CAMILLE GAUTHIER (1870-1963) (ATTRIBUTED TO)
ART NOUVEAU DINING SUITE, CIRCA 1900
£10,080
Auction: 19 April 2023 at 10:00 BST
Description
tulipwood, bronze, comprising an EXTENDING DINING TABLE, with four later leaves, 127cm long (closed), 323cm long (open), 74cm high, 124cm deep; a SIDEBOARD CABINET, with marble top and cast bronze handles, 172cm wide, 165cm high, 49cm deep; and SEVEN DINING CHAIRS, each with later close-nailed leather upholstery, 44cm wide, 91cm high, 37cm deep
Footnote
Note: Camille Gauthier began his career with Louis Majorelle in 1893, as a draftsman in the design office. At this point in his career, Majorelle was producing reproductions of Louis XV furniture. These he exhibited in 1894 at the Exposition d'Art Décoratif et Industriel in Nancy, but the influence of the glass and furniture-maker Emile Galle (1846 - 1904) inspired him to take his production in new directions.
As a draftsman for the firm Gauthier will have been absorbed in producing designs for marquetry, carved details and the sinuous lines of the Art Nouveau style. By 1900 he decided to set up his own company and in 1904 joined forces with industrialist and upholsterer Paul Poinsignon.
The firm was immediately successful, appealing to a wide market and producing high-quality furnishings in their mechanized workshops. Their production adhered to the principles of the School of Nancy (L'École de Nancy). The School was part of a wider effort to dissolve the divide between the ‘major’ arts of painting and sculpture and the ‘minor’ decorative arts. Set up by Émile Gallé in 1901, it was principally supported by designers Louis Majorelle, Victor Prouvé, and the glassmakers August and Jean-Antonin Daum. Camille Gauthier was on the steering committee. They aimed to enhance the artistic content of industrially produced articles through the intervention of the craftsman, building on the legacy of the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris in Britain.