Cabinet (for the artist's office at the Castel Béranger, Paris) (Primary Title)
Hector Guimard, French, 1867–1942 (Artist)
Ateliers d'Art et de Fabrication, French, 1897–1914 (Maker)
This monumental cabinet, with its twisting lines and hollowed spaces, was inspired by nature and created for Hector Guimard’s office in the Castel Béranger, an apartment building that he designed and was built in Paris between 1894 and 1898. Judging from the original drawings of the cabinet now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Guimard initially planned an even more elaborate piece of furniture.
Sometime after 1909 when Guimard transferred his office and its furnishings from the Castel Béranger to his newly-constructed house on the Avenue Mozart in Paris this cabinet was remodeled and used there. It is important to remember that the architect conceived this cabinet as part of the overall design of an interior and not as a separate piece of furniture. An office suite by Guimard made for his Paris house is at the left of the cabinet.
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