Incollect Magazine - Issue 8

Incollect Magazine 101 order created for French music producer and club owner Bruno Coquatrix's Paris apartment in 1950. Prouvé is the overall auction leader among French mid-century designers — his designs for chairs and tables regularly sell at auction in the millions of dollars. At Sotheby's New York in 2021, a “S.A.M." table, from circa 1952, designed for the Air France Headquarters in Brazzaville, in the Congo, made of enameled steel and mahogany top, sold for $1,714,000. Today’s bankable names of 20th-century design are not the only mid-century French designers of interest or historical importance. The attention showered on the top end of the market has obscured the accomplishments of many others like Pierre Chareau, René Gabriel, Paul Dupré-Lafon, Guillerme et Chambron, Joseph-André Motte, Antoine Philippon, Jacqueline Lecoq and Charles Dudouyt, to name a few. Dupré-Lafon was one of the most sought-after designers and decorators of the period and was popularly known as the ‘decorator to the millionaires’. He designed furnishings and interiors for the wealthy Dreyfus and Rothschild families. Dupré-Lafon’s aesthetic is affiliated stylistically with Art Deco, which preceded mid-century modern design in France and continued to exercise an influence over designers into the postwar period. Whereas French Art Deco privileged exquisite craftsmanship, expensive materials, and decorative excess, mid- century French design takes inspiration from the modern world. The underlying ethos was one of clean-lined, direct, affordable furniture made to be used, with minimal and unadorned forms often created with untreated wood or semi-industrial materials like steel, plywood, Formica, and aluminum. Mid-century French design was as much a reaction against the preciousness and exclusivity of Art Deco as a direct response to the changing social needs of the time and a new emerging consumer previous page Upper left: Charlotte Perriand “Sandoz” stool. Pine with distinctive chiseled-edge feet. France, circa 1960s. From Bloomberry on Incollect.com Upper right: Charlotte Perriand set of three low tripod stools in ash. France, circa 1950s. From Bloomberry on Incollect.com Center: Charlotte Perriand set of six “Bauche” dining chairs. Wood with straw seats. France, circa 1950s. From Goldwood by Boris on Incollect.com Lower left: Charlotte Perriand “Cansado” sideboard. Mahogany with lacquered laminate sliding doors, steel base. France, circa 1958. From Pavilion Antiques and 20thc on Incollect.com Lower right: Charlotte Perriand “Forme Libre” coffee table. Three legs, freeform top, oak. France, circa 1958. From Kerry Joyce Atelier on Incollect.com this page Top: Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, “LC3” armchair for Cassina. Chrome-plated steel frame, Italian white leather. Italy, circa 1990s. From Goldwood by Boris on Incollect.com Bottom: Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, “LC4” lounge chair. Adjustable chrome-plated steel frame, beige canvas, ponyskin, leather. Italy, 1965. Photo courtesy Goldwood by Boris.