Eugène Printz - Design London Tuesday, September 23, 2014 | Phillips
  • Literature

    Guy Bujon and Jean-Jacques Dutko, Eugène Printz, Paris, 1986, p. 285
    Pierre Kjellberg, Art Deco: Les Maitres du Mobilier, Paris, 1998, p. 185 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    Eugène Printz is considered one of the individualists of the Art Deco style, alongside other renowned designers such as Pierre Legrain and Eileen Gray. Born in Paris in 1879 to the owner of a workshop that specialised in eighteenth-century reproductions, he acquired the skills of traditional French furniture cabinetry and metalwork of the highest measure. In 1905 he opened his own atelier, on the rue Saint Bernard, and a gallery in 1928 on the rue de Miromesnil. He began designing in the moderne style in 1925, around the time of his collaboration with Pierre Chareau for the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs. His work of this period and thereafter is characterised by unique theatrical forms and virtuosic production skills. Examples such as the present lot were realised in limited number for the most sophisticated clientele of the period. Printz’s notable commissions include an apartment for the Princess de la Tour d’Auvergne, the private office of Jeanne Lanvin, a banquet hall at the Cité Universitaire and furniture for the suites of the Normandie. His most famous project is the Salon Lyautey of the 1931 L’Exposition Coloniale Internationale de Paris. This masterwork is preserved today in the only surviving structure from the exhibition, the Musée des Colonies.

289

Pair of armchairs

circa 1930
Lacquered wood, bronze, fabric.
Each: 81.3 x 74.9 x 83.8 cm (32 x 29 1/2 x 33 in.)
Each with one leg incised E. PRINTZ.

Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 Ω

Contact Specialist
Ben Williams
bwilliams@phillips.com
+44 20 7318 4027

Design

London 24 September 2014 2pm