june 3,2015-7PM Serrurier-Bovy Masterworks from a Private Collection exhibition May 29, 2015-10am 7pm May 30, 2015-11am 7pm June 1 st, 2015-10am 7pm June 2 nd, 2015-10am 7pm June 3 rd, 2015-10am 7pm PIASA 118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré 75008 Paris - France PRESS & COMMUNICATION Cécile Demtchenko Woringer T +33 1 53 34 12 95 - M +33 6 22 16 85 96 c.demtchenko@piasa.fr Press release
On 3 June 2015 PIASA will offer for sale an important collection of works by Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, assembled over thirty years ago by an Art Nouveau devotee, in whose hands they have remained ever since. This rare ensemble showcases Serrurier s creative genius and indisputable influence on 20 th century Design. The most historical pieces are part of the MET collection in New-york, in the Musée d orsay Art deco section in Paris and in the Brussel and Liège Museum in Belgium as the most important creation from the artist. There is no point employing all our creative faculties for a society on the wane but for a new world! Gustave Serrurier Art Nouveau: Towards Modernity Gustave Serrurier was an architect, designer and industrialist who became one of Belgium s leading exponents of Art Nouveau and a precursor of the modern Design movement. His concern for industrial aesthetics made him a stylistic trendsetter. Serrurier was the son of an woodwork entrepreneur, and combined his school studies in Liège with lessons at the local Ecole des Beaux-Arts. On a trip to London he fell in love with the new approach to lifestyle inspired by William Morris and his disciples. Back in Belgium he decided to devote himself to interior design and in 1884, after marrying Maria Bovy, founded the firm Serrurier-Bovy in Liège. His initial activity involved importing furniture and decorative elements from Great Britain and Japan, adopting a new sales approach by fitting out his shops in Belgium and France to resemble rooms in a private home in 1903. Serrurier became convinced of the need to link architecture with the decorative arts, and soon moved on to Design: L Aube, the masterful villa he built for himself in Liège, was conceived as a total work with aesthetics and comfort allied to robust construction. 2
Furniture & Architecture: An All-Embracing Concept From 1903-05 Serrurier worked with the architect René Dulong to enlarge and refurnish the Château de la Cheyrelle, built in the late 1850s in a village in central France. The result was the world s only complete surviving example of Gustave Serrurier-Bovy s innovative principles (to quote the Monuments Historiques France s national heritage agency). Interior highlights included an amazing floorlamp in mahogany, iron, brass and glass (est. 40,000-60,000) and an oak and iron dining-room suite comprising eight chairs, two armchairs and a table (est. 20,000-30,000). Another historical piece is the cabinet-vitrine in oak dated from 1899, estimated 25 000 / 35 000 euros, a similar model is preserve at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New-York as the only piece by the artist. Serrurier s innovative Silex suite was a landmark in the history of Design. It was made for a competition for furnishing low-cost dwellings in Liège, staged as part of the city s Exposition Universelle of 1905. By inventing mobilier à joints (a system based on assembling individual units), he helped make quality furniture available to the public at large, using cheaper woods (like poplar or pine) enhanced with stencil patterning, and with screws left visible. The bedrooms at Château de la Cheyrelle were furnished in this manner, as if to demonstrate that Silex furniture could embellish both bourgeois and working-class interiors. Serrurier s furniture ranges from refined designs in precious woods, of complex manufacture, to simpler, practical, yet highly expressive items in oak. His allembracing approach united style, comfort and robust construction. 3
Matthieu Salvaing Gustave Serrurier-Bovy Canapé, 899 Acajou 5 000 / 7 000 4
Cabinet-vitrine, 1899/1900 Chêne, laiton et cabochons émaillées 25 000 / 35 000 Similar work in narra wood in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York 5
Liszt Table à thé Padouk, sycomore, laiton et verre Date de création : vers 1904 H 116 L 64 P 49,5 cm 7 000 / 9 000 6
Buffet Chêne, incrustations, laiton et verre «Lötz» Date de création : 1910 H 188 L 153 P 59 cm 20 000 / 30 000 7
Porte-journaux Acajou et laiton Date de création : 1904 H 91,5 L 32,5 P 35 cm 10 000 / 15 000 8
Silex Fauteuil Peuplier et fer peint Date de création : 1904 H 111 l 66 P 55 cm 15 000 / 20 000 9
Lampadaire Acajou, fer peint en vert, laiton et verre Pièce unique Date de création : 1904 H 196 Ø 35 cm Provenance du château de la Cheyrelle 40 000 / 60 000 10
Gamma Bibliothèque tournante Acajou et laiton Date de création : 1904 H 116 L 62 P 62 cm 12 000 / 18 000 11
Table à thé avec tablette détachable Padouk et laiton Date de création : 1902/1903 H 101 L 78,5 P 44 cm Bibliographie : Une variante publiée p. 189 dans «Art Nouveau» de Siegfried Wichmann 15 000 / 20 000 12
Silex Armoire Peuplier, fer peint bleu et pochoirs bleu Date de création : 1905 H 220 L 96 P 50 cm 10 000 / 15 000 13
Cache-pot Acajou, laiton, cuivre et pot en grès bleu Date de création : 1904 H 31,5 L 25 l 25 cm 6 000 / 9 000 14
Matthieu Salvaing Gustave Serrurier-Bovy Paire de fauteuils, 1902 Chêne et fer peint 8 000 / 12 000 Pendule, 1903 Chêne, laiton et verre 8 000 / 12 000 Liszt, 1903/1904 Table basse Acajou, marbre et laiton Pièce unique 5 000 / 7 000 15
Design Department Cédric Morisset François Épin Cindy Chanthavong Upcoming design auctions > May 21 Artist/designers > June 11 Arts décoratifs et design > July 5 in Monaco «Riviera» design www.piasa.fr 16