The elegant Art Deco sideboard attributed to Maurice Pré (1908–1988) offers a compelling point of entry into the career of a designer whose work bridges the refinement of French Art Deco and the emergence of postwar modernism. Executed in the second half of the twentieth century with exceptional craftsmanship, this piece stands as both a tribute to the legacy of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann (1879-1933) and a reflection of Pré’s own evolving artistic language.
Art Deco credenza in Macassar ebony and ivoirine attributed to Maurice Pré. © Galerie Tramway
Through this object—its materials, geometry, and structure—we can trace not only a stylistic lineage but also the intellectual and professional trajectory of Maurice Pré, including his formative years in Ruhlmann’s atelier, his collaboration with his wife Janette Laverrière (1909-2011), and his lifelong engagement with the social and professional dimensions of interior architecture.
An Art Deco Sideboard in the Spirit of Ruhlmann
The sideboard attributed to Maurice Pré is an elegant and rigorously composed work. It is veneered in Macassar ebony and overlaid with a rich ivoirine marquetry forming a large geometric motif that extends across the façade and continues onto the sides. This ornamental vocabulary immediately evokes the celebrated “Élysée” cabinet designed by Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, one of the most iconic furnishings of French Art Deco. The reference is explicit, yet not imitative: the motif is adapted, reinterpreted, and integrated into a later modernist sensibility.
This cabinet by Ruhlmann, known as “Bahut Élysée”, was delivered to the French presidential palace in 1926. It was created in 1920 and was one of the Ruhlmann pieces exhibited at the historic 1925 Decorative Arts Fair in Paris. It features varnished amboyna burl marquetry with ivory inlays, constructed on an oak carcass. Creative Commons: Photo by ThêtaBlackhole taken during the Art Deco 100th Anniversary exhibit at the MAD.
The façade of Maurice Pré’s sideboard opens through two doors whose central axis is emphasized by a modernist nickel-plated bronze mount. This metallic element recalls Ruhlmann’s use of sculptural metal plaques, notably the octagonal bronze relief designed by Simon Foucault for the Élysée cabinet, illustrating the allegory of Day and Night. In Pré’s sideboard, however, the bronze entry is more restrained, signaling a shift toward abstraction and functional clarity.
Inside, the cabinet reveals a compartmentalized interior with English-style drawers and an open niche, demonstrating a concern for rational organization and practical use. The recessed top is accented with vertical ivory fillets, while the entire piece rests on a rectangular plinth animated by a doucine molding. The proportions—1.42 meters long, 1.03 meters high, and 68 centimeters deep—reinforce the monumentality and balance characteristic of high-quality Art Deco furniture.
Facade and interior details of Maurice Pré’s Art Deco sideboard: nickel-plated mount, English drawers. © Galerie Tramway
This piece embodies a dialogue between tradition and modernity, where precious materials and refined craftsmanship coexist with a more functional, architectural approach. It is precisely within this tension that Maurice Pré’s career unfolds.
The Training of Maurice Pré and the Ruhlmann Years
Maurice Jean Albert Pré was born in Paris in 1907 into a family deeply rooted in craftsmanship. His father was a chair joiner and wood sculptor, and from him Maurice inherited both technical knowledge and a passion for fine workmanship. At the age of thirteen, he entered the École Boulle, following in his father’s footsteps. He graduated in 1924, alongside his friend Paul Beuchet, who would later become director of the school.
In 1925, Pré joined the design studio of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, marking a decisive moment in his formation. Ruhlmann’s atelier was one of the most prestigious environments for a young decorator, combining luxury craftsmanship with a modern vision of interior design. Pré remained there until Ruhlmann’s death in 1933, participating in several major projects, including the famed Hôtel du collectionneur presented at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, in collaboration with architect Pierre Patout. This project earned a bronze medal and firmly established the studio’s international reputation.
Grand Salon of the Pavillon du Collectionneur at the 1925 Paris exhibition. Furniture designed by Ruhlmann. The large cabinet is in lacquer made by Jean Dunand. © Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Album of the Collector’s Pavilion of J.E. Ruhlmann
Pré also contributed to projects such as the Paris Chamber of Commerce, absorbing Ruhlmann’s exacting standards, his mastery of materials, and his conception of furniture as an integral element of architectural ensembles. It was also in this milieu that Pré met Janette Laverrière, who joined the atelier in the early 1930s through Pierre Patout.
Maurice Pré and Janette Laverrière: A Concentrated but Decisive Collaboration
Maurice Pré’s collaboration with Janette Laverrière (1909–2011) was brief but decisive in its impact. Emerging from the intellectual and professional environment of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann’s atelier, the couple belonged to a close circle that included Maxime Old, Jean-Denis Maclès, and Paul Fréchet. This milieu fostered a collective reflection on furniture as architecture, and on decoration as a disciplined, rational art rather than mere ornament.
After their marriage in 1931, Maurice and Janette Pré worked jointly under the signature “M. J. Pré”, particularly during their Swiss period alongside architect Alphonse Laverrière. The projects they realized in Lausanne and its surroundings encouraged a shift toward spatial coherence and functional clarity. Furniture was conceived as part of an ensemble, responding to use, circulation, and modern ways of living—an approach that already distanced them from the strictly luxurious idiom of late Art Deco.
Picture of the Office of the archaeologist designed by Maxime Old at the 1937 Paris Exhibition. Note the desk in the back: it can also fold when needed. Keep it in mind when looking at the next pictures below. From the Maxime Old Archives, Paris, DR
Back in Paris from 1934, their work gained visibility through major exhibitions, culminating in the 1937 International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques in Modern Life in Paris, where they exhibited alongside Maxime Old in the Pied-à-terre of an archaeologist. Their smoking room concept (supported by illustrator André Marty) earned them a gold medal. Their presentation confirmed a shared ambition among this generation: to transform the decorative arts into a modern, human-centered discipline.
Oak drop-front desk by Janette Laverrière and Maurice Pré in the 1950s. The influence of their collaboration with Maxime Old is striking (folding, modular furniture). © La Maison Bananas
The war brought this partnership to an end. Maurice Pré and Janette Laverrière separated in 1946, leaving behind a compact but formative chapter in Pré’s career.
With Denise Gatard and the Postwar Creative Circle
In 1950, Maurice Pré’s second marriage to ceramist Denise Gatard (1908-1991) marked a different phase in his artistic life—less defined by co-authored projects than by sustained material dialogue.
Trained at the École des Arts Appliqués and initiated into lacquer and surface techniques in the atelier of Jean Dunand, Denise Gatard belonged to the postwar ceramics milieu closely associated with the renewal of materials and decorative processes. Her brother, Georges Jouve, is another famous modern ceramist (noticed by the quintessential French architect and designer Jacques Adnet). Her proximity to this environment encouraged a dialogue between ceramic practice and interior architecture rooted in technical rigor and tactile sensibility.
Right: A reversible necklace typical of the jewelry created by Denise Gatard; on one side, off-white ceramic; on the other, iridescent opaque glass; gold-tone metal chain © La Salamandre. Left: Exhibit of Denise Gatard’s creations in a 1963 arts exhibition in Paris at the former Hôtel des Archevêques de Sens (now the Forney Library).
From the early 1950s onward, Pré’s furniture increasingly incorporated ceramic elements created by Gatard, particularly within his modular and serial designs produced in oak, metal, and Formica and edited by Lieuvin or Émery. These ceramics were not ornamental accents but structural counterpoints, introducing texture and warmth into rigorously functional compositions. They exemplify Pré’s mature synthesis of artisanal sensitivity and industrial logic.
Room furnished and decorated by the French Modernists Denise Gatard and Maurice Pré around 1955. A sideboard (in a large bahut style) by Maurice Pré with an integrated drop-front desk. The round coffee table on the side is a collaboration between Pré and Gatard. The decorative ceramics (vases, bowls, etc.) are most likely by Denise Gatard. © Galerie de Monval
Working in close proximity, notably at the studio on rue Guénégaud, Pré and Gatard cultivated an environment in which furniture, ceramics, lighting, and later painting and tapestry coexisted. This continuity between disciplines reinforced Pré’s conviction that modern design should preserve unity across the arts, even as it embraced new materials and modes of production.
From Art Deco Discipline to Humanist Modernism
Maurice Pré’s evolution from Art Deco to modernism was characterized by continuity rather than rupture. Pré’s training at the École Boulle and eight years in Ruhlmann’s atelier instilled a lasting respect for fine cabinetry, proportion, and material intelligence—values he shared with contemporaries such as Maxime Old. Rather than rejecting this heritage, Pré gradually clarified it, reducing ornament while retaining precision and balance.
Naturally curious, he explored new techniques and materials in close collaboration with specialists, approaching innovation as a means to serve function and use. His furniture favors pure volumes and logical structures, yet never loses sight of comfort or human scale. Whether designing luxurious interiors or modular furniture for serial production, Pré sought solutions that appeared simple yet met complex technical and social demands.
Bookshelves by Maurice Pré in solid oak and incorporating some opaline glass panels. 1950-1960 period. © Philippe Art-Déco
Maurice Pré believed that design must adapt to the user’s personality while remaining guided by the architect-decorator’s authority. This conviction allowed him to extend his practice beyond furniture to lighting, textiles, porcelain decoration for the Manufacture de Sèvres, and even painting and drawing, which he sometimes integrated directly into his interiors to achieve visual unity.
Institutional Engagement and a Life Entirely Oriented Toward Art
After the Liberation, Maurice Pré played a key role in redefining the profession of interior architect in France. He participated in the founding of the Union des Artistes Décorateurs et Créateurs d’Ensembles (UADCE), serving as its treasurer and contributing to the formal recognition of a discipline in transition from decorative arts to modern interior architecture. His engagement reflected a broader ethical vision of design as a social responsibility.
A committed member of the Société des Artistes Décorateurs (SAD), Pré represented the organization at the Confederation of Intellectual Workers and the Union of Artistic Property. In parallel, he pursued an influential teaching career, succeeding René Gabriel at the École des Arts Appliqués in 1946, teaching at the École des Beaux-Arts of Nancy from 1947, and returning to the École Boulle in 1955. Through teaching, he transmitted a modern, rigorous conception of design grounded in technique and synthesis.
Desk set designed by Maurice Pré and presented at the 1954 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs (SAD). “Art et Industrie” magazine (July 1954 issue) available at BnF Gallica.
Considering his two marriages, his sustained collaborations, and his institutional commitments, Maurice Pré’s life appears entirely oriented toward artistic creation. From the Art Deco heritage of Ruhlmann to the humanist modernism he helped shape alongside figures such as Maxime Old, his work embodies a coherent transition—one built on continuity, shared ideals, and a profound belief in the unity of the arts.
Conclusion
The Art Deco sideboard influenced by Ruhlmann serves as a material synthesis of Maurice Pré’s artistic journey. Rooted in the luxurious discipline of early twentieth-century decorative arts, it anticipates the functional clarity and modernist concerns that would define the later stages of his career. Through his collaborations, teaching, professional activism, and artistic versatility, Maurice Pré emerges as a pivotal figure in the transition from Art Deco to modern interior architecture—a designer who honored tradition while actively shaping the future of his profession.
Pair of modernist oak chairs by Maurice Pré. French Mid-Century Modern design. © Place de l’Église
