Posts Tagged ‘room furniture’

ART NOUVEAU BELGIAN FURNITURE: LADY’S BUREAU, MAHOGANY AND MIXED-WOOD TABLE, MAHOGANY SCREEN, WALNUT TABLE, COIFFEUSE.

IN LATE 19TH-CENTURY Europe, Art
Nouveau reached its creative peak in Belgium. Its success there was largely due to the fact that people were encouraged to explore fresh, exciting ways of looking at the arts.
The same, spirited Art Nouveau message that called fora cohesive, unified interior — so successfully accomplished elsewhere in Europe —took root in Belgium in the work of a number of innovative artist-architects, such as Victor Hotta, Henry van de Velde, and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy
The Belgian version of Art Nouveau had much in common with its French counterpart. Both embraced free-flowing, sinuous, sculptural furniture, and had a rich vocabulary of decorative motifs in organic shapes — plants, Hower blossoms, trees, butterflies, and insects — all drawn from the natural world.
HENRY VAN DE VELDE
Henry van de Velde won universal acclaim for the design of his own home near Brussels — Bloemenwerf —where furniture, carpets, and wall coverings combined to create a harmonious whole. He forged strong links with France by showcasing and selling his furniture at prestigious retail shops in Paris, including Siegfried Bing’s FArt Nouveau and La Maison Modern owned by Julius Meier-Graefe. Widely celebrated
throughout Europe, van de Velde was influenced by the writings of William Morris and believed that art should always follow organic form — a theory that underlined his furniture designs. Echoing nature’s subtle curves and lines, they were rendered in light-coloured, native timbers such as walnut, beech, and oak, and had minimal decoration. Despite van de Velde’s theories, function was key to his sturdy yet elegantly simple cabinets, tables, and writing desks.
VICTOR HORTA
Another Belgian pioneer of the Art Nouveau style was the architect and designer, Victor Hotta, who designed spectacular buildings such as the
splendid Hotel Tassel in Brussels. His interiors coalesced into harmonious and integrated ensembles: from wall panelling, ceilings, and door frames to furniture and metalwork fixtures, using an exciting range of new
materials, such as iron and glass.
The cross-fertilization between French and Belgian Art Nouveau resulted in Horta’s energetic, curving style — with its signature whiplash curves — influencing Parisian designers such as Hector Guimard. His expensive furniture was skilfully crafted in luxurious timbers such as maple, mahogany, and fruitwoods, and lavishly upholstered in fabrics such as velvet and silk.

GUSTAVE SERRURIER-BOVY
Like van de Velde and Horta, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy adopted many familiar Art Nouveau decorative motifs to complement his furniture, including plants and flowers, sinuous curves, and high-wrought mounts of pewter or brass. Determined to produce well-designed furniture for everyone, Serrurier-Bovy was also inspired by the English Arts and Crafts Movement, as seen in his robust, rectilinear furniture and in his preference for oak.
The influence of these highly original Belgian designers reached beyond their national borders to set the cultural standard for Art Nouveau furniture throughout much of Europe.
The Musee Hotta This building was originally built by Victor Horta as his own studio and residence. This view shows the integrated interior, with both the staircase and glass dome featuring his
characteristic whiplash curves. 1898.

COIFFEUSE
This mahogany coiffeuse was designed by the artist-architect, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, as a piece of bedroom furniture. The mirror is comprised of three panels, contained within a gently curving frame. The table section has
two pairs of drawers above and two drawers below. The elegant, curved lines of the top of the piece are echoed in the arched stretchers joining the legs, and the arch at the front of the table, which creates the kneehole. 1899.
BED FRAME
s bed frame has a bold, curvilinear shape is made from stained oak. It was designed Henry van de Velde. The head has bowed and arched profiles and ’s of raised and fielded, shield-shaped
panels. The piece terminates in splayed feet, which form part of the overall curved shape, and rests on brass casters. Henry van de Velde believed that art should follow an organic form and this influenced the shape and decoration of his furniture. c.1897-98.

SIDE CHAIR
This mahogany chair was designed by Victor Horta and illustrates his use of sumptuous materials and curving style, as shown in the design of the chair back, legs, and stretchers. The seat
is covered with a generously upholstered cushion.
c.1901.
WALNUT TABLE
This walnut occasional table has an overhanging circular top, arched apron, and curving, cabriole legs that terminate in stylized feet. The piece was designed by Henry
van de Velde. c.1916.
MAHOGANY SCREEN
This mahogany screen, designed by Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, has three glass panels that create strong vertical lines. In contrast, the top of the piece is sinuous in shape. While the glass in the lower half of the screen is original, the upper pieces are replacements.
1899.

MAHOGANY AND MIXED-WOOD TABLE
This side table is made of mahogany decorated with marquetry. The top is inlaid with a floral decoration above a short drawer, and the cupboard is inlaid with a daffodil design. The supports are embellished with sinuous tendrils and brass fittings.
c. 1902.
LADY’S BUREAU
Designed by Henry van de Velde and made by H. Scheidemantel in Weimar, this bureau design is typical of the work of van de Velde. The curved lines of the wood are used to create an unusual and organic shape, avoiding applied, inlaid, or any elaborate decoration. The only detailing is the unobtrusive, copper key mounts and the brass shoes. c.1903.

Art Deco British Furniture: ART DECO TUB CHAIR, NEST OF TABLES, CHEST OF DRAWERS, BURR MAPLE TABLE, OAK BOOKCASES

DURING THE FIRST HALF of the 1920s,
most British furniture designers remained loyal to the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement (see p.330), but occasionally used decorative elements inspired by French Art Deco in their work. One of London’s most successful retailers and manufacturers, Heal & Son, produced Arts and Crafts designs made from sycamore, oak, or limed oak, quietly embellished with some Art Deco features. The furniture was essentially machine-made but was finished by hand.
RESTRAINED STYLE
Gordon Russell’s furniture designs of the 1920s exhibited the more traditional Art Deco style. He adopted motifs, such as sunbursts and chevrons, and used exotic materials such as ivory and
macassar ebony Exhibiting to great acclaim at the 1925 Exhibition in Paris, Russell rejected the opulence favoured by his French counterparts, and displayed a cabinet that celebrated the simplicity of traditional Georgian design with a minimum of decoration.
The 1925 Paris Exhibition influenced the Heal’s designer, J.E Johnson. From 1926 to 1927, he displayed a range of bedroom furniture made from macassar ebony and influenced by the high Parisian Art Deco style of Emile Jacques Ruhlmann (see p.393). In 1928 Waring & Gillow, who provided luxury furniture for ships and hotels,
displayed fine furniture in the high Art Deco style in an exhibition called “Modern Art in French and English Furniture and Decoration”. The
exhibition marked the launch of their Department of Modern Art, which was headed by the Russian emigre Serge Ivan Chermayeff. Although Chermayeff favoured the use of opulent veneers, he soon moved away from the French Art Deco style towards a more Modernist aesthetic. His sofas and coffee tables were geometric in form and the upholstery and carpets featured geometric patterns. His designs were widely copied, using less expensive materials, and were mass produced for the middle class home.
A TASTE FOR LUXURY
Fashionable Art Deco furniture made of sumptuous, expensive materials. and echoing traditional shapes – albeit with a Modernist twist – was also created in Britain by Betty Joel and Sir Edward Maufe. Sir Edward Maufe had won a medal at the 1925 Paris Exhibition for his mahogany camphor wood, and ebony writing desk, which was gessoed and gilded with hire gold, and featured silk tasselled handles. Betty Joel’s prestigious and exclusive clientele included the King and Queen and Louis Mountbatten.
By the 1930s, Gordon Russell was producing more Modernist pieces, developing a successful range of good quality, mass-produced furniture that made use of new materials such as tubular steel. Sir Ambrose Heal was also firmly aligned with the Modernist movement. However, elements of Art Deco persisted in Britain. The sunburst motif and stepped tiling could be seen in many suburban houses, and household objects, such as radios, telephones, and vacuum cleaners, exhibited the streamlined style of American Art Deco. In 1933, Maurice Adams produced the archetypal streamlined cocktail cabinet in ebonized mahogany with metal casing and chromium mounts.
The lobby of the former Daily Express building in Fleet Street, London The lobby was designed in 1932 by Robert Atkinson and was inspired by Hollywood film sets. It features a starburst
ceiling with a silvered pendant lamp and a huge silver and gilt plaster relief panel along one side.

OAK BOOKCASES
This pair of Betty Joel bookcases is made from Australian silky oak. Each bookcase is asymmetrical, with random open and enclosed shelves and two cupboard doors. The circular door handles contrast with the rectangular and
square shapes of the cupboards and shelves. The bookcases stand on fluted square feet. Each one bears the following label on the base: “Token Hand-Made Furniture by Betty Joel, made by J. Emery at Token Works Portsmouth.” 1932.
BURR MAPLE TABLE
DINING CHAIR
MIRROR
This Art Deco mirror, by Whytock and Reid of Edinburgh, has a shaped, rectangular red-lacquered frame. The stylized plant motifs in the crested moulding are highlighted in gilt.

CHEST OF DRAWERS
This English chest of drawers, made from walnut, has black-lacquer banding around the drawers and the edges of the case which accentuate Its rectilinearity. The distinctive, slender drawer handles are attached vertically in juxtaposition to the horizontal, rectangular drawers. c.1930
NEST OF TABLES
These three tables are made from amboyna and satinwood with a decorative inlay. Each table top has a geometric sunburst design, made from contrasting woods, and a moulded edge. The tables are supported on tapering splayed legs and have moulded pad feet. c.1925.
TUB CHAIR
This squat, geometric tub chair, one of a pair, has a U-shaped framework with a curved back and arms that are veneered in oak from top to bottom. The back and apron of the chair, and the loose cushion seat, are upholstered in a striped fabric. The other chair of the pair has a slightly taller back.

MACASSAR SIDEBOARD
Heal & Son designed this Art Deco, ebony-veneered macassar sideboard. Its unusual appeal arises from the panels of green shagreen on the surface of the sideboard combined with an ogee-moulded ebony edge. The sides and front of the sideboard are veneered in boldly figured timber with a geometric border at
the top and base of ebony with ivory lines. The fluted, turned legs terminate in ivory feet, and the square door and drawer handles are also made of ivory. The overall shape of the sideboard is reminiscent of an 18th-century commode. c.1930.
The fluted, turned legs terminate in ivory feet.
Geometric borders of ebony and ivory line the top and bottom of the sideboard.
The sideboard echoes the shape of an 18th-century French commode.
Square, tapering ivory handles contrast with the boldly figured veneer.

19th Century Chests of Drawers. NORTH ITALIAN SIDE CABINET, FRENCH COMMODE, AMERICAN CHEST OF DRAWERS, DANISH MAHOGANY COMMODE

THE CHEST OF DRAWERS is limited in
scope by the rectangular shape of its drawers. Whilst its more elaborate cousin, the commode, might contrive to contain them within serpentine or bombe shapes, the chest of drawers shows little stylistic development.
With the exception of plain British pieces, which often bowed at the front, chests of drawers tended to be box-like in the early 19th century. Meanwhile- the status of the commode as the seminal item of drawing-room furniture was on the decline. Also on the wane were chest-on-chests and tallboys, although the occasional bowed example does survive.
A smaller version was developed resembling a miniature tallboy and similar to the French semanier. Called the Wellington chest after the famous commander, its drawers were locked by a hinged pilaster to one side.
A particular type of French Empire chest of drawers was popular throughout Europe. It was rectangular,
usually with a marble top, below which was a projecting frieze drawer supported on either side by a pair of architectural columns. Set back were two or three drawers above a plinth base. The piece in flamed, or plum pudding, mahogany was decorated with Neoclassical ormolu mounts, particularly on the frieze drawer and around the capital and column bases.
Another type of chest, which had its origins in the Louis XVI style, also featured a marble top but, instead of the projecting upper drawer, all the drawers were flush. The piece had a more delicate look, possibly because it was raised on square-section, tapering legs. It was especially popular in Italy, and was known to be produced by Maggiolini, sometimes in walnut.
Due to their widespread use and relatively simple carcase construction, chests of drawers had a huge range of surface decoration from veneering in exotic timber to painting, which was useful for disguising cheaper woods.

NORTH ITALIAN SIDE CABINET
This side cabinet, or commode, has a slightly overhanging top above a straight frieze, and a rectilinear case with two large cupboard doors at the front. The front and sides of the cabinet
are richly decorated with inlays of figured walnut and other contrasting, stained woods, forming a strong, colourful geometric design. The cabinet is supported on short, tapering legs.

Inlays of walnut and other stained woods create a strong, geometric design.
A straight frieze emphasizes the rectilinear shape of the case.
Escutcheon and geometric inlay detail
Short, tapering legs support the case.
The side cabinet has two large front cupboard doors.

AMERICAN CHEST OF DRAWERS
This Federal inlaid chest of drawers is made of mahogany. The piece has a rectangular top with an applied, inlaid edge which rests above four long, graduated drawers, each one with
crossbanding, stringing, and a beaded edge, and brass, oval drawer-pulls. The case is supported on a moulded base with straight bracket feet. Although American, the design closely follows British prototypes. Early 19th century.
AMERICAN EMPIRE CHEST OF DRAWERS
This Empire carved mahogany and mahogany veneer chest of drawers is stamped “Wm Palmer/Cabinet Maker/Catherine St./New York”. The moulded top is set over three outset short drawers, with carved attached columns flanking four drawers. The case sits on leaf-capped hairy-paw feet. Early 19th century.
FRENCH COMMODE
This case of this provincial commode is made of walnut and the piece is designed in the Empire style. It has a rectangular, dark-grey marble top which is set above a deep,
rectangular frieze. The three drawers have glass handles and matching escutcheons and are flanked by ogee scrolls. The piece is supported on block feet. Early 19th century.

This Neoclassical walnut and marquetry commode has a marble top above a frieze drawer inlaid with foliate swags and flaring urns. Below are two further drawers, similarly
inlaid sans traverse and centred by a panel inlaid with two maidens and a cupid. The sides are decorated to mirror the front, and the case is raised on square, tapered legs. c.1800 (the marble top is later). W. 132.5cm (53in). FRE 4
This rectangular top of this late Gustavian commode has canted forecorners above three long drawers. The drawers are flanked by fluted and canted sides, and the commode is raised
on short, tapering, fluted legs. The whole commode is painted in a typical Gustavian pale grey. c.1820.
ITALIAN COMMODE
SWEDISH COMMODE

DANISH MAHOGANY COMMODE
This Danish Louis XVI commode has a rectangular top above a fluted frieze drawer and return with roundel corners. The three lower drawers are flanked by fluted quarter pilasters. The commode is raised on bracket feet. Late 18th century.
This walnut and parquetry inlaid commode has a top with a projecting concave front set above four corresponding long, graduated drawers. It stands on bun feet and the case and drawer fronts are inlaid throughout with geometric walnut, mahogany, and boxwood panels.

SWEDISH CHEST OF DRAWERS
This is a late Gustavian chest of drawers, with a shaped top and curved corners. There are three graduated drawers with brass roundels and the case stands on turned, tapering feet. It is
probably veneered in    mahogany. Early 19th century.