.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
cf. G. Delaporte, René Herbst Pioneer of Modernism, Paris, 2004, p. 118 for a coiffeuse of this design in the bathroom of the Begum Aga Kahn, Paris, 1930.
S. Goguel, René Herbst, Paris, 1990, p. 115 for a coiffeuse of this design in the bathroom of the Begum Aga Kahn, Paris, 1930, p. 280 for a drawing by Herst of several pieces of furniture incorporating steel.
Exhibition catalogue, Les Années UAM 1929-1958, Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1989, p. 194.
René Herbst is recognized today as one of the most important architects and decorators pioneering the modernist movement. In 1933, the journalist Henri Clouzot wrote in Art et Décoration: "To study René Herbst is to recount the history of the avant-garde decorative arts over the last ten years".
A founding member of the Union des Artistes Modernes in 1929, Herbst was elected president in 1946. In the early 1920s, Herbst had established himself as a successful decorator, and became particularly well respected for his highly praised store and exhibition displays, which he often showed at the Paris salons. Herbst also executed commissions for private patrons, the most prestigious of which was the Aga Kahn. For his residence at rue Scheffer in Paris, Herbst oversaw the architectural restoration and interior redesign, as well as the creation of new furnishings between 1930 and 1933. It was for the Princess Aga Kahn's bathroom that he designed a dressing table (now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris), on which the present desk is so clearly based. So far, this desk is the only one of its kind known to exist.
S. Goguel, René Herbst, Paris, 1990, p. 115 for a coiffeuse of this design in the bathroom of the Begum Aga Kahn, Paris, 1930, p. 280 for a drawing by Herst of several pieces of furniture incorporating steel.
Exhibition catalogue, Les Années UAM 1929-1958, Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1989, p. 194.
René Herbst is recognized today as one of the most important architects and decorators pioneering the modernist movement. In 1933, the journalist Henri Clouzot wrote in Art et Décoration: "To study René Herbst is to recount the history of the avant-garde decorative arts over the last ten years".
A founding member of the Union des Artistes Modernes in 1929, Herbst was elected president in 1946. In the early 1920s, Herbst had established himself as a successful decorator, and became particularly well respected for his highly praised store and exhibition displays, which he often showed at the Paris salons. Herbst also executed commissions for private patrons, the most prestigious of which was the Aga Kahn. For his residence at rue Scheffer in Paris, Herbst oversaw the architectural restoration and interior redesign, as well as the creation of new furnishings between 1930 and 1933. It was for the Princess Aga Kahn's bathroom that he designed a dressing table (now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris), on which the present desk is so clearly based. So far, this desk is the only one of its kind known to exist.