Alexandre Georges Fourdinois

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Alexandre Georges Fourdinois (* 1799 in Paris ; † 1871 ) was a French furniture designer.

life and work

Alexandre Georges Fourdinois came from a family of sculptors from the Paris area . His first place of work were the workshops of Jacob-Desmalter . From 1835 to 1848 he worked with Jules Fossey in the joint company Fourdinois et Fossey . In 1844 they were represented at the exposition des produits de l'industrie française ; This is also when the first public purchases of their products take place. Sir Henry Cole , the founder of the South Kensington Museum , started. After the dissolution of the connection with Fossey Fourdinois ran his business in the Parisian Rue Amelot on alone.

At the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London Fourdinois won a medal for a buffet in the neo-Renaissance style , which later York in the New Company of Leon Marcotte and Auguste Ringuet-Leprince was imitated. In 1855 he again took part in a world exhibition , this time in Paris. Here, together with Ferdinand Baroperne, he received the highest award that has been given. With that the reputation of his company was finally consolidated. He was hired to furnish Compiègne Castle for visits by British rulers, and the South Kensington Museum bought his work at the World's Fair.

Fourdinois' son

Exhibit from 1867 from Maison Fourdinois

Fourdinois' son Henri-Auguste (1830–1907), who worked temporarily in London, made a name for himself in the 1840s. The meeting with the architect Félix Duban , an advocate of the neo-renaissance who was commissioned with the restoration of the castle of Blois , was beneficial for him . Duban had already obtained furniture from Alexandre Georges Fourdinois for renovated halls in the Louvre . After his return from London Fourdinois the Younger worked under the influence of Victor Paillard in addition to wood and bronze work .

Henri-Auguste Fourdinois entered his father’s business at a time that cannot be precisely determined, but probably in the 1860s, and officially took over management in 1867. In 1862 , 1867 and 1878 the Fourdinois company took part in other world exhibitions . In 1867 Cole bought another piece for the South Kensington Museum, but competition and criticism of the works of Henri Auguste grew.

The Maison Fourdinois company

The Fourdinois company was of course not only present at the world exhibitions. In addition to official bodies and ruling houses, the Fourdinois also included wealthy entrepreneurs, such as the Pereire, Rothschild, Furtado, Camondo, Hottinguer and Vernes families. Fourdinois furnished shops for Mellerio and furnished an English hotel; also the apartment Louis XIII in the castle of Fontainebleau and the yacht L'Aigle .

In the 1880s, France was in an economic crisis. The House of Fourdinois, however, still received lucrative commissions, such as furnishing the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque nationale in 1885. About two years later, however, Henri-Auguste Fourdinois gave up the business his father had founded.

Fourdinois the Elder and the Younger had a lasting influence on the style of the ebony artists of their time in several countries. Gustave Herter copied seating that Alexandre Georges Fourdinois had designed. However, interest in furniture in the neo-renaissance style declined sharply towards the end of the 19th century and Henri-Auguste Fourdinois apparently did not have the versatility to adapt to the changing tastes of customers.

Web links

literature

  • Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Les ébénistes du XIXe siècle , Les éditions de l'amateur, Paris 1965
  • Stéphane Laurent, Fourdinois, le triomphe de l'éclectisme , in: Connaissance des arts 637, 2006, ISSN  0293-9274 , pp. 88-93

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/artistInfo/artist/171067/lang/1  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.artfacts.net  
  2. ↑ http://www.chipstone.org/publications/1994AF/index1994gray.html
  3. ↑ http://kikamulitzart.blogspot.com/1971/01/alexandre-georges-fourdinois.html
personal data
SURNAME Fourdinois, Alexandre Georges
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fourdinois, Alexandre-Georges
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Furniture designer and interior decorator
DATE OF BIRTH 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH 1871