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Search - Hector Guimard

Hector Guimard
Author: Maurice Rheims, Felipe Ferre (Photographer)

Hector Guimard was the premier Art Nouveau architect of France, the contemporary-- and equal -- of the Spanish Art Nouveau Antoni Gaudi. His star shone brightly at the turn of the century, only to be eclipsed in the twenties by the lights of Art Deco and modernism, styles more in keeping with the French taste for classicism. He passed the ... more »last four years of his life in obscurity in New York City, where he died in 1942, while Parisian politicians contemplated tearing down the Metro stations that were his largest contribution to the capital of his native land. Some were actually acquired by collectors and museums-- before the politicians began to have second thoughts. Today, of course, these stations, one of which appears on the jacket of this book, are the quintessence of Paris, and , as Maurice Rheims says in his lively text, "if some minister were to get the idea of touching a single one of the survivors, he would run the risk of having his head chopped off by public opinion, and set up as an ornament on the Danton station. "

Born in Lyons in 1867, Guimard came of age as an architect at the critical moment in the history of taste when the pastiche of historical styles that characterizes mid-nineteenth century architecture was giving way to a purer style based on the modern notion that a building should be created whole, utilizing new forms and fresh materials. He had the good fortune to find in Paris adventurous patrons with both the will and the resources to support his work. His esthetic first found full expression in the Castel Beranger, Begun in 1894 when the architect was only twenty-seven years old. The apartment house, for which Guimard designed everything from door knobs to the furnishings, quickly established his name-- the city that was to forget him after the fading of Art Nouveau awarded him first prize for his facade designs in an architectural competition. The Castel Beranger led to a remarkable string of commissions, for town houses, villas, mansions, apartment houses, and public buildings, that was broken only by the First World War and the subsequent triumph of Art Deco.

Posterity knows Hector Guimard primarily for those Metro stations whose very survival was once in question, and publishing has, up until now, done little to expand this perception. When Felipe Ferre published this book in France, it was widely hailed by the French press as one of the first surveys of a career whose achievements were largely hidden; it even brought a grateful letter from the Mayor of Paris. For the book, Ferre photographed with loving care all of Guimard's significant buildings-- twenty-nine of them-- as well as examples of Guimard's work in the decorative arts. Maurice Rheims text provides a witty and Georges Vigne's extended captions and chronology document the vicissitudes of Guimard's life and work.

Felipe Ferre's photographs of twentieth-century Parisian architecture are well known in Paris, where they have been exhibited and published. He has also photographed widely in Columbia and Israel. His first book, Colombie, pays de l'Eldorado, appeared in 1976. In addition to his documentary work, he makes surrealistic photographs that have been exhibited in France and Columbia. Born in Bogota, he lives in Paris.

Maurice Rheims is the author of more than eighteen books about the history of art, largely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century French art. As an auctioneer and appraiser from 1935 to 1972, he presided over the sale of many legendary art collections. In 1976 he was elected to the Academie Francaise to the chair vacated by Robert Aron. Born in Versailles, he lives in Paris.

165 illustrations, including 89 plates in full color

ISBN-13: 9780810909731
ISBN-10: 0810909731
Publication Date: 1988
Pages: 234
Rating:

Currently 5/5 Stars.

5 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: Harry N Abrams
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

History >> Europe >> France >> Paris
Engineering & Transportation >> Architecture >> General

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Search - Hector Guimard

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