PERRIAND IN THE MOUNTAINS
Charlotte Perriand, 1935. © AChP ADAGP
Exhibition Dates: 04.14.18 - 05.27.18
Reception: Saturday, April 14, 2018 | 6 - 9pm
PERRIAND IN THE MOUNTAINS
Matthew Rachman Gallery is pleased to announce a show featuring pieces by the pioneering French modernist designer and architect Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999). The opening will take place on Saturday, April 14 from 6 - 9pm. The show will run April 14 - May 27.
In the 1990s, two architects met in Berlin. They believed in high quality, relaxed timeless design for everyone, active lifestyles infused with solid connections to nature, and thoughtful settings for human interactions. Marrying in 2004, they decided to start collect furniture reflective of these principles. The work of Charlotte Perriand exemplified their interests.
The young family became consumed with the adventure of researching Perriand. This adventure would lead them to Marseille, Grenoble and lastly Savoie where they discovered Les Arcs, a ski resort made up of four villages, constructed at different levels. The first three levels (the numbers correspond to various altitude levels) Arc 1600, Arc 1800, Arc 2000 were built and designed by Perriand between 1968 - 1985.
At the heart of the Les Arcs project, there were three determining notions: (1) respect for the beauty of the natural landscape, (2) the preservation of the existing mountain chalet structures, and (3) utilization of materials local to the area. With this in mind, Perriand then applied her high-modern aesthetic to the creation of these ski lodges. The rooms were minimally furnished to encourage guests to spend most of their time outside; the buildings opened up to the light and surrounding natural beauty of the mountains. Les Arcs quickly became the new standard for the Alpine skiing environment.
Perriand in the Mountains is a showcase of a carefully crafted collection facilitated out of pure fervor and passion. It is a vignette into a different time and age, giving one a rare opportunity to step into a spectacular episode of French modernism where the sensual meets the rational, the industrial with the natural on the eve of Les Arcs’ 50th anniversary.
About Charlotte Perriand:
Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) was one of the most innovative furniture and interior designers of the twentieth century. Her career spanned five eras of furniture design. Leaving a mark in Art Deco, machine-age modernism, the rustic 1930s and 40s, populist modern furniture of the 50s and 60s as well as the prefabricated bathroom and kitchen units popular in the 70s, Perriand’s versatility allowed her to maintain an influential status and cemented her as a pioneering figure in modernism.
The woman behind Le Corbusier’s furniture designs, Perriand initially applied to his atelier in October 1927. She was famously rejected with the reply, “We don’t embroider cushions here.” A month later after seeing her work at the Salon d’Automne, the famed architect offered her a position. In collaboration with Jean Jeanneret at Le Corbusier’s studio, she developed a series of tubular steel chairs. These chairs have since become emblematic of the machine age. She would leave Le Corbusier’s atelier in 1937, but return to collaborate with him on projects like the Brutalist beauty Unité d'habitation (1946-1949) or the residential Maison du Brésil at the Cité Universitaire Complex in Paris (1959).
Apart from these collaborations, her own work encompassed a wide range of projects and countries. She designed bamboo furniture in Japan, lobbies for Air France in London and Tokyo, workers’ housing in the Sahara and ski resorts in the French Alps. She always explored the possibilities of new materials.
Charlotte Perriand was a woman committed to function, simple harmonies of form and color and a believer in the intermingling of technology and nature. For her, the presence of objects was just as important as the presence of open space; she believed that well thought out design could help create a better society. Perriand's work points to a mind that was brave, free and deeply sensitive to human nature.
DECASO, online home to the world’s finest antiques and decorative arts dealers, is proud to join the Matthew Rachman Gallery in celebrating the inimitable Charlotte Perriand.
About DECASO:
DECASO is the online home for the world’s top modernism, antique and bespoke dealers. Started in 2016 by the creators of Chairish and a group of top modernism and antique dealers, DECASO provides a powerful sales and marketing platform to the design industry with a proven technology platform and a dealer-friendly business model. For more information please visit, www.decaso.com
PRESS
2018 | Metropolis, Chicago Exhibit Spotlights Charlotte Perriand's Alpine Ski Resort
2018 | Architectural Digest, Charlotte Perriand's French Modernist Les Arcs Comes to the United States
2018 | Chicago Tribune, Jasmine Justice injects 65GRAND with an antidote for artifice; Climbing through the legacy of Charlotte Perriand
2018 | Decaso, Seminar Series: Charlotte Perriand & the Mountains
2018 | Cultural Services French Embassy in the United States, Perriand in the Mountains
