Jean-Michel Frank

This lot is offered together with a certificate of authenticity from the Comité Jean-Michel Frank.

Jean-Michel Frank's "Aragon" table, whose name is said to be borrowed from its first patron, French poet Louis Aragon, is an emblematic example of the style defined by the decorator in the 1920s and 1930s. The first example of an "Aragon" table was created by Frank in 1930 as part of Édouard Bourdet's living room design at the villa Blanche in Tamaris. In 1936, he placed the form in Raymond Patenôtre's living room at his villa in Nice, surrounded with a "Baluster" vase, a "Grecque" lamp and Alberto Giacometti's "Pomme de Pin" floor lamp.

While Frank's interiors are stripped of all superfluous material, his furniture follows the same intention of simplicity and elegance. In the present table, the oak is sanded, engraved and carved, giving the furniture a primitive look and revealing the material in its nearly raw state. In the designer's interiors, his furniture, like Alberto Giacometti's objects and lights, seems to have originated from other civilizations. Their archaic forms and the simplicity of the materials define Jean-Michel Frank's unique sense of modernity in the 1920s and 1930s. The present lot is a superb example of this rare and celebrated form that encapsulates the designer's exceptional craftsmanship and talents as a tastemaker.