Desk (Primary Title)

A prominent member of the School of Nancy, Jacques Gruber was one of its premier designers, cabinetmakers, and stained-glass artists. Gruber enjoyed prestige as a professor at the School of Decorative Arts in Nancy. His furniture designs are based on faithful recreations of nature, and this desk and chair appear to stem gracefully from the earth. He also excelled in the design and execution of stained-glass windows, an example of which can be seen above his desk in this bay.

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A prominent member of the School of Nancy, Jacques Gruber was one of its major designers, cabinetmakers, and stained-glass artists. He first studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Nancy. In 1889 he received an award that enabled him to travel to Paris and study at both the Ecle des Beaux-Arts and the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs (National School of Decorative Arts). One of his teachers was the well-known artist Gustave Moreau. In 1893, Gruber returned to Nancy and became a professor of decorative composition at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Active as a designer and artist, he also designed furniture for Louis Majorelle. Gruber's designs for furniture are based on faithful recreations of nature, and this desk and chair(85.86.2) appear to stem gracefully from the earth. This desk relates to a similar example displayed at the Salon of Nancy in 1901, except that the desk in 1901 was inset with panels of engraved glass. Gruber did not have a cabinetmaking shop, so he used furniture makers in Nancy, such as Justin Ferez, Georges-Leon Schwartz, or Laurent Neiss, to execute his designs.