Parchment Pedestal Table – André Arbus (1903-1969)

André Arbus (1903-1969).
Pedestal table.
Parchment veneer and mahogany filet.
Circa 1940.

Trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, André Arbus began training as a cabinetmaker in his family's workshop. He sent his first pieces of furniture to the Salon des Artistes and the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in 1925 and was already noticed by the jury. On the strength of this success, he settled permanently in Paris in 1933. He quickly established himself as one of the leaders of the return to traditional French quality. A revival of eighteenth-century-inspired art, for which he decided not to use metal or glass, favoring sober, unpatterned curves.

In a period that saw the development of functionalism, André Arbus' work remained perfectly classical, continuing a tradition championed by Süe et Mare, Ruhlmann, Leleu and others. This furniture, with its rigorous but not heavy lines, is reminiscent of the most pared-down Louis XVI models and bears witness to a strong influence of neo-classicism. This table is perfectly in keeping with Arbus's work in the 30s and 40s on parchment, a noble material par excellence, highlighted by the artist's sober work, comparable to the parchment-covered daybed illustrated in Kjellberg, P. (2000). Art Déco: Les maîtres du mobilier - le décor des paquebots. Les éditions de l'amateur. Our pedestal table combines the sharp edges of the top and foot with the curves of the base, which form a neoclassical plant scroll, as seen on the dining table illustrated in the same book.
In 1937, he received a government commission for the Ministry of Agriculture, rue de Varenne, then, in 1939, for the French section of the New York International Exhibition. He worked on the Salle Médicis at the Château de Rambouillet, apartments at the Elysée Palace, a mansion in Parc Monceau, for the great art dealer Aimé Maeght, and on several ocean liners.
These prestigious commissions testify to the success the designer enjoyed throughout his career, confirmed by his appointment to the Légion d'honneur in 1954.