Henri Rapin
Henri Rapin (born February 28, 1873 in Paris , † June 30, 1939 ) was a French interior architect , painter , illustrator , designer and decorator of the Art Deco style. He provided numerous designs and shapes for furniture , lamps , porcelain and faience vases . He was a member of the artists' association Société des Artistes Décorateurs and a driving force behind the organization of the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modern (1925) in Paris, a pioneering exhibition for the decorative arts .
Life
Henri Rapin received his artistic training from the classicist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme and from Joseph Blanc and then turned to designing furniture. From 1903 he signed robust, angular furniture made of light oak or walnut wood . After 1910 he decorated his furniture with marquetry and other inlays, with ceramics and sculptures by Charles Hairon (1880–1962), Gaston Le Bourgeois (1880–1946) and Henri Bouchard (1908–1937). In the Salon des artistes décorateurs (1912) he exhibited an ebony writing cabinet that he had designed for the luxury department store Le Printemps (actually Les magasins du Printemps ).
The Union centrale des arts décoratifs appointed him as artistic director at the school of their Comité des dames (women's committee). He provided designs for the Limoges- based porcelain manufacturer Camille Tharaud and was artistic advisor from 1920 to 1934, then artistic director of the porcelain factory in Sèvres . The latter commissioned him to design their pavilion for the Exposition des arts décoratifs et industriels modern (1925). For this purpose, Rapin set up the cabinet of a ceramic collector and laid out the much- noticed light garden , bordered by 7 m high vases created by Henri Patou , over whose lawn he distributed porcelain lighting fixtures. The complex included a central fountain with four blue enameled water basins, the bottom of which was littered with porcelain fish and mussels.
For the same exhibition, Rapin worked with the architect Pierre Selmersheim to decorate the reception room, and for the “Une Ambassade française” pavilion, a dining room containing a large frieze by the sculptor Henri Bouchard. He was also involved in the so-called “Hôtel du Collectionneur” of the Ruhlmann Group .
Two years later, Rapin emerged as a prize winner in response to the invitation to tender for the decoration of the ballroom of the mayor's office in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
Prince Asaka Yasuhiko (1887–1981), who had studied and lived in France, was enthusiastic about the Art Deco movement and admired Rapin's works, commissioned him in 1929 to design the interior furnishings after he returned to Japan Furniture from his residence in Tokyo .
The interior designer and decoration artist collected reproductions of works by important artists and published them under the title La sculpture décorative modern three series.
Henri Rapin died in Paris in 1939 at the age of 66.
student
Works (selection)
Interior fittings (drafts)
- 1925: Reception salon ("Salon de réception") of the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modern, Paris (destroyed)
- 1925: Pavilion of the Sèvres Manufactory, Exposition Internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modern, Esplanade des Invalides, Paris (destroyed):
- Cabinet of a Ceramic Lover ( Cabinet d'un amateur de Céramique )
- Light garden ( Jardin de lumière )
- 1925: Pavilion "Une Ambassade de France", Exposition des arts décoratifs modern, Esplanade des Invalides, Paris (destroyed)
- Dining room ( Salle à manger )
- 1927: Interior of the ballroom of the mayor's office of the 15th Parisian district (evaluation of the tender on June 9, 1927)
- 1929: Residence of Prince Asaka, today Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum , Tokyo
- Large reception hall ( Great Hall )
- Large guest room ( Grand Guest Room )
- Large dining room ( Great Dining Room ), including Oil Painting
- Small guest room ( Small Guestroom , not publicly available)
- Anteroom ( Anteroom )
- Labor Cabinet of Prince ( Prince's Study Room )
- Salon Prince ( Prince's Living Room )
- Perfume Tower ( Perfume Tower )
- 1933: Draft of a tiled work on the occasion of the inauguration of the Boulogne-Billancourt metro station , Paris
Furnishings and tableware
works by Henri Rapin are kept in the Musée national de céramique in Sèvres near Paris and the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris.
Illustrations
- Henri Tissier: Cuisine végétalienne. Recettes de cuisine par Mesdames Coquelet et Tissier , illustrations by Henri Bellery-Desfontaines and Henri Rapin, Paris 1914, reprinted by Jean de Bonnot, Paris 1992
Publications
- Henri Rapin: La sculpture décorative moderne, Première série (reproductions of works by the artists Bourdelle, Lalique, Sue et Mare, Hairon, Guenot, Gauvent, Gallerey, de Bardyere, Chassaing, Bourdelle, Bouchard, Binquet, Bernaux and others), Ed. Moreau, Paris 1925
- Henri Rapin: La sculpture décorative moderne, Deuxième série (reproductions of works by the artists Bottiau, Hairon, Céline Lepage, Malcles, Martiel and others as well as designs from the Ecole Boulle and the Ecole de l'Union Centrale des arts décoratifs), Ed. Moreau, Paris 1925
- Henri Rapin: La sculpture décorative moderne, Troisième série (reproductions of works by the artists Le Bourgois, Jallot and others), Ed. Moreau, Paris 1929
literature
- Catalog Général Officiel de l'exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels (1925)
- Pierre Kjellberg: Art Deco. Les maîtres du mobilier. Le décor des paquebots , Ed. de l'Amateur, 2004, ISBN 978-2-85917-255-8 .
Web links
- Henri Rapin, short biography , Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres (French)
- Henri Rapin, short biography , Les Arts Décoratifs, Center de Documentatation des Musées (French)
- Henri Rapin, Short biography Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rapin, Henri |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French Art Deco painter, illustrator and decorator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 28, 1873 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 30, 1939 |