Baccarat-Christofle Pavilion, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris, 1925; purchased from the above by Frank Thring, Sr. for the Lobby of the Regent Theater, Sydney, Australia, 1928–1984
Exhibited
“Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes,” Baccarat-Christofle Pavilion, Esplanade des Invalides, Paris, April–October 1925
Catalogue Essay
Phillips de Pury and Company would like to thank Michaela Lerch and Sandrine Fritz of the Heritage Department at Baccarat, for their help in cataloguing this lot.
Georges Chevalier (1894–1987) designed the present chandelier for the joint Baccarat-Christofle Pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris, where it hung in the building’s dome that summer and fall. Designed in the shape of a cascading fountain, the chandelier comprises 24 arms, 156 lights, and approximately 100,000 Baccarat crystals.
Viewed in situ during the Exposition, the chandelier was purchased by Mr. Frank Thring, founder of Hoyt’s Theaters in Australia. He shipped the work to his native Australia, where he installed it in 1928 for the grand opening of his flagship, the Regent Theater on George Street in Sydney. The “Jet d’Eau” enjoyed pride of place until 1984, when the theater was destroyed.
A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and an associate of decorator Maurice Dufrène, Chevalier brought a contemporary,modern focus to Baccarat, where he remained active until the 1970s.
A smaller, later version of the present chandelier hangs in the Salle Gérard Garouste at the Musée Baccarat, Place des États-Unis, Paris.