GILBERT POILLERAT (1902-198) FOR A DECORATION BY JEAN-MAURIC - Lot 63

GILBERT POILLERAT (1902-198) FOR A DECORATION BY JEAN-MAURICE ROTHSCHILD (1902-1998) La Sirène, part of Jean-Maurice Rothschild's decoration for the restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques Appliqués à la Vie Moderne, Paris, 1937. Sculpture. Gold (re)painted iron. Presented on a non-original Portor marble base. Minor scattered accidents, non-original gold paint. Height sculpture alone: 54cm Height with base: 67cm Historical background: In 1937, when the restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower was being renovated for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques Appliqués à la Vie Moderne in Paris, the architect André Granet (1881-1974), who was in charge of the work, called on decorator Jean Maurice Rothschild (1902-1998) to design the interior. Rothschild in turn called on his brother-in-law, wrought-iron artist Gilbert Poillerat (1902-1988), to create various decorative elements. Poillerat was commissioned to create the interior railings, lighting fixtures, furniture and several ornamental elements. Among these were two mermaids, including our own, to top two monumental decorative fruit and flower displays with ribboned iron supports, characteristic of the artist's stylistic language at the time. Archives: Musées des Arts Décoratifs, Paris - Our work is featured in several period photographs of the 1937 refurbishment of the Eiffel Tower's first-floor restaurant, preserved in this institution's documentary file on Jean-Maurice Rothschild. Archive and related work: Atelier Gilbert Poillerat: L'artiste et les archives - Collin du Bocage sale, Hôtel Drouot, March 17, 2015. Our sculpture to be compared with a mermaid motif featured on a gouache by Gilbert Poillerat for a greetings card project and depicting signs of the Zodiac as well as aquatic figures, presented under catalog no. 186. Bibliographyand related works: - Henri Clouzot (presentation of) - Ferronnerie Moderne, nouvelle série - Éditions Charles Moreau, Paris, circa 1930. The mermaid motif in our work can be compared with that on a weather vane reproduced on plate 12. - François Baudot - Gilbert Poillerat; maître ferronnier - Éditions Hazan, Paris, 1992. The mermaid motif in our work can be compared with the one on a pair of andirons reproduced on page 226.