Louis Majorelle Cabinet with Wisteria Marquetry

$12,500

£9,343.62

€10,902.70

CA$17,552.54

A$17,854.64

CHF 10,195.26

MX$215,961.72

NOK 118,882.05

SEK 120,703.55

DKK 81,505.70

About the Item

French Art Nouveau small cabinet by Louis Majorelle, circa 1900-03, with exotic hardwood marquetry in a wisteria motif. 25" wide x 58" tall x 12" deep. Documented. LOUIS MAJORELLE (1859-1926) Originally, the young Louis Majorelle planned to become an artist. He studied painting in Nancy and at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, under Jean Millet. However, upon the death of his father, in 1879, he left Paris to return to Nancy to oversee the family furniture factory and pottery production. In the late 1880s, he began to design “modern” furniture, quite a departure from the historical classicism that the Majorelle firm had previously issued. By mechanizing his factory he produced quantitites of highly decorated commercial furniture and more elaborate pieces using expensive materials such as mahogany, burled walnut, and ormolu. The firm’s catalog included a wide range of furniture models in both historicist Art Nouveau styles. Influenced by the glass and furniture of his fellow Nancy artist, Emile Galle, Majorelle was inspired to take his furniture production in a new direction. He became the most dynamic practitioner of the School of Nancy - his Art Nouveau furniture was designed from nature – plant stems, foliage, tendrils, dragonflies, tree roots – and often decorated with beautiful marquetry in exotic woods. He became known for his “unconventional” furniture and designed pianos, desks, armchairs, dining and bedroom suites and, when he later added a metalworking capability to his workshop, wrought iron banisters, iron mounts, lighting, and ormolu. Majorelle exhibited exquisite pieces of furniture at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris and in 1901 he became vice-president of the Ecole de Nancy. Majorelle’s studios were heavily damaged during the bombings in World War I and much historical information was lost. After World War I Majorelle moved into the early Art Deco idiom with more severe forms and restricted ornamentation. He died in 1926 and a retrospective of his pioneering works were organized. The firm continued into the mid 1930s, managed by Alfred Levy, its artistic and technical director.

Creator:
Louis Majorelle (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 58 in (147.32 cm)Width: 25 in (63.5 cm)Depth: 12 in (30.48 cm)
Style:
Art Nouveau (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Hardwood,Marquetry
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1900-1909
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1903
Condition:
Refinished.
Seller Location:
Philadelphia, PA
Reference Number:
Seller: 12221stDibs: LU84377026333

Shop All Louis Majorelle

Louis Majorelle

Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, more commonly known as Louis Majorelle, was a French artist, metalworker and Art Nouveau designer celebrated for his bedroom furniture, cabinets, chairs and decorative objects.

In 1877, Majorelle moved to Paris from the town of Nancy where he began his studies in painting under Jean-François Millet at the École de Beaux Arts. Following the death of his father, a furniture designer, he returned to Nancy and took over the family workshop. Parisian architect Henri Sauvage designed Majorelle’s house in Nancy, Villa Majorelle, which featured stained glass by Jacques Gruber.

In order to increase productivity and reduce costs — as well as shift the family business’s focus from reproductions of 18th-century furniture such as Louis XV chairs to instead working in the era’s Art Nouveau style — Majorelle integrated modern techniques and processes at his atelier (these changes were in part inspired by innovative glassmaker Emile Gallé).

The workshop became known for Majorelle’s distinctive designs and the pronounced craftsmanship of its offerings. There were tables made from mahogany and ormolu that featured handsome bronze mounts and marquetry, table lamps that shared common ground with the prized designs associated with Tiffany Studios, and decorative pieces that Majorelle produced in partnership with Daum, a revered manufacturer of French art glass.

The work was very much characterized by the botanical motifs and curvaceous silhouettes of Art Nouveau design, and the business was successful. Majorelle produced a range of items during the early 1900s and was a participant in the 1900 Paris Exposition as well as the Exposition de l'Ecole de Nancy in 1903.

In 1916, a devastating fire broke out in Majorelle’s factory on the rue du Vieil-Aître in Nancy. It destroyed all of the company’s awards, sketches, molds, equipment and archives of Majorelle’s work. In 1917, destruction again shook his business when his shop on the rue Saint-Georges was bombed by German aircraft. The designer marched on — he relocated to Paris where he shared a workspace and created vases and other vessels in the Art Deco style before he moved back to Nancy. Majorelle designed the Nancy Pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925 with Alfred Lévy. He died in 1926.

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