Throughout Charlotte Perriand’s career there is a sense of pragmatism that permeates many of her projects. The genius of her designs is matched by a practical understanding of the best methods and materials to use to achieve both commercial success and to produce products which provide the greatest possible utility. However, while Perriand was always a champion of finding economical solutions for large-scale production, the scarcity of materials like steel during the war and difficulty setting up reliable factory supply chains pushed her to find artisanal solutions. These methods were also necessary to incorporate in the immediate post-war period in order to provide emergency furnishing and housing solutions. This push and pull between bespoke artistry and large-scale production is a throughline in Perriand’s work. The present “En Forme” sideboard is a perfect demonstration of Perriand's pragmatic compromise between these two ideals. The carved mahogany wood slabs which give the cabinet its organic form celebrate the sumptuousness of the carefully selected wood, and the skilled labor required to shape the curved edges. At the same time, the mahogany tops and sapele legs are juxtaposed with plastic laminated-covered sliding doors — a solution that emphasizes the interplay between industrial efficiency and material warmth.
“En Forme” sideboard at Galerie Steph Simon, circa 1960. Perriand began to explore the possibilities of free form carving in 1938 with a curved table that she designed for herself. With her foray into limited production and sculptural forms she accentuated the quality of the material at a small bespoke scale. As Perriand remarked, “Wood is made for caressing and can be as soft as a woman’s thighs.” This technique also freed Perriand to assert her vision as an artist, sculpting and shaping the work into form. However, she never lost sight of the concern of production and accessibility. “It is impossible to create a form today that can truly be described as modern and industrialized, if it can be executed only in a batch of a few hundred!” She once stated, “Each of us is to a greater or lesser extent tinkering with the means at hand and then ‘manufacturing’… This is not the way our era will be created.” There would be no way to achieve the impact of her work without ensuring that products were able to be shared and used. In 1956, Steph Simon issued a series of these “free form” works including the present model. The feeling of “chance” was removed from the process in favor of streamlining the production process. However, the works retained touches of their artisanal origins—edges were rounded and smoothed to maintain a sense of tactility as if the wood had been rubbed down over time.
In 1962 the magazine L’Expresse published an article titled “Enjoying the space of Ch. Perriand: Thirty years of furniture that will last for centuries.” In the article they asserted, “She does what needs to be done carefully and calmly, like a sculptor creating a statue, like an artist perfecting a masterpiece, like an entrepreneur setting the cost. (All at the same time.) And this is why in the year 2000—if our world still exists—lovers of antique furniture will buy her creations, explaining that even in the twentieth century, we knew how to make works of furniture that were not poor, soulless objects.” Perriand manages what others find impossible—practicality without compromise— leaving an enduring legacy of graceful and practical design.
Provenance
Fauth family, acquired circa 1965
Thence by descent
Galerie Downtown-François Laffanour, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2021Literature
Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand, Un art d'habiter, Paris, 2005, pp. 335, 432-33
Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand: Complete Works Volume 2, 1956-1968, Paris 2017, pp. 98-9
François Laffanour, ed. Living with Charlotte Perriand, Paris, 2019, pp. 280-83, 351, 354Artist Biography
Charlotte Perriand
French • 1903 - 1999
Trailblazer Charlotte Perriand burst onto the French design scene in her early 20s, seemingly undeterred by obstacles in an era when even the progressive Bauhaus school of design barred women from architecture and furniture design courses. She studied under Maurice Dufrêne at the École de l'Union Centrale des art Décoratifs, entering into a competition at the 1925 Expo des Arts Décoratifs by age 22 and gaining critical acclaim for her exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1927.
On the heels of this success, that same year she joined the Paris design studio of Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. For ten years the three collaborated on "equipment for living," such as the iconic tubular steel B306 Chaise Longue (1928). After World War II, Perriand joined forces with Jean Prouvé to create modernist furniture that combined the precise lines of Prouvé's bent steel with the soft, round edges and warmth of natural wood.
Property of a Private American Collector
114
"En Forme" sideboard
circa 1964
Sapele mahogany, mahogany, plastic laminate-covered wood.
35 5/8 x 92 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (90.5 x 234.3 x 48.9 cm)
Estimate
$300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $342,900
Benjamin Green
Associate Specialist, Head of Sale, New York
bgreen@phillips.com
+1 212 940 1267
Design
New York Auction 11 December 2024
126
This lot is no longer available.
203
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