Music: 1937 Scaramouche - Brazileira | Darius Milhaud | Jess Gillam & Tippet Quartet 2018
Video: 1935 Normandie's Grand Salon | Jean Dupas verre églomisé murals
1930s playlist: t.ly/TxIW
Grand Salon graphics: LANZ marquez on www.behance.netlancelot_me7f0
Chariot of Aurora - colored lacquer, gilt and silver lacquer - Jean Dupas & Jean Dunand:
“The iconographic scheme of The Chariot of Aurora involves a mixture of references to the natural and navigational elements. For instance, in the centre of the composition, the rays of light which emanate from the sun included the cardinal points of a compass. Also, the passing of day is alluded to through the depiction of the goddess of dawn in the left hand corner and the goddess of evening in the right hand corner. Similar to sixteenth and seventeenth century Roman villas where rooms for entertainment included frescoes depicting scenes from mythology, the Grand Salon was an environment of leisure which incorporated the classical gods albeit in a new medium: once again conveying French designers’ awareness of the past and ability to reinvent it for the modern era.”
The History of Navigation - verre églomisé glass murals - Jean Dupas and Jacques-Charles Champigneulle:
“Along with The Chariot of Aurora, the Grand Salon also contained glass murals created by Jean Dupas and Jacques-Charles Champigneulle often called The History of Navigation. These glass mural which dominate the Grand Salon employed a technique known as verre églomisé, an ancient process which had been revived in eighteenth century France by Jean-Baptiste Glomy. Like lacquer, verre églomisé was a labor-intensive process in which images were painted on the reverse of the glass thus adding to the array of handcraft techniques used in the luxurious First Class rooms.
Although requested to design a scheme that represented the Normandy region, Dupas ignored his patron’s requirements, [opting] for an allegorical scheme instead. The History of Navigation depicts ships from across the world and centuries: Egyptian dhows, Chinese junks, sixteenth century galleons, and nineteenth century paddle steamers. Besides this eclectic mixture of ships, figures from classical mythology who are associated with the sea are also represented[: Poseidon, Thetis, Aphrodite and Europa]. This hybrid of cross-cultural sources exemplifies that the First Class public rooms of the Normandie were designed to reinterpret cultural precedents rather than revive them: or in other words, an Art Deco approach.”
Carpets, chairs and other decorative arts:
“Numerous designers were involved in the creation of each major element of the First-Class interiors, including the creation of the chairs and carpet for the Grand Salon. Architects Richard Bouwens Van der Boijen and Roger-Henri Expert oversaw the interior design of the Grand Salon and commissioned Jean Maurice Rothschild to design the chairs that were then made by Baptistin Spade while Gaudissard designed the upholstery decoration, the fabric for which was then made by Aubusson. The government, which was subsidizing the construction of Normandie, wished to sustain the skills of French artisans during a time of economic depression and prevent a rapid loss of knowledge of crafts skills.
The Aubusson carpet was custom-made to fit the room by cutting the corners into crescent shapes to accommodate the ten pairs of columns. The monumental scale for an interior detail boldly stated the idealized image that image of 1930’s France was idealized as a nation of plenty. The sense of abundance in the Grand Salon can also be found in the red upholstery adorning the chairs and banquettes as well as the carpet, all of which used the popular Art Deco image of flower bouquets. Seven of the banquettes were centered with more of Lalique’s firepots or with large pewter urns by Maurice Daunat. While the garden theme of the Grand Salon’s furnishing may not have been inspired by any particular past source, this traditional ornamentation most likely provided a sense of familiarity making it a welcoming space with a contemporary feel for the First-Class passengers.”
(ahlstromappraisals.com/art-hi...)
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Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. His Scaramouche suite (1937 - 1939) for two pianos and some other combinations, was an amalgam of music he wrote for theatre. In 1940 he fled the Nazis, taking a post at Mills College near San Francisco. Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck attended Mills specifically to study with him saying, "Milhaud was an enormously gifted classical composer and teacher who loved jazz and incorporated it into his work." Milhaud told another of his late 1940s students, Burt Bacharach, "Don't be afraid of writing something people can remember and whistle. Don't ever feel discomfited by a melody."
(www.pristineclassical.com/col...)
25 апр 2021
