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Lot Essay
cf. Bijoux Orfèvrerie Présenté par Jean
Fouquet, Ch. Moreau, Paris, c. 1930-32, pl. 23, for a display of cases by Paul Brandt.
The late twenties witnessed a broad shift in prevailing tastes within the applied arts in France. The increasingly dominant mode developed formal themes drawn from the ideas promoted by modern movement architects, artists and thinkers. The radical concepts presented in the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes's Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau had a far-reaching influence. Paul Brandt was among a small group of distinguished Paris jewelers to revolutionize design within this field, introducing chic and dramatic geometric forms and motifs. He used cigarette cases and compacts, such as the present example, as perfect blank canvases on which to present a dynamic, asymmetrical series of graphic designs that perfectly captured the fashionable new look. These were first shown in the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, Paris, in 1927, in displays designed by modernist architect René Herbst (see illustration).
This cigarette case has an important provenance. It was in the collection of Andy Warhol, who, like Steven Greenberg, saw in French Art Deco an expression of sophistication and high style that resonated profoundly in their own search for the very essence of glamour from the perspective of seventies New York.
Fouquet, Ch. Moreau, Paris, c. 1930-32, pl. 23, for a display of cases by Paul Brandt.
The late twenties witnessed a broad shift in prevailing tastes within the applied arts in France. The increasingly dominant mode developed formal themes drawn from the ideas promoted by modern movement architects, artists and thinkers. The radical concepts presented in the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes's Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau had a far-reaching influence. Paul Brandt was among a small group of distinguished Paris jewelers to revolutionize design within this field, introducing chic and dramatic geometric forms and motifs. He used cigarette cases and compacts, such as the present example, as perfect blank canvases on which to present a dynamic, asymmetrical series of graphic designs that perfectly captured the fashionable new look. These were first shown in the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, Paris, in 1927, in displays designed by modernist architect René Herbst (see illustration).
This cigarette case has an important provenance. It was in the collection of Andy Warhol, who, like Steven Greenberg, saw in French Art Deco an expression of sophistication and high style that resonated profoundly in their own search for the very essence of glamour from the perspective of seventies New York.