Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann was celebrated at the Musée des Années Trente, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Montreal Museum of the Fine Arts, in 2002-2004 under the banner ‘Genius of Art Deco’. The claim is a bold one, but entirely deserved, for Ruhlmann, perhaps more than any other individual designer, was the presiding figure through the evolution of the style, from its more decorative beginnings just before the outbreak of war in 1914 to its gradual streamlining around 1930 in favour of pared-down forms and undecorated surfaces. We see this progression very clearly in the arc of Ruhlmann’s career, from the exuberance of his 1916 cabinet with its elaborated floral inlays, to the sleek lines and plain surfaces of the furniture created for his 1929 ‘Bureau pour un Prince héritier’. Ruhlmann was the most important designer-decorator in France, his order book listing major corporate, state, and illustrious private commissions. His reputation was consecrated in his grandiose Hộtel d’un Collectionneur at the Paris Exposition Internationale of 1925, setting benchmarks for Parisian craft and creativity in the decorative arts that perpetuated the grandest traditions of the 18th century.The lots by Ruhlmann in the present collection, models dating from the mid- to the later 1920s, well illustrate the elegance of line, the refinement of detail and the masterful execution that characterize his work. The choice of macassar ebony exemplifies Ruhlmann’s appreciation of the finest materials that were available in these years, thanks to France’s colonial network.

EMILE-JACQUES RUHLMANN (1879-1933)

A RARE PAIR OF 'LELIERE' ARMCHAIRS, CIRCA 1925

Details

EMILE-JACQUES RUHLMANN (1879-1933)
A RARE PAIR OF 'LELIERE' ARMCHAIRS, CIRCA 1925
macassar ebony, silvered-bronze sabots, re-upholstered in silk velvet
each 31 1/8 in. (79 cm.) high, 27 in. (68.6 cm.) wide, 31 in. (78.7 cm.) deep
each branded Ruhlmann

Provenance

Galerie Vallois, Paris, 1990.

Further details

Upon close examination of this exceptional pair of armchairs, the Lelière model here executed in Macassar ebony, reveals all the subtlety and mastery of Ruhlmann's unique skill as a designer. The essentially straight lines of the seat frame are softened by the gentle outward flare of the front uprights, by the fluid flow of line from the arms into the arch of the backrest, and by the curves of the rear feet and the ovoid orbs of silvered bronze of the front feet. Ruhlmann confirms his faultless instinct for line and his sculptor's sensitivity for three-dimensional form.

Sale room notice

Please note that Christie’s has a direct financial interest in this lot.

Lot Essay

This model is recorded under number 238 NR (Nouveau Référencier) in the Ruhlmann Archives, Musée des Années Trente, Boulogne Billancourt, Paris.

cf. F. Camard, Ruhlmann Master of Art Deco, Paris, 1993, p. 259 for another chair of this model;
F. Camard, Jacques Emile Ruhlmann, Editions Monelle Hayot, Paris, 2009, CD, under ‘Fauteuils de salon’ for the drawing of the model.

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