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PAUL DUPRÉ-LAFON
FIVE OUTSTANDING PIECES OF FURNITURE

FROM SEPTEMBER 14 TO OCTOBER 14 2006


PAUL DUPRÉ-LAFON Steel travertine and golden bronze sideboard. Unique piece. Circa 1945


Five works of exception by one of the great decorators of our times: the essence of luxury


We may seek in vain in his work some preciosity or overabundance of details. At once, Dupré-Lafon understood the essential depth of luxury. No detail except the essential. Each of his works remains marked with this clear serenity which commands respect. commented fellow decorator Michel Dufet in Art et Décoration. After two exhibitions dedicated to this designer, in 1998, and in 2000, Jacques De Vos deliberately focused on five outstanding pieces. Five works of art seems few and yet is a lot. The choice was made in total subjectivity. A piece of furniture by Dupré-Lafon cannot be explained, it is


Pure beauty

This amazing man, combining intelligence and creativity, proposed works which soundness of line, elegance of form, sensuality of materials, charmed many of his contemporaries. Paul Dupré-Lafon epitomises the combination of oppositions, the will to make cold and heat, the matt and the light, tenderness and roughness coexist. He reconciles materials, playing with their antinomy with the audacity of a virtuoso. We still nowadays stroke with emotion a veneer, the granular surface of a leather, the roughness of travertine, because we are then sure to reach, at this precise moment, the pure beauty.


Paul Dupré-Lafon and travertine

Travertine, of which the beautiful sideboard exhibited is made, is overwhelming in Paul Dupré-Lafon’s work, who thought it was more important than marble. Its rough and porous aspect, less shining than marble, reinforced his choice to use it. In his private house in Paris, he got consoles and low tables, bedside tables with travertine tops. His deskroom also got a travertine floor. His propension to obvious and very clever simplicity and his need to run to essential, his rigorous choice of materials highlighted by contrasts, are there to astonish our senses.


Architect, decorator, writer

Paul Dupré-Lafon, born on June 17 1900 in Marseilles, studied at the local École des Beaux-Arts. In 1923, he became an architect and a decorator and settled in Paris. In 1929, he produced his first masterpiece, a private mansion rue Rembrandt in Paris, and started working with Hermès. From 1932 on, he became well known in the fashionable circles and got many commissions. Second masterpiece in 1938 : a private mansion avenue Foch in Paris. In 1950, he moved to his own mansion rue Copernic in Paris with a former partner of Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, Parisot. After1960, Dupré-Lafon published a number of books about villas, offices, shops and furniture, and launched the first edition of his desk with an Hermès leather top. His last commision was a villa in Deauville. He died in December 1971.

Illustration : PAUL DUPRÉ-LAFON Walnut and sycamore corner sideboard. Unique piece. Circa 1945


The Galerie Jacques De Vos will show from November 2 to December 2 2006, an exhibition entitled « 25 sculptures for a collection». For more than 30 years, Jacques De Vos has been collecting sculptures he liked most. It is a love story, with its break-ups, its crazes and its demands. A catalogue of the exibited works will be available.


To see more illustrations, click on VERSION FRANCAISE at the top of this page

GALERIE JACQUES DE VOS 7, rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris
INFORMATION: Tel: 01 43 29 88 94 Fax: 01 40 46 95 45
Email: artdeco@devos.com Web site: artnet.com - galerie De Vos
artnet.com/gallery/424174661/de-vos.html
HOURS: Every day except Sunday, from 10.30 am to 7 pm
CONTACT: Jacques De Vos, Géraldine Audiberti, Audrey Caron : Tel : 01 43 29 88 94