Decorators of the 50s

The revival of decorative arts in post-war France was extremely diverse, from the 1940s style which persists through official orders to classical or neoclassical furniture whose success was unprecedented. Modernity remained a battle to be waged after the failure of the Union of Modern Artists (UAM) which, being too rigid, remained unconvincing in the eyes of both manufacturers and the public. This challenge was taken up by the young generation of decorators presented in this book. Their approach does not obey the strict rules of a pre-established aesthetic, as recommended by the thinking machines of their time such as (before the war) the Cranbrook Academy in the United States, the Bauhaus and the Ulm School in Germany or the UAM in France. It responds to the needs and aspirations of a country in complete reconstruction, with the extraordinary vitality that characterizes the era.

After an introduction which emphasizes the alliance of ethics and aesthetics, fantasy and rigor, of this abundant and singular French creation, on the fringes of emerging design, this book is organized into four parts, each preceded by an introduction which defines the historical context.

First come the great decorators, the masters of the interwar period, such as Adnet, Arbus or Old, and the representatives of a freewheeling 50s style, playful and freed from any discourse in "ism": Matégot, Royère or Raphaël. Then, the great figures of Reconstruction – Gascoin, Hitier, Renou or Sognot – who transmitted to the following generation the sense of a demanding and purist modernity, and sometimes of astonishing avant-gardism. Their spiritual sons, many of whom remain unknown to design historians and who were barely twenty years old at the start of the 1950s, are Gautier-Delaye, Guariche, Motte, Paulin, Richard or Philippon and Lecoq. Closer to foreign designers, dreaming of an international art at the service of all, they are the first to have achieved a real collaboration with manufacturers.

In addition to these thirty-three biographical and stylistic monographs including the one devoted to Roger Fatus, the author Patrick Favardin analyzes the establishment of structures – completely new for France – of publishing, promotion and distribution, with manufacturers like Airborne, Les Huchers-Minvielle or Steiner, galleries like that of Steph Simon and the MAI gallery, department store workshops, decoration magazines, household arts fairs and decorative artists' fairs. So many actors who passionately brought their thoughts and their support, technical as well as financial, to what was an unprecedented adventure.

• 23 x 30.5 cm
• 352 pages
• 400 color illustrations
• Hardback cover
• ISBN: 978-2-9155-4248-6

Text in French only