Jean Royère - Design New York Tuesday, June 11, 2013 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private collection, Beirut
    Acquired from the above by the present owner, circa 1998

  • Literature

    René Chavance, “Aménagements Officials et Installations Privées par Jean Royère,” Mobilier et Décoration, October 1951, p. 23
    Pierre Passebon, Jean Royère: Mobilier, exh. cat., Galerie du Passage, Paris, 1992, p. 83 for a similar example
    Jean Royère, décorateur à Paris, exh. cat., Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1999, p. 31 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    A recurrent motif in Jean Royère’s postwar decoration, undulations animate the top rails of chairs, the aprons of tables, and the raised panels of cabinet doors. In the “Foyer d’aujord’hui,” his stand at the 1951 Salon des Arts Ménagers, Royère exhibited a dining suite comprising side chairs similar to the present lot. He later employed various models of “Ondulation” chairs for his decoration of the Scotch Club, a renowned restaurant on Avenue Charles de Gaulle in Beirut’s Raoucheh district.

  • Artist Biography

    Jean Royère

    French • 1902 - 1981

    Jean Royère took on the mantle of the great artistes décorateurs of 1940s France and ran with it into the second half of the twentieth century. Often perceived as outside of the modernist trajectory ascribed to twentieth-century design, Royère was nonetheless informed by and enormously influential to his peers. Having opened a store in Paris in 1943 before the war had ended, he was one of the first to promote a new way of life through interior decoration, and his lively approach found an international audience early on in his career.

    In addition to commissions in Europe and South America, Royère had a strong business in the Middle East where he famously designed homes for the Shah of Iran, King Farouk of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan. The surrealist humor and artist's thoughtful restraint that he brought to his furniture designs continue to draw admiration to this day.

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1

Rare "Ondulation" lounge chair

circa 1951
Oak, goat hide.
32 3/8 x 23 x 30 1/4 in. (82.2 x 58.4 x 76.8 cm)

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale
mroddy@phillips.com
+ 1 212 940 1266

Design

New York 11 June 2013 11am