PIERRE CHAREAU (1883-1950)

Pierre Chareau developed the fan shape in his interior architecture as well as in his furniture design. He introduced the concept in the boudoir presented at the Salon d'Automne in 1923, further explored it in the small salon of the Lanique apartment in 1924, then in his study-library for a French embassy at the 1925 Exposition Internationale, in the bar of the Grand Hôtel de Tours, and in numerous subsequent projects. Critic Ernest Tisserand noted in L'Art Vivant, February 15 1926, that 'Pierre Chareau is the master of making best use of entrance halls. He will cut one corner with a door on the diagonal like a fan that conceals a washroom, bookshelves or a handy cupboard. He has created a small fan table that is to the conventional nest of tables of our grandparents as the Charleston is to the Boston. How welcome it would be in so many entrance halls, with or without a telephone, that distance-narrowing yet nerve-wearying device.' The earliest reference to the fan table in contemporary journals dates back to 1924. The design could have two, three or four leaves. The rare example presented here was specifically designed as a telephone table.