Lot n° 64
Estimation :
15000 - 20000
EUR
TRANCHANT Jean (1904-1972) - Lot 64
TRANCHANT Jean (1904-1972)
Rare modernist clock in transparent glass, mirrored glass and nickel-plated metal. The detached ring dial with glass cabochon for the hours and metal dome to house the movement, the black lacquered hands all mounted on a mirrored glass plate series on a nickel-plated metal receiver and rectangular base.
Size: 47 x 39 x 13 cm
Bibliography: Cinémonde N° 162 2§ November 1931 "Chez jean Tranchant, l'homme qui éclaire les étoiles". M. Sernbar.
"Jean Tranchant's clocks have been all the rage over the last year, and we're admiring one of the most original in his living room, composed of a mirror and a ring of ice.
She's back from Joinville. You can see it in Parfum de la dame en noir.
I had the joy of entrusting it to a great artist, whose talents as a poet and animator I admire, and who has done much to spread the word about modern decorative art:
Marcel Lherbier".
"La pendule à miroir", modernist clock circa 1930 by Jean Tranchant, lent by him to Marcel l'Herbier for the film "Le parfum de la dame en noir" in 1931 Jean Tranchant began by creating Art Deco objects that were snapped up by celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin and Josephine Baker. He went on to compose hit songs that were performed by numerous stars... He was also a poet, lawyer, film theorist, founder of IDHEC, a major player in the organization of French cinema within the film unions, and a pioneer of French television Marcel L'Herbier discovered the seventh art in the French army's film department during the Great War, and became one of the leading figures in the French film industry.
Influenced by Symbolist literature. During the silent film period, L'Herbier was one of the masters of cinema. He called on Robert Mallet-Stevens for the set design of L'Inhumaine in 1924. His most important talking pictures are Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (1930),
Le Parfum de la dame en noir (1931), Forfaiture (1937), La Nuit fantastique (1942) and L'Honorable Catherine (1943). The man who tells the time in Paris Jean Tranchant's furniture, desk lamps, table lamps and clocks draw attention for their style and originality. Laure Albin Guillot was the first person Jean showed his creations to, especially his clocks. A fashion photographer and portrait painter of great talent, and a figure in "that mingled society that ran the game in Paris", as Jean Hugo put it, Laure was enthusiastic. She persuaded Jean to hold an exhibition and took charge of the organization. The event took place on Monday November 24, 1930, a stone's throw from the Madeleine. The press announced: "Today, at 3 p.m., M. Paul Léon, Director of Fine Arts, will inaugurate the exhibition of recent works by Jean Tranchant, at the Galerie "Innovation", 2 rue de Sèze. This exhibition will feature only works of decorative art, table ornaments, pearl mirrors, ice objects, lighting fixtures, clocks, etc., all of which are highly praised". Jean is nervous. He fears competition from another art event taking place on the same day. But a friend saves the day by jokingly offering him the hire of two athletic Republican Guards on guard at the gallery entrance. Laure Albin Guillot herself welcomed the visitors, and the relative solemnity of the opening meant that, as Jean recalls, "the big crowd rushed into my show, and within ten minutes, my 80 models were sold.
From Maria Koutznetsof (Mme Massenet) to Charles Chaplin, not forgetting the Countess de Cossé-Brissac, Prince Sturza, the painter Survage and Doménica Walter, from one second to the next, I became the man who told the time in Paris". Jean's designs play on contrasting geometric volumes and combine the most diverse materials: wood, brass, minerals, polished metal, transparent glass, opaque glass and more. For his "Saturne" lamp, for example, Jean explains: "I assembled mirror disks and ice rings. The hours were made of hard stone, the bases of blued metal". The success of the rue de Sèze exhibition gave Jean a tremendous boost to his reputation. Wealthy art lovers and celebrities from the world of entertainment were his customers. In addition to Charlie Laure's desk clock, Albin Guillot (1879-1962) produced remarkable photographic portraits of Jean Tranchant. In 1932, she was appointed chief archivist of the Beaux-Arts Photographic Archives, and in 1936, the first director of the Chaplin Cinémathèque. Jean also designed Josephine Baker's spherical aquarium.
He also designed the stone, metal and crystal bowl for the actor Jaque-Catelain, Alice Cocéa's fan of light, the symbol chandelier
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