A PAINTED FOUR PANEL SCREEN
Caption: Depicting the screen in situ (Jean Michel Frank, Editions du Regard). VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A PAINTED FOUR PANEL SCREEN

CHRISTIAN BERARD FOR JEAN MICHEL FRANK'S GRAND SALON FOR MADAME ARTAUD, PARIS, CIRCA 1935, THE FRAME BY JEAN-MICHEL FRANK

Details
A PAINTED FOUR PANEL SCREEN
Christian Berard for Jean Michel Frank's Grand Salon for Madame Artaud, Paris, circa 1935, the frame by Jean-Michel Frank
each panel 41¾in. (106cm.) high, 21¼in. (54cm.) wide, 1¼in. (3.2cm.) deep
giltwood frame stamped twice JM FRANK and 1313 6
Literature
Léopold Diego Sanchez, Jean-Michel Frank, 1997, pp. 160-161 for in situ photographs of the screen in Madame Artaud's drawing room.

Lot Essay

Christian Bérard, known for his fashion drawings in Vogue and costume designs for the theater and ballet during the second half of the thirties, became associated with Jean-Michel Frank and his circle of artists and craftsmen who collaborated with the designer to create luxurious interiors. Called Bébe, Bérard sometimes spent the summer with Frank in Hyères, France, at the home of the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Noailles, Frank's greatest patrons.

Bérard created designs for carpets, motifs for seat upholstery, trompe-l'oeil decoration for woodwork, and painted scenery for screens. While his whimsical trompe-l'oeil decoration appeared in a room in the Institut Guerlain in Paris, 1939, his painterly talent showed in his four panel screen for Mme. Artaud's large drawing room in her apartment. A view of this room also shows two leather armchairs with inlaid colored embellishment by Mlle. Classen-Smith, who specialized in leather inlays on cloth, after drawings by Bérard.
Also in 1939, Bérard's carpets provided the backdrop for Frank's metal and brushed oak furniture in a Buenos Aires drawing room, where the walls were covered in vellum and doors finished in bronze. Bérard's close association with Frank is further emphasized by his screen for Mme. Artaud that is both framed and signed by the designer.

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