Building Beyond The Mediterranean
| , ,Artistic craftsmanship
French metal craftsmen active in the southeast Mediterranean area during the twentieth century
Quelques ferronniers français actifs dans l’arc sud-est méditerranéen au XXe siècle
Texte intégral
- 1 Karin Blanc, Ferronnerie en façade et au salon, Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau: Monelle Hayot, 2015.
1This article is based on research relating to the architectural and artistic wrought iron work of about thirty French craftsmen from Paris, Lyon, and Bordeaux over the years from 1890 to 1960, a period greatly enriched by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles.1 Unlike artistic wrought iron (tables, consoles, mirrors, lamps, etc.), which was generally signed or stamped, facilitating research, architectural wrought iron is more challenging to the historian, as it is not signed, and little is known about its makers.
2There are many connections between the craftsmen presented in this text. Émile Robert campaigned strongly for a return to wrought iron in the 1890s, after a century of cast ironwork. He began publishing a periodical, L’art de la ferronnerie ancienne et moderne, which he composed and illustrated almost alone. In 1910, he and investor Ernest Borderel founded a company, Borderel & Robert. Robert accepted students, who included Edgar Brandt, Jean Schwartz, and Adalbert Szabo. Edgar Brandt, in turn, trained the Nics brothers and Paul Kiss, later employing them. Jean Prouvé apprenticed with Émile Robert and Adalbert Szabo. As early as 1910, Raymond Subes was drafting for Émile Robert; after the war, he learned to forge with him. In 1919, Subes replaced Émile Robert as head of the drawing office and the wrought iron workshop at Borderel & Robert.
3These craftsmen operated within workshops or small companies, with 25 workers; the largest employed 300. They showed their designs at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon d’Automne, the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, the Salon des Tuileries and at metalwork exhibitions, organized by Henri Clouzot at the Musée Galliera. Most of them participated in the International Exhibitions in Paris in 1900, 1925, 1931, and 1937, and in many of the International Exhibitions around the world. The Parisian metalcrafters also carried out projects in provincial cities. Some provincial metal craftsmen participated in International Exhibitions and also worked a little in Paris. A few companies – Baguès Frères, Edgar Brandt, Paul Kiss, Nics Frères, Jean Prouvé, Émile Robert, Jean Schwartz, Raymond Subes, Adalbert Szabo, and Georges Vinant – worked abroad, particularly around the Mediterranean. They are listed below in alphabetical order to facilitate legibility, with dates given for each of them.
Baguès Frères
- 2 Maurice Culot, Anne Lambrichs, Albert Laprade, jardinier, urbaniste, dessinateur, serviteur du patr (...)
4In 1913, with architects Auguste and Gustave Perret, the Baguès brothers designed and forged banisters, handrails, and even the monumental chandelier in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Victor (1876-1934) and Robert (1880-1942) Baguès maintained an office in Cairo until 1934. In the 1930s, they produced mostly lighting and coffee tables. With architect Albert Laprade, in 1937, they designed and made the grand staircase railing and lighting in the French embassy in Ankara.2 They also had offices in New York, London, and Brussels.
Edgar Brandt
- 3 Joan Kahr, Edgar Brandt, Master of Art Deco Ironwork, New York: Abrams, 1999, p. 220.
- 4 Martin Fraudeau, Ambassades de France, Le Quai d’Orsay et les trésors du patrimoine diplomatique, P (...)
5Edgar Brandt (1880-1960) was the most important wrought iron artist in the 1925 International Exhibition, particularly for the imposing entrance gates to the Exhibition, as well as for the external and internal grilles of the Hôtel du Collectionneur (with architect Pierre Patout and decorator Jacques Émile Ruhlmann). Brandt had an office in Cairo and probably decorated Prince George Lotfallah’s Gezireh palace with wrought iron.3 It is the building between the two towers of the Marriott hotel. In 1932, Edgar Brandt also designed the simple entrance gates to the French Consulate in Jerusalem, featuring shields and a rooster (Marcel Favier arch.).4 But Brandt had more important commissions in New York, Montreal, and London.
Paul Kiss
- 5 Archives Paul Kiss, Fontenay-sous-Bois.
6Paul Kiss (1886-1962) created the impressive gate decorated with pheasants, now exhibited in the galleries of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 1927-1928, he worked for King Fuad I and Queen Nazli in the Qubba palace (Enrico Verucci Bey arch.), north of Cairo. The Egyptian Government now uses the Qubba palace to receive its official guests. According to the pictures and drawings in Paul Kiss’s archives, the works he produced for the Qubba palace included balconies decorated with scrolls, flowers, leaves, and pleats; two chandeliers with numerous scrolls for the reception hall, a lamp in wrought iron and copper, again with scrolls; another lamp for the winter garden, and a separation gate with young women and animals for the apartments of Queen Nazli.5
7Paul Kiss was probably introduced into Egyptian society by his painter and decorator friend Edmond Soussa (1898-1989), the son of an important cigar manufacturer. Soussa was an international billiards champion and, with Kiss, made a trophy for the 1927 billiards championship in Paris. It is a globe, representing the world, resting on a sphinx, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Together, they produced a second billiards trophy, presented by King Fuad I at the Pharaohs Challenge in Cairo in May 1928. This time, it was a bowl decorated with foliage, resting on three persons dressed in ancient Egyptian costumes.
Figure 1: Trophy given by King Fuad of Egypt, design by Edmond Soussa, ironwork by Paul Kiss
Source: Paul Kiss private archives
- 6 Auction sale catalogue, Me Bernard Oger and Me Etienne Dumont, Paris, May 21, 1990.
8In Cairo, Edmond Soussa directed a gallery called La Forge, created by architect Henri Solé. The sale in Paris of Edmond Soussa’s collection contained eighteen wrought iron designs executed for Paul Kiss. Unfortunately, only one was photographed,6 but it shows that he may very well have been the designer of Queen Nazli’s separation gate.
Figure 2: Lozy Bey Palace, Cairo, ironwork by Paul Kiss: Billiards room chandelier
Source: Paul Kiss private archives
- 7 Archives Paul Kiss, Fontenay-sous-Bois.
9Paul Kiss also worked in Zamalek on Lozy Bey’s town house. The Bey seems to have been one of King Fuad’s cousins. Kiss executed the double entrance gate with dancers and musicians, which he presented at the 1931 Colonial Exhibition. He also produced a separation gate with large lozenges and two chandeliers in geometric style for the billiards room.7 The separation gate was sold in 2009 by Sotheby’s in New York.
Nics Frères
- 8 Henri Clouzot, La ferronnerie moderne, II, Paris: Charles Moreau, 1928, pl. 30.
- 9 See Mercedes Volait, Architectes et architectures de l’Égypte moderne (1830-1950): genèse et essor (...)
10In 1923, the Nics brothers created both the monumental gate and the chapel gates for the Douaumont Ossuary, one of memorials to World War I, with architects Léon Azema, Max Edrei (both born in Egypt), and Jacques Hardy. In 1924, these three architects were awarded the contract for Cairo’s courthouse. Michel (1870-1950) and Jules (1885-1963) Nics continued to work with the three architects: in 1926, they did the exterior and interior wrought ironwork on judge Nahas Bey’s town house at 5 Ahmed Pasha Street in Garden-City, Egypt,8 including two matching exterior gates decorated with leaping gazelles. The town house is now the residence of the Japanese ambassador to Egypt. Architects Azema, Edrei, and Hardy also designed the 1931 Rabbath building, at the corner of Sharif and July 26 Streets9. He apparently modeled it on his design for a building in Paris, at 93-95 Quai d’Orsay, which also featured the Nics’ brothers wrought iron with open scrolls and checkerboards. But the brothers Nics could very well have worked on the chandeliers of the Groppi pastry shop in Cairo.
Figure 4: Nahas Bey Residence, Garden-City, Cairo, ironwork by Nics Frères: Front door
Source: Serrurerie moderne [et] ferronnerie de bâtiment, Paris: C. Moreau, [1931?]
Jean Prouvé
- 10 Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé. Œuvre complète, 1. 1917-1933, Berlin: Wasmuth, 1995, p. 178-182.
11Jean Prouvé (1901-1984), one of the great 20th century creators and designers, first trained as a wrought iron artist, and worked in the medium until the 1930s. In 1931-1934, he was commissioned to create the steel and stainless steel entrance door, along with the staircase rails in sectional steel and upper part in stainless steel, for the French Government palace in Algiers (Jacques Guiauchain arch.).10 The building is currently the headquarters of the FLN ruling party.
Émile Robert
12In 1911, Émile Robert (1860-1924) designed and carried out the wrought-iron balconies and the interior grillwork of the Hotel Lutetia (Louis-Charles Boileau and Henri Tauzin arch.) in Paris. The awning above the entrance door, also in wrought iron, has since been removed.
- 11 Louis Aubry, “Émile Robert,” in Victor Champier, Les industries d’art à l’Exposition universelle de (...)
13In Istanbul, around 1900, with architect Bruno Pellissier, Émile Robert made a railing with roses and chrysanthemums for one of Sultan Abdul Hamid’s palaces.11 Likewise, he may have done the wrought iron balconies, featuring roses, on the home of Jean Botter, the sultan’s couturier, built in Istanbul in 1901 (designed by architect Raimondo d’Aronco).
Schwartz-Hautmont
14Directed by Jean Schwartz (1899-1967), Schwartz-Hautmont was a large international metallic construction company which also included a wrought iron department. In 1929, Jean Schwartz designed the octagonal, rectangular, and circular motifs, decorated with stylized flowers, surrounding the lettering SAMARITAINE on the facades of the new Paris department store (Henri Sauvage and Frantz Jourdain arch.). Schwartz-Hautmont published many catalogues listing their work in different countries; unfortunately, these contain very few details.
- 12 Archives Schwartz-Hautmont, Neuilly.
15In Cairo, Jean Schwartz’s father, Albert Schwartz (18611930), director of Schwartz & Meurer, apparently executed the wrought iron for the Zaafaran palace in 1902. He also worked for what was known as the Muhammad Ali Club.12 In 1919, Schwartz & Meurer bought out the Hautmont shop, forges, and foundries, becoming Schwartz-Hautmont SA. Jean Schwartz joined the company in 1926.
- 13 La Construction moderne, July 19, 1931, p. 671-672.
- 14 Raymond Subes, Ferronnerie moderne. Un choix de réalisations récentes des maîtres ferronniers, Pari (...)
16He worked on several commissions in Algeria and Morocco in the early 1930s. In Algiers, he designed the ironwork at the Grand Hotel and Casino with architects Auguste Bluysen and Joachim Richard. He also decorated the École Dujonchay in Algiers (Pierre-André Émery and Charles H. Breuillot arch.). Working with architect Gustave Umbdenstock, he decorated the Bank of Algeria offices in three cities. In Oran,13 he designed the gates, with a geometrical circle motif. He also mades the doors, with a slightly different design, for the bank’s offices in Hussein Deyn. Albert and Jean then decorated the gates of the offices in Skikda with a repeating star pattern.14
- 15 With Henri Prost, Antoine Marchisio designed the hôtel La Mamounia in Marrakesh, a mixture of tradi (...)
- 16 Raymond Subes, op.cit., pl. 28-29.
17In Rabat, with architect Adrien Laforgue, Jean Schwartz created the gate of the French Residence, featuring an open scroll motif. In the same city, he designed a stylized floral motif for the gate of the Collège des Orangers (with architect Antoine Marchisio). With the same architect15, Schwartz designed a main gate and a secondary one, with scrolls in C, for the Kenitra town hall.16
Figure 5: Banque d’Algérie, Skikda (formerly Philippeville), ironwork by Schwartz-Hautmont: Door
Source: Subes, Raymond, Ferronnerie moderne, I, Un choix des réalisations récentes des maitres ferronniers. M. Bergue. E. Brandt. R. Desvallières etc. II. R. Subes. Œuvres récentes, Paris: Vincent Fréal & Cie, 1950-1951
Raymond Subes
- 17 Paul Tournon archive, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Centre d’archives d’architecture du (...)
18In Casablanca, Morocco, Subes designed the gates of the Casablanca cathedral (Paul Tournon arch.)17 and the Mas bank (Charles Abella arch.). In France, Subes often worked with architect Joseph Marrast, and Marrast probably commissioned him for the wrought ironwork on the Casablanca courthouse, on Muhammad V Square. Raymond Subes (1891-1970) had an office on 10 rue Michelet in Algiers but we know next to nothing about his work in Algeria.
Adalbert Szabo
- 18 Salon des artistes français, Paris, Catalogue des œuvres exposées, 1923.
19In Paris, in 1911, Adalbert Szabo (1877-1961) made the main gate and hallway decorations in the house located at 65-67 boulevard Raspail, designed by architect Léon Tissier. At the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris in 1923, Adalbert Szabo presented works executed for the Palais d’Été in Algiers.18
Georges Vinant
- 19 Archives Georges Vinant, Montargis.
20In 1908-1910, in Paris, Georges Vinant (1866-1943) crafted the lovely ironwork on the doors at 1-5 avenue Mozart (designed by architect Maurice du Bois d’Auberville), featuring an ornate border pattern of leaves and flowers. In 1890, the Compagnie de construction des Batignolles commissioned Vinant to design one of the bridges for the Bursa railway in Turkey.19 At the 1925 International Exhibition in Paris, he presented the gates of the French post offices and of the pavilions of the Compagnie Asturienne des Mines (Guillaume Tronchet arch.).
- 20 J. Starkie Gardner, Ironwork, Part II: Continental ironwork of the Renaissance and later periods, L (...)
21According to J. Starkie Gardner, a British metal artist and an authority on the subject, “The palm goes to the French for their delicacy in execution, refinement of design and inventive genius.”20 Architectural and artistic wrought iron was quite successful, in France, but also in other countries, in the first half of the 20th century. But, due mostly to the cost of wrought iron and the effects of World War II, its success was short-lived. Today, the restoration of buildings often involves restoring the wrought iron decorations. Art Nouveau and Art Deco artistic wrought iron is regularly offered for sale by Sotheby’s, Christie’s and other dealers and can fetch rather high prices.
Notes
1 Karin Blanc, Ferronnerie en façade et au salon, Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau: Monelle Hayot, 2015.
2 Maurice Culot, Anne Lambrichs, Albert Laprade, jardinier, urbaniste, dessinateur, serviteur du patrimoine, Paris: Norma, 2007, p. 205.
3 Joan Kahr, Edgar Brandt, Master of Art Deco Ironwork, New York: Abrams, 1999, p. 220.
4 Martin Fraudeau, Ambassades de France, Le Quai d’Orsay et les trésors du patrimoine diplomatique, Paris: Perrin, 2000, vol. I, p. 155-163.
5 Archives Paul Kiss, Fontenay-sous-Bois.
6 Auction sale catalogue, Me Bernard Oger and Me Etienne Dumont, Paris, May 21, 1990.
7 Archives Paul Kiss, Fontenay-sous-Bois.
8 Henri Clouzot, La ferronnerie moderne, II, Paris: Charles Moreau, 1928, pl. 30.
9 See Mercedes Volait, Architectes et architectures de l’Égypte moderne (1830-1950): genèse et essor d’une expertise locale, Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 2005, p. 353.
10 Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé. Œuvre complète, 1. 1917-1933, Berlin: Wasmuth, 1995, p. 178-182.
11 Louis Aubry, “Émile Robert,” in Victor Champier, Les industries d’art à l’Exposition universelle de 1900, Paris: Revue des arts décoratifs, 1902, p. 71-75.
12 Archives Schwartz-Hautmont, Neuilly.
13 La Construction moderne, July 19, 1931, p. 671-672.
14 Raymond Subes, Ferronnerie moderne. Un choix de réalisations récentes des maîtres ferronniers, Paris: Vincent Fréal et Cie, 1948, pl. 27.
15 With Henri Prost, Antoine Marchisio designed the hôtel La Mamounia in Marrakesh, a mixture of traditional and Art Deco architectures, in 1923.
16 Raymond Subes, op.cit., pl. 28-29.
17 Paul Tournon archive, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Centre d’archives d’architecture du XXe siècle.
18 Salon des artistes français, Paris, Catalogue des œuvres exposées, 1923.
19 Archives Georges Vinant, Montargis.
20 J. Starkie Gardner, Ironwork, Part II: Continental ironwork of the Renaissance and later periods, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1930 (Reed, 1978), p. 5.
Table des illustrations
Titre | Figure 1: Trophy given by King Fuad of Egypt, design by Edmond Soussa, ironwork by Paul Kiss |
---|---|
Crédits | Source: Paul Kiss private archives |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/inha/docannexe/image/12767/img-1.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 171k |
Titre | Figure 2: Lozy Bey Palace, Cairo, ironwork by Paul Kiss: Billiards room chandelier |
Crédits | Source: Paul Kiss private archives |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/inha/docannexe/image/12767/img-2.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 252k |
Titre | Figure 3: Lozy Bey Palace, Cairo, ironwork by Paul Kiss: Gate |
Crédits | Source: Paul Kiss private archives |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/inha/docannexe/image/12767/img-3.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 103k |
Titre | Figure 4: Nahas Bey Residence, Garden-City, Cairo, ironwork by Nics Frères: Front door |
Crédits | Source: Serrurerie moderne [et] ferronnerie de bâtiment, Paris: C. Moreau, [1931?] |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/inha/docannexe/image/12767/img-4.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 535k |
Titre | Figure 5: Banque d’Algérie, Skikda (formerly Philippeville), ironwork by Schwartz-Hautmont: Door |
Crédits | Source: Subes, Raymond, Ferronnerie moderne, I, Un choix des réalisations récentes des maitres ferronniers. M. Bergue. E. Brandt. R. Desvallières etc. II. R. Subes. Œuvres récentes, Paris: Vincent Fréal & Cie, 1950-1951 |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/inha/docannexe/image/12767/img-5.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 305k |
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