26th Jan, 2021 10:00
Design - Live Online
245
Jules Leleu (French, 1883-1961)
Jules Leleu (French, 1883-1961),
an Art Deco sycamore parquetry cabinet, with four cupboards, inlaid with pewter, flanked with plain capitals and columns, stamped '21667' and signed to one of the central doors,
189.5cm wide
52.5cm deep
155cm high
Jules Leleu (1883-1961)
Born into a family of artisans and artists in Boulogne-sur-Mer in Northern France, Jules Leleu was one of the fathers of French Art Deco design. Although he ‘never achieved the international fame of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Jean Michel Frank, or Le Corbusier,’
The New York Times once wrote, ‘he was just as successful and probably more prolific than his better-known contemporaries.’
Leleu exhibited at the prestigious ‘Exposition des Arts Decoratifs’ in 1925, for which he designed the chairs for the Grand Salon and the Music Room, both part of the French Embassy Exhibition, and also exhibited a complete suite of furniture in his own space on the Esplanade des Invalides. He won a Grand Prize at the 1925 Exposition, and one of his pieces was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.
Often compared with the furniture designs of Ruhlmann, Leleu’s chairs, tables, and cabinets emphasized simple shapes, exotic woods, and marquetry, and inlaid ivory and other embellishments.
As these techniques had been brought to France from the Orient, Leleu employed Oriental craftspeople for this work. Hamanaka, one of the great masters of lacquer work, and the famed Jean Dunand, who had learned the skills from Hamanaka, collaborated with Leleu on pieces where lacquer was an element.
Leleu was very prolific, and was also constantly evolving and developing his styles. The awards that he won brought him many important clients and commissions, including the ocean liners Ile de France and the famed and ill-fated Normandie. Among other important commissions were a dining room for the Elysée Palace, and, later on, the Grand Salon des Ambassadeurs at La Societé des Nations in Geneva, called the Salon Leleu, and is still in existence.
The collection comes from the descendants of Mrs Celestine Galani, the wife of John Galani, who ran a Shipping Company, and who was a friend of Jules Leleu. She commissioned him in the 1940s, to decorate her entire apartment at 81 Avenue Marceau in Paris. Their flat was less than one mile from the Maison Leleu which was at 65 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, in the 8th arrondissement, in Paris.
Take advantage of our Sworders Delivery Service. Please see 'Shipping estimate' below.
Sold for £1,900
Condition Report
No shelves, knocked edges. One bronze capital missing. Back legs damaged and loose. Front legs are missing slices - one is fixed for photos but loose. No keys. Further images uploaded. Interior depth 42.5cm. Further images uploaded more can be sent if requested to auctions@sworder.co.uk
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Auction: Design - Live Online, 26th Jan, 2021
Viewing
VIEWING
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Furniture will not be sent to Perry Removals for this sale.
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