Eclipsed by the celebrity of Jean Prouvé, Pierre Jeanneret or Charlotte Perriand, a generation of French designers nevertheless worked throughout the “glorious thirty”. But these “young wolves”, as they were nicknamed at the time, who revolutionized French interiors with their compact, ergonomic furniture made of innovative materials, gradually fell into oblivion. Alain Richard, René-Jean Caillette, Jacques Biny, Pierre Guariche, Michel Mortier… Except for a handful of design enthusiasts, who knows these names today?
A flea merchant, then gallery owner specializing in post-war French furniture, Pascal Cuisinier is also a graduate in architecture and philosophy of art. This dual expertise has led him to deepen his research undertaken during exhibitions dedicated to these unknown creators in a collection of works that he publishes himself. To inaugurate this collection, Pascal Cuisinier looked at the career of Robert Mathieu (1921-2002), who, following graduating as a bronze turner from the Ecole Boulle in 1938, applied himself to designing articulated luminaires suitable for modern interiors.
“What is remarkable regarding Robert Mathieu is his creativity. He invented more than one hundred and fifty totally different models of lamps, which is unique in France. It also stands out for the very high quality of execution of its parts, which are still in perfect working order,” justifies the passionate collector of the designer’s models since his student years.
It is this substantive work, review and documentation that the gallery owner makes available in this book, halfway between the biography and the catalog raisonné. We discover the details that make Robert Mathieu’s signature, such as the metal ball joint allowing the light sources to be articulated at will, but also the Diabolo lamps with double reflectors which thus provide a double orientation of the light, the metal legs, stable and solid, suitable for all shapes and many more.
This book presents the lit lamps, to better appreciate their quality of lighting, and on a white background, in order to distinguish their curves and their plastic qualities. If the main characteristics of the furniture of the time are sobriety, elegance, proportions, that of Robert Mathieu corresponded to an aesthetic and functional need that we find today, underlines the gallerist.
The book is a good tool to better appreciate the work of this visionary whose lights, never reissued, are only available in period version, at Pascal Cuisinier, but also at flea markets or on sites specializing in furniture. vintage, such as Design Market, Pamono or Selency, at rather high prices… Pascal Cuisinier will continue this clearing work in a few months with a second book, this time devoted to designer Etienne Fermigier (1932-1973), before offering two or three titles per year to rediscover this little-known, and yet founding part of French design.
Robert Matthew. Rational lights, by Pascal Cuisinier, Silvana Editoriale-Editions Pascal Cuisinier, €90.
