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Art Deco Sideboard / Cabinet by Jacques Émile Ruhlmann

Name: Art Deco Sideboard / Cabinet by Jacques Émile Ruhlmann
Brand: Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann
Rating: 5 (4 reviews)

$22,000

£16,633.31

€19,409.97

CA$31,304.92

A$31,757.72

CHF 18,131.97

MX$384,536.33

NOK 213,457.58

SEK 212,749.15

DKK 145,141.92

About the Item

A rare and fully documented oak sideboard by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879–1933), one of the most celebrated names in French Art Deco design. This example was produced in 1930 for the Maison d'Étudiante (women's student residence) at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, and is published in the Sotheby's New York sale 20th Century Works of Art & Tiffany, December 1, 2001, as lot 212. The piece exemplifies the leaner, more architectural idiom Ruhlmann developed toward the end of his career for institutional and semi-public commissions, moving away from the exotic veneers and inlay of his celebrated 1920s luxury interiors toward honest, well-figured oak and a strongly geometric silhouette — while losing none of the proportion and precision for which his workshop was renowned. A central cabinet, fitted with two paneled doors on turned wood pulls, is stepped forward on a low plinth base and flanked by two projecting open bookcase sections, each with adjustable shelves. Behind the cabinet doors, two small fitted drawers sit above a single adjustable shelf. The stepped, telescoping massing of the case — solid at the center, open at the sides — is a hallmark of the period's architectural furniture and reads equally well as a room-dividing bookcase or a functional sideboard. Ruhlmann was, by 1930, the pre-eminent French ébéniste of his generation, having established his reputation with the celebrated Hôtel du Collectionneur pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes — the exhibition from which the term "Art Deco" derives. This sideboard represents a lesser-known but historically important facet of his output: furniture designed for the progressive student housing of the Cité Universitaire, made to serve real daily use while still carrying his unmistakable command of proportion and line. A period photograph of a Maison d'Étudiante room, illustrating a closely related case piece in situ with its original desk and bed, documents the ensemble as installed. Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, eminent designer of the French Art Deco tradition, stands as a unique figure of the era. Without formal training in furniture design or construction, he was able to shop his designs to the most fashionable homes of Paris, and his work is now displayed in revered institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum. Eschewing the traditional French modes of design, as well as Art Nouveau, which were in vogue in his time, in favor of foreign influences and unusual mediums, Ruhlmann was able to carve a place for himself in the pantheon of twentieth century design. Ruhlmann was born in Paris to parents of Alsatian extraction in 1879. His parents made their living by running a contracting company which specialized in mirrors, gilding, and stained glass. Upon his father’s death in 1907, Ruhlmann assumed leadership of the business, creating relationships which would later be of use to him in his distinguished career as a furniture designer. Ruhlmann became involved seriously in furniture design in 1910, after furnishing an apartment for himself and his new bride. By 1919, after the close of the First World War, he and his friend Pierre Laurent established Ruhlmann et Laurent (or REL), their own interior design firm. Dissatisfied with the trends of design current in France at the time, Ruhlmann looked toward pre-war Viennese design, as well as eighteenth century aesthetics for his inspiration. Ruhlmann understood that his innovationswould not be understood, appreciated, or even available to the vast majority of people. Seeking to make a trend, Ruhlmann was conscious of the fact that he would need to appeal to the elite. Using the finest materials, such as amboyna burl, Macassar ebony, and Brazilian rosewood for construction, and ivory for details, Ruhlmann was able to create distinct, stand out, one of a kind pieces. The hallmarks of these early works were their almost imperceptible curves and elegantly subtle uses of ivory. Never having been formally trained in furniture construction himself, Ruhlmann contracted out all of his cabinet making until 1923, when he established his own workshop for the firm. By 1927, he employed over sixty master craftsmen of every stripe—cabinetmakers, finishers, upholsters, and draftsmen. Though not an expert in the execution of design, he was insistent that his craftsmen keep at it until achieving perfection. Ruhlmann became terminally ill in 1933. Fearing that the quality of the firm’s productions would suffer after his death, he willed it that the company would complete only the orders in progress. After that, Ruhlmann ordered the operation be dissolved. Some of Ruhlmann’s notable projects and commissions include his showing at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Arts, his decoration of the meeting hall of the Paris Chamber of Commerce in 1926-7, his work on the ocean liner Île-de-France in 1927, and the interior of the Marignan cinema in 1928. Produced for the Maison d'Étudiante, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, 1930 Documented: Inauguration de la Maison d'Étudiante, S.B.H.M. de Logement Féminin, inaugural booklet, February 1, 1930 Sotheby's New York, 20th Century Works of Art & Tiffany, December 1, 2001, lot 212

Creator:
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (Artist)
Dimensions:
Height: 38.5 in (97.79 cm)Width: 78 in (198.12 cm)Depth: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)
Style:
Art Deco (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Oak
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1930
Condition:
Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. recently restored, keys and hardware present.
Seller Location:
Miami, FL
Reference Number:
Seller: A16271stDibs: LU5549251310812

Shop All Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann

Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann

Endeavoring to create exquisite work that would endure forever, designer Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann defined the grandeur of the French Art Deco movement of the 1920s. His luxurious storage cabinets, seating, other furniture and interiors garnered considerable popularity alongside the growth in post–World War I Paris’s population of newly wealthy residents.

The Paris-born Ruhlmann was the son of a decorating contractor, a business he took over in the early 1900s and expanded into furniture and interior design. But by the end of his career, he was best known for being a skilled ensemblier, a term for a designer who not only makes furniture and decorates spaces but rather personally crafts each and every piece required in the space, from doorknobs to sofas. This practice ensured that the space was harmonious and consistent with Ruhlmann’s vision, and it contributed to the lasting popularity of his designs.

Ruhlmann enjoyed the patronage of the newly affluent and was encouraged by the popularity of Art Deco. While the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements were early influences, he is renowned for the modernity of his Art Deco–era designs, which reflected the celebratory nature of the times, including an integration of opulent flourishes; luxurious materials like Macassar ebony, amboyna burl, ivory and precious metals; and skilled craftsmanship and construction techniques.

Renowned all over the world, Ruhlmann was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to design a cabinet in 1925, embellishing its curved door with a sophisticated floral motif by way of an ornate marriage of wood and ivory veneer. Also in 1925, at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, arguably the exhibition that introduced Art Deco on an international level, his pavilion was the most popular.

By the time the economic depression of the 1930s materialized, Ruhlmann’s exorbitantly expensive designs were no longer viable. But the majesty and elegance of the ’20s remain an important part of design history, and Ruhlmann has been described as “perhaps its finest exponent.”

Find a collection of authentic Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann furniture on 1stDibs.

Materials

Palisander

By Maxime Old

Located in Long Island City, NY

A fine French Art Deco palisander sideboard by Maxime Old, with 2 doors, 5 drawers and bronze hardware. Signed A matching dining table is...

Category

Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Buffets

Materials

Bronze

Art Deco Sideboard / Cabinet by Jacques Émile Ruhlmann

About the Item

Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann

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