麻豆传媒映画

Renowned as the preeminent exponent of French Art Deco, 脡mile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879鈥�1933) was recognised for the aesthetic refinement, luxurious materials, and impeccable craftsmanship of his creations. Inspired by eighteenth-century pleasure pavilions, Ruhlmann鈥檚 pavilion, L鈥橦么tel du Collectionneur (The Town House of the Collector), was one of the most admired exhibits at the fair. Conceived as a modern-day Trianon, it was filled with his own sumptuous furnishings together with a meticulous selection of objets d鈥檃rt.

The Collector鈥檚 House, 1925

The purported occupant of Ruhlmann鈥檚 pavilion was an idealised collector 鈥� precisely the sort of person the exhibition was engineered to attract. That such a collector would be rich was a given, since the primary focus of the fair generally, and of Ruhlmann鈥檚 pavilion specifically, was expensive luxury goods. But Ruhlmann himself also must be recognised as embodying this collector, since it was he who defined the pavilion鈥檚 look and feel. 

The richness of the pavilion鈥檚 interior contrasted with the sobriety of its exterior. It represented Ruhlmann鈥檚 skill as an ensemblier, his ability to provide every aspect of an interior from architectural details and furniture to textiles, lighting, paintings, sculpture, and objets d鈥檃rt. While the undisputed centrepiece was the domed salon, each room was treated with the same degree of attention.

Ruhlmann鈥檚 furnishings were sumptuous and, like the building鈥檚 architecture, made a deliberate link with the past, both stylistically and intellectually. In the grand salon, a suite of seating furniture covered in tapestry and a monumental chandelier made from cascades of brilliant crystal prisms (hanging beneath a ceiling painted by Louis Pierre Rigal) recalled the grandeur and formality of the Empire and Louis Philippe periods. Throughout the pavilion, costly materials were used: precious wood veneers and lacquer for furniture, silk damasks and velvets for upholstery, furs for coverlets and throws. 

While Ruhlmann designed the majority of the pavilion鈥檚 furnishings, in the spirit of his 鈥渃ollector鈥� he also mixed in carefully selected works by respected contemporaries. Noteworthy were Edgar Brandt (ironwork), E虂mile Dec艙ur (ceramics), Franc抬ois-E虂mile De虂corchemont (glass), Jean Dunand (lacquer and metalwork), Le虂on-Albert Jallot (furniture), Francis Jourdain (outdoor furnishings), Pierre Legrain (bookbindings), E虂mile Lenoble (ceramics), Claudius Linossier (enamels), Jean Mayodon (ceramics), Jean Puiforcat (silver), and Henri Rapin (furniture). The inclusion of such pieces was determined by necessity as much as taste, to fully furnish the pavilion in time for the Exposition鈥檚 opening.

Although Ruhlmann had earned a lofty and widespread reputation long before the Exposition, he used his pavilion as an opportunity to burnish it in dazzling physical terms. Gilding the lily, he crowned the building with signs in small lights: RUHLMANN atop both the main entrance and garden fac抬ade, and COLLECTIONNEUR along its Esplanade roofline.

Like all the pavilions, the Ho虃tel du Collectionneur was torn down after the fair closed. It existed for only six months, although furnishings from it survive in museums including the Muse虂e des Arts De虂coratifs in Paris, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the Casa de Serralves in Porto, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York 鈥� as well as in private collections around the world. 

Its most lasting record exists in L鈥橦o虃tel du Collectionneur, the commemorative book published in 1926 by E虂ditions Albert Le虂vy. But even only as a memory, Ruhlmann鈥檚 pavilion represents perhaps the most complete and elegant expression of Art Deco taste, one of the significant aesthetic achievements of its age. 

The Birth of Art Deco: Ruhlmann and the H么tel du Collectionneur, 1925 by Jared Goss, published by Rizzoli.