Bench for a Smoking Parlour – (Hector Guimard) Previous Next


Artist:

Date: 1897

Size: 600 x 660 cm

Museum: Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)

Technique: Metal

The main claim of the Art Nouveau movement, of which Hector Guimard was one of the leaders in France, is the unity of architecture, furniture and decoration. Decorative objects or furniture must not be isolated in a room, but fully integrated into the style of the entire house.Guimard, famous for designing the entrances to the Paris metro, applied this principle to one of his major constructions, Castel Béranger in the 16th arrondissement in Paris, for which he designed all the furniture.Another characteristic of Art Nouveau is the use of plant forms, illustrated here by the lively design of this asymmetrical bench, one leg of which seems to be a trunk sprouting supple branches that curve like vines.This original, almost outlandish, piece of furniture, was designed to be placed in the corner of a room, as is shown by the small display case which seems to be suspended in the air beneath a roof-like shelf. The original embroidered upholstery of the bench had to be replaced.

This artwork is in the public domain.

Artist

Download

Click here to download

Permissions

Free for non commercial use. See below.

Public domain

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark.

This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.


Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a general copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement that rule of the shorter term.