“Interieurs Francais” 1925 BADOVICI, Jean [Architecte] The Cary Collection

Editions Albert Morance

1925

11″ x 9 3/8″

*Lacking plates: 8/26/ 30/ & 36* of 40 issued

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Jean Badovici (6 January 1893 – 17 August 1956) was a French architect and architecture critic of Romanian origin, active in Paris.

Jean Badovici gained reputation not for constructing buildings but for analyzing and supporting avantgarde architecture. He was an influential critic and mentor of international modern architecture in France since he began editing the magazine L’architecture Vivante in 1923. He convinced the publisher Albert Morancé of the importance for such an avantgarde magazine which ran from 1923 till 1933. L’Architecture Vivante became immediately an influential mouthpiece of the International style (Bauhaus, Constructivism, De Stijl). Le Corbusier – a friend of Badovici – for instance became one of the architects whose ideals were frequently discussed in this magazine. Badovici cultivated relations to European avantgarde magazines like Wendingen (Netherlands) and Cahiers d’Art (France, founded in 1926) of his friend Christian Zervos.

Regularly each issue of L’Architecture Vivante presented a number of architects and their works but there were also some very few dealing with just one artist (Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and in 1929 Eileen Gray and her home E-1027).

In his ‘Intérieurs Français’ (French Interiors), Jean Badovici reproduced 40 interiors by some of the leading designers of his day. Although the hand-colored impressions may seem a little strange at first sight, his illustrations form important records about modern interior design in 1920s France. They show us the authentic combinations of furniture, textures and colors as they were brought together by the designers and homeowners, in a way that would be difficult, if not impossible to reconfigure from our own modern perspective. This interior of an upstairs landing is a good example. It is dominated by the wallpaper of Atelier Martine of ca. 1912. Founded by Paul Poiret (French, Paris 1879-1944 Paris) in 1911, Atelier Martine produced many similarly heavily patterned wallpapers and fabrics, which were very popular during the Art Deco period. The combination with the yellow staircase and the turquoise upholstery give the interior an intensity which seems worlds apart from the contemporary, basic interiors created not so far away by the architect Le Corbusier (French (born Switzerland), La Chaux-de-Fonds 1887–1965 Roquebrune-Cap-Martin).