Low table

Du Plantier created the table offered here for the home of M. Bignon. He also used this model and slight variations thereof in other interiors, including that of the Count and Countess F. de Brinon on the Ile Saint-Louis, where he used a green-patinated bronze base topped with glass. In his own home, du Plantier preferred to use a gilt-bronze frame. He also designed a taller console version of the model, sometimes topped with marble rather than glass.
As an interior designer, Marc du Plantier excelled in creating luxurious, serene room settings for an elite clientele. Du Plantier studied arithmetic and then worked in the offices of an architect. He also studied painting, worked in several couture houses, and designed stage sets and costumes for La Comedie-Française. When at last du Plantier devoted his attention to interior design, his knowledge and experiences led him to produce simple, well-balanced and dramatic environments.
Weary of applied ornament, du Plantier imbued his furniture designs with elegance and style through his choice of rich, sumptuous materials. He upholstered chairs and sofas with calfskin, covered tables and shelves with leather and copper, lined walls with patinated mirrors, lacquered columns and doors, and draped furs and exotic animal skins on daybeds. He juxtaposed classical decorations, such as antique marble sculptures and Etruscan vases, with sculptures by contemporary Russian emigre Ossip Zadkine and with his own Surrealist murals. The overall effect was undoubtedly one of utmost luxury.

For all of his success, du Plantier rarely exhibited his designs and participated in just one salon, the 1939 Salon des Artistes Decorateurs. That same year, du Plantier and his wife fled to Madrid for the duration of World War II, but he continued to work creating interiors for distinguished Spanish clients. After the war, du Plantier turned his focus to painting and sculpture, but his most successful and sought-after works remain those he created at the height of his career as an interior designer.

Gilt iron and glass
15 3/4 x 55 1/8 x 24 1/2 in.
(40 x 140 x 62.2 cm)

Provenance:
Monsieur Bignon, Paris
Famille Rodier, Paris
Calmels, Chambre, Cohen Auctions, Paris, March 12, 1999
Galerie Jacques de Vos, Paris

Illustrated:
Marcel Zahar, "Une Installation de Marc du Plantier," ART ET DECORATION, February 1936, p. 53
Marc du Plantier, MOBILIER ET DECORATION, July 1939, p. 264

Literature:
Deux ensembles de M. du Plantier, ART ET DECORATION, June 1938, p. 187 (for a similar model)
Bruno Foucart and Jean-Louis Gaillemin, LES DECORATEURS DES ANNEES 40, Paris, 1998, p. 185 (for a similar model)