Model SN3 Table

Pierre Chareau was an important proponent of modernism and advocate for the use of industrial materials in domestic design. He is best known for his architectural projects as well as his interiors and furnishings, such as this Model SN3 side table made for the smoking room of the Grand Hôtel de Tours built in 1927 by local architect Maurice Boille. Chareau was in charge of the hotel's interior decoration and furnishings which exemplified the sophisitication and quality of the best French modern design. Throughout his career, Chareau recognized and appreciated the role of craftsmen in executing his pieces, and he preferred designing for serial or unique production by skilled craftsmen even when working with industrial materials. Metal, especially iron, had become an important medium for Chareau in the 1920s and 1930s. He met the ironworker Louis Dalbet, who executed this side table, in 1923; the pair began collaborating immediately and presented the fruits of their partnership at the 1924 Salon d’Automne. From that point on, Dalbet was the only ironworker with whom Chareau worked.

Chareau developed a style that incorporated elements of Cubism and bridged the gap between art deco’s dynamic geometry and the crisp rectilinearity of functionalist modernism. He married beautiful hardwoods with richly worked iron, playing with planar forms and endowing works with an almost Japanese purity; the hammer-wrought iron technique Dalbet employed was imported from the East. This approach set Chareau apart from his contemporaries, many of whom favored shiny tubular steel to the tectonic quality of wrought iron. Chareau deployed this style in his interiors for the Grand Hotel de Tours, designed by the architect Maurice Boille and constructed in 1927, where SN3 side tables and stools could be found throughout the bar and smoking lounge. This particular piece is especially significant for having descended through the Dalsace family, owners of the Maison de Verre.

Model SN3 Table; Designed by Pierre Chareau (French, 1883–1950); Made by Louis Dalbet (French, ca. 1879–unknown); cut mahogany and wrought iron; H x W x D: 36.2 × 49.5 × 38.7 cm (14 1/4 × 19 1/2 × 15 1/4 in.); Gift of the David Teiger Trust; 2016-36-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.