Drouant Chair (Model 1NR)
Design Date 1924
Designer Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879-1933, French)
Media macassar ebony wood, silvered bronze and wool
Dimensions 32 5/8 x 17 1/8 x 22 1/4 inches
Ruhlmann originally designed this style of chair for the renowned Drouant restaurant in Paris in 1924. A Drouant chair was featured in the Grand Salon of the Hotel du Collectionneur, an exhibition of a living room dedicated to music, at the 1925 l’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, which gave us the name Art Deco. It is unclear whether this chair was present there, but chairs and stools with similar upholstery of the same color, as well as Drouant chairs in different upholstery, were exhibited in the room. The upholstery of this chair was designed by Émile Gaudissard who collaborated with other big name French Art Deco designers on projects including the iconic ocean liners S.S. Normandie and S.S. Liberte. Gaudissard’s tapestries were executed by Aubusson, a royal manufacturer of tapestries in the town of Aubusson, France, which has an illustrious and rich history of tapestry making.
ON VIEW in Art Deco Gallery 6
Markings unmarked
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Accession Number 2015.0689
