Lot n° 69
Estimation :
30000 - 50000
EUR
LOUIS SOGNOT (1892-1970) & CHARLOTTE ALIX (1897-1987) - - Lot 69
LOUIS SOGNOT (1892-1970) & CHARLOTTE ALIX (1897-1987) - MEMBERS OF UAM
Model specially designed and realized in 1929/30 for the UCLAF boardroom and presented at the 1st Salon of the Union des Artistes Modernes, Paris, 1930
Rare pair of modernist armchairs following the pair sold on June 6, 2022 by the Ader house under the n° 38 of the catalog.
The primary structures are made of metal angles assembled by welding and lacquered black.
Each side hollowed out in an inverted U shape, with returns at the base forming glides, constituted by an aluminum blade and closed to the ground by a strip also in aluminum, thus describing a rectangle; the whole fixed to the structure by means of visible screws.
The vertical backrests have curved side parts with rounded upper corners.
Circa 1929-30.
Backs and patches, upholstered and covered with gold leather, not original, used condition, scattered scratches, small rare and slight deformations.
Height : 81 cm - Width : 61 cm - Depth : 55 cm
Provenance :
Private collection, Paris.
Exhibition :
1st exhibition of the Union des Artistes Modernes - Pavillon de Marsan, Musée du Louvre, Paris, from June 11 to July 14, 1930. Our seats presented during this exhibition.
Bibliography :
- Les Echos des Industries d'Art - July 1930 - At the Union of Modern Artists - René Chavance, Éditions Les Echos, Paris. Our seats reproduced on page 22.
- Mobilier et Décoration - July 1930 - The 1st exhibition of the Union of Modern Artists - Georges Rémon, Éditions Edmond Honoré, Paris. Our seats reproduced page 7.
- Art et Décoration - August 1930 - The first exhibition of the Union of Modern Artists - Léon Werth, Éditions Albert Lévy, Paris. Our seats reproduced on pages 60 and 61.
- L'Amour de l'art - September 1930 - The Union of Modern Artists - Gaston Varenne, Éditions Imprimeries Paul Dupont, Paris. Our seats reproduced on page 371.
- Mobilier et Décoration - April 1931 - Louis Sognot and Charlotte Alix decorators - Georges Rémon, Éditions Edmond Honoré, Paris. Our seats reproduced on page 132.
- Arlette Barré-Despond - UAM, Union of Modern Artists - Les Éditions du Regard, Paris, 1986. Our seats appearing on a photograph of archive reproduced page 507.
- Pierre Kjellberg - Art déco - Les Maîtres du mobilier - Le décor des paquebots - Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 1986. Our seats appearing on an archive photograph reproduced on page 175.
History :
It was in 1928 that Dr. Gaston Roussel founded UCLAF, the Union Chimique des Laboratoires Associés Français, in collaboration with chemists, pharmacists and biologists. It was then decided to erect a brand new building, to be named Pasteur, in Romainville, a town that had always been home to Dr. Roussel's professional activities. This building was designed to house the research center, the company's administration and the boardroom. Workshops, warehouses, garages, a dining hall, a boiler room and a water tower were built on the outskirts of the building on a 7-hectare site. At that time, the company already had 2,000 employees. The Pasteur building, UCLAF's showcase, was inaugurated in 1930.
Charlotte Alix, after having worked between 1925 and 1927 for Baron de Rothschild, founded the Bureau International des Arts Français in 1928 with Louis Sognot. The choice of the name of the agency, located on rue de l'Abbé Grégoire in the 6th arrondissement, already speaks volumes about the program and philosophy of the association of the two "decorators". Charlotte Alix had already had a friendly relationship with Dr. Roussel for a long time, who had always encouraged her in her chosen path, that of decoration and the design of modern furniture. It was therefore only natural that the founder of UCLAF chose Louis Sognot and Charlotte Alix to furnish the library and the boardroom of the brand new Pasteur building. The two decorators created a modular boardroom, with a large table made up of independent elements that could be separated to form work islands. The aesthetic identity of this large room came essentially from the armchairs made of aluminum blades fixed by visible screws on black lacquered iron primary structures. Louis Sognot and Charlotte Alix immediately understood the importance of this design and exhibited it at the 1st Salon de l'Union des Artistes Modernes organized at the Pavillon de Marsan in 1930. Together with the commission from the Maharaja of Indore, these are the two historical metal sets by the two UAM members. Every enthusiast, enlightened amateur, art historian or professional of the modernist movement of the interwar period has been nourished and keeps in memory the archival images of this boardroom for UCLAF.
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