Floor Lamp - Zadounaisky 1903-1983

Floor lamp by Michel Zadounaïsky in wrought iron. Has two original rust and gold patinas. From the 1940s, seamless assembly. Original electricity in good condition. Fake original metal candles 21 cm high. Signed intaglio on the base. All in very good condition. Dimensions: Total height: 1m92 without bulbs 2 m with bulbs Width of upper part 60.3 cm by 36.5 cm Square foot 48 cm side Born in Odessa in 1903 Michel Zadounaisky comes from a large Russian family. He was only thirteen when he moved to Lyon with his parents. He joined the École des Beaux-Arts in 1919, which he left less than a year later to join the Fournet chandelier factory where he perfected his skills in the art of wrought iron and in particular in the technique of embossing. He is spotted by Raymond Subes, thanks to his know-how and his perfectionism, and offers him offers that Zadounaisky declines. In 1924, Zadounaisky set up his workshop at 76 rue Béchevelin. The same year he presented at the Salon d'Automne a 1925-inspired console with stylized roses in an interior by André Sornay. Zadounaisky is extremely picky and cannot tolerate the slightest manufacturing defect. This search for perfection takes him a lot of time (each work could require twelve to eighteen months of work). So he is forced to sell dearly. Influenced by the aesthetics of his time, he exhibited an Art Deco style radiator at the Iron Metallurgy Exhibition in Lyon in 1926. He continued to exhibit and produce pieces, often animals, plays of curves, d plant interlacing in the form of furniture and lighting. In 1946, he created the Rhinoceros which entered the National Museum of Modern Art in the city of Paris in 1957. The artist received numerous awards including the Gold Medal for artisanal recognition. Michel Zadounaisky remains the only ironworker to have created an entirely personal and original repertoire and to have confronted wrought iron as a sculptor and not only as a craftsman.