throne” for King Alfonso XIII of Spain for the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Original Berliner Metallgewerbe models are exceptionally rare and valuable today, but since 1947-8 the chair has been mass-produced by the American firm of Knoll, and these reproductions are more accessible to collectors.
SCANDINAVIA
In the 1920s and 1930s, Scandinavia was less industrialized than the rest of Europe or the USA, and
its craft tradition was still highly evident in furniture and interior design. This tradition continued even with the advent of Modernism, Scandinavian designers preferring curving forms and wood to the angular shapes and tubular steel favoured by their German peers. This is well illustrated by the furniture designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), who from from 1929 experimented with plywood for such items as chairs and trolleys, and in 1933 patented a method of bending wood to make stacking stools. Like other Modernist furniture of the period, Aalto’s designs are simple in construction, with no surface decoration, although they may be painted in bright primary colours. His furniture was produced from 1930 to 1933 by the firm of Otto Korhonen in Turku and from 1935 by his own manufacturing company, Artek, in Helsinki. Aalto’s versatile furniture, especially his stacking stools, proved particularly popular in Britain, where it was imported and distributed by Finmar Ltd (est. 1934-5).

•    COLLECTING original 1920s and 1930s pieces are rarer and more valuable than recent versions; many designs were sold to large furniture companies from the 1940s and have been in continuous production since
Gerrit Rietveld
•    CONSTRUCTION linear elements were typical before the early 1920s; planar designs thereafter
•    COLOURS primary colours, plus black and white; early versions of “Red-Blue” chair are unpainted
Marcel Breuer
MATERIALS tubular steel, aluminium, or bent and
laminated plywood; leather arid cane for seats
•    CONSTRUCTION simple contours
construction; chairs and tables made after 1925 have runners rather than feet; Isokon side-chairs and tables are made from single sheets of cut plywood

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
•    MATERIALS tubular steel combined with padded leather upholstery, raffia, or glass
•    CONSTRUCTION Some chairs are cantilevered; the “Barcelona” chair and stool have a distinctive X-frame; careful hand-finishing is typical
•    COLLECTING on early, handmade “Barcelona” chairs the top rail is in bent chromed steel with lap joints and chrome-headed bolts; on later, mass-produced pieces (after 1947-8) the top rail is of cut and welded stainless steel
Alvar Aalto
•    MATERIALS woods, especially plywood, bent laminated (which may flake), and solid birch
Marks
Some Finnish furniture is marked “Aalto Mobley, Svensk Kvalitet Sprodurt”; most pieces have an applied metal label bearing a model number

The Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930x, which derived ‘its name from the 1925 Paris Exhibition – the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industrials Modernes – was the first truly modern style of the 20th century. .In their subject-matter, style, and bright colours, Art Deco furniture, jewellery, ceramics, cs, posters, sculpture, and other decorative arts reflected the general atmosphere of optimism that prevailed after the devastation of World War I. The increased liberation of women, the rise of jazz music and Hollywood film-making, the preoccupation with speed, travel, and leisure pursuits, and the growth of commercial competition and advertising all had a strong Influence on Art Deco designers. Until the late 1970s Art Deco pieces attracted little interest among dealers and collectors, but since that time, with numerous exhibitions and Publications on the subject, the popularity  of collecting Art Deco has increased enormously.

Like the Paris Exhibition of 1900 –which had been the showcase for the Art Nouveau style – the 192-5 Exhibition aimed to promote France as the pre-eminent centre for the production of luxury goods. Most European countries, except for or Germany, were involved; the USA declined to take part, deciding that it could not meet the entry requirements for examples of work of “new and original inspiration” stipulated by the organizers. The exhibition was therefore dominated by pavilions displaying the work of leading French designers, such as the
furniture designer Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (1879-1933) and the glassmaker Rene Laliquc ( 1860-1945). The design studios of the major Parisian department stores, such as Primavera at Printemps, La Maitrise at Galeries Lafayette,  and Pomona at Au Bon Marche, displayed complete interiors, with examples of furniture, household wares, textiles, and carpets in matching styles.
Most of the exhibits reflected the “official taste” of the exhibition; forms were adapted from historical or traditional styles, but with lavish ornament of stylized flowers, figures, and animals, and geometric patterns such as zigzags and chevrons. This was particularly evident in Ruhlmann’s Pavilion d’un Collectioneur, with its chairs influenced by 18th-century design, boldly  patterned wall coverings, and elaborate chandeliers, and also in the design by Andre Groult for an ambassadorial boudoir with shagreen-covered furniture.
This style contrasted strongly with the few displays by Modernist designers. The Pavilion de I’Esprit Nouveau was designed by the avant-garde Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and exemplified his vision of a new, minimalist architecture and lifestyle. His small two-storey house, with its doors, windows, and other structural elements based on a modular system of standard-sized units, contained mass-produced furniture and was decorated with abstract paintings. Although this style made a strong impact, its influence did not become widespread until the 19 30x, when it was represented at the 1937 Universal Exhibition in Paris and also at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York.

THE 1925 PARIS EXHIBITION
The Art Deco style, although mainly associated with the 1920s and 1930s, did not suddenly emerge fully formed in this period. Rich ornament, exotic materials, and emphasis on comfort – all features of the style – were already evident in the decorative arts, especially in French furniture, before and during World War I. However, the development of the Art Deco style is mainly associated with the 1925 exhibition in Paris, which lasted from April to October. This exhibition was originally planned for 1915, Lis a continuation of the French government-sponsored international exhibitions that were held in Paris from the 19th century, but was postponed because of the war.
MOTIFS, INFLUENCES, AND
NEW MATERIALS
The standard motifs of the Art Deco style included such traditional decorative elements as bouquets of flowers, animals, and figures of young maidens. However, these were always stylized and angular rather than naturalistic and were often combined with purely geometric motifs, including chevrons, zigzags, Sunbursts, and lightning bolts. This emphasis on stylization and abstract and repeated forms was influenced by the growing impact of the machine, especially automobiles, trains, and aeroplanes, and by such abstract art movements of the early 20th century as Cubism and Futurism. The taste for bright colours was also inspired by the vibrant Fauvist paintings of Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Maurice Vlaminck, which used contrasting tones and non-naturalistic colours.
Such movements were in turn influenced by the stylized, abstract forms of African masks and sculpture, which were widely collected and imported into Europe in large quantities at this time. Certain elements of Art Deco decorative arts, such as ceramic wall masks, show the inspiration of African art, while African figures featured as decoration on the ceramics of such potters as Rene Buthaud (1886-1987). Also around this time, black American culture in the form of jazz music was introduced into Europe from the USA; the jazz-inspired Revue Negre in Paris, featuring the black dancer and actress Josephine Baker, influenced the work of Buthaud and other Art Deco designers.
The taste for Oriental art was encouraged between 1911 and 1920 by the exotic stage and costume designs of Leon Bakst ( 1866-1924) for the Ballets Russes. These had a significant influence on the Art Deco style, and sparked a fashion for Oriental black-and-red colour combinations as well as lacquered furniture, metalwork, and objets d’art. One of the best exponents of the style was the Swiss designer Jean Dunand (1877-1942). Leading sculptors in France, such as Dimitri Chiparus 1880-1950), also produced figures of dancers in exotic costumes.

THE MODERN MOVEMENT
An alternative to the luxury Art Deco style developed mainly outside France, especially in Germany, during and after World War 1. Progressive artists, architects, and designers argued that the new era demanded good-quality, functional design for all; that new technology and machine production should be exploited fully;  and that form must be derived from function, Without unnecessary ornament.
This movement began in 1907 with the Deutscher Werkbund, an alliance of designers and industrialists. In 1919 the Bauhaus was founded in Weimar by the German architect and designer Walter Gropius (1883-1969); in 1925 the school moved to Dessau, and it was closed by the Nazis in 1933. Bauhaus members designed high-quality furniture, lighting, metalwork, and textiles for industrial production, using new materials, including plywood and tubular steel. Many designs, such as the tubular steel furniture by Marcel Breuer (1902-81) and the glass and metal lamps by Marianne Brandt (1893-1983), are still widely produced. Other Modernist designers of the period included Le Corbusier in France, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) in Finland, and Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) in the Netherlands.
Both the decorative and the Modern strands of Art Deco had a strong influence in the USA, where the style’s vibrant colours and rhythmic patterns expressed the optimism of a young
country that was also the world leader in the mass production of consumer goods. Designers including Paul T. Frankl ( 1886-19,58) and Donald Deskey (1894-1989) used materials also favoured by European Modernists, such as chrome-plated tubular steel. In the 1930s designers such as Norman Bel Geddes (18931958) and Walter Derwin Teague (1883-1960) began to develop their own distinctive version of Art Deco, known as “streamlining”.

Art Deco designers used an extremely wide range of  materials. Luxury manufacturers, including Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, Paul Follot (1877-1941), and the cabinet-makers Louis Sue (1875-1968) and Andre Mare (1887-1932), specialized in fine-quality pieces veneered in exotic woods such as amboyna and Macassar ebony, combined with ivory, shagreen, enamel, gold and silver leaf, and lacquer. Modernist and industrial designers, especially in the USA, showed greater interest in new materials such as aluminium, chromium, and tubular steel. Lavish cinema interiors were created relatively inexpensively from combinations of chromium, coloured glass, and painted concrete. Bakelite, a type of cheap, easily moulded plastic patented in 1907, was widely employed as a substitute for wood in such mass-produced items as radios.

Settles and sofas after 1840
The revival of interest in historical styles from the mid-19th century resulted in a multiplicity of designs for all types of furniture, including sofas, which were often made as part of the new salon or parlour suites. A major technical development during this period was use of the coil spring, patented in 1828, which resulted in sturdier, bulkier, and squatter designs that sacrificed form to comfort. These deeply upholstered seats, with their button backs, culminated in the Chesterfield, which was the first fully upholstered sofa.

Seat furniture
The period c. 1860 to (.1880 was in many ways the golden age of upholstery. Stuffing had been growing steadily thicker from the 1840s, and buttons were introduced to prevent the thread holding the stuffing
in place from pulling the covering material. Extra fabric was necessary to create the familiar diamond pattern of buttons or threads characteristic of the deep, luxurious upholstery, with its air of prosperity and comfort, so admired by the Victorian middle classes. The development of the coil spring made increased demands on buttoning. Whereas sofas had previously been stuffed with layers of wadding and horsehair, coiled metal springs were now used. The springs were supported by a layer of hessian webbing, covered with more webbing, which in turn was covered with horsehair stuffing and padding. As a result, Victorian sofas were much more comfortable than early 19th-century examples, but they were also much bulkier; many sofas had button backs to emphasize the new upholstered look. The luxurious effect was emphasized by the use of velvet and other elaborate fabrics. Sofas with their original worn upholstery arc more collectable today than those with high-quality restoration using an inappropriate fabric.
French sofas were generally lighter in design than British examples, since French craftsmen and manufacturers employed such revival styles as Rococo and Louis XVI, making use of giltwood and lighter upholstery fabrics. In the USA, parlour suites on a grand scale were produced by such leading makers as John Henry Belter (1804-63) of New York, who in the 1850s created laminated and moulded rosewood sofas with deep pierced carving. Renaissance Revival suites, with square-backed sofas, were also popular, while the fashion in Europe and the USA for “Turkish” corners gave rise to over-stuffed upholstered sofas with elaborate fringing.
Edwardian sofas of the first two decades of the 20th century borrowed heavily from Neo-classical styles –especially the designs of Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) – and from Regency styles, but managed to avoid the excesses of Victorian interpretations. Suites of chairs with matching sofas were produced; these were generally made from mahogany, or occasionally from walnut or satinwood. Sofas and chairs often had caned backs and sides, with silk or damask upholstery.

•    CHALSES-LONGUES these are not particularly commercial as they can be large and not very comfortable to sit on; examples with good shapes are more popular, as are those that are more heavily carved
•    GILDING good-quality regilding is quite acceptable if well executed– the highlights should be burnished, and the quality of the carving evident; beware of spray gilding – this will have a flat, matt appearance, with a very even coverage
•    RE-UPHOLSTERY the condition of the upholstery should be carefully examined, as seating can be very expensive to re-upholster; furniture with taut webbing is
preferable to that with springing, which tends to give an overstuffed look
•    COLLECTING many sofas and settees were originally part of parlour or salon suites, which are now rarely found complete; three-seater examples are generally more commercial than two-seater