Jean ROYÈRE (1902-1981)
Download PDFJean Royere (July 3, 1902 - 14 May 1981) was from a privileged social class and lived a pleasant childhood in the french capital. He started to worked at Le Havre in the import and export business from its 24 to its 29 years. This profession guarantee him a good lifestyle. However, this young man left this comfortable career and choose a more risky path : the designer career, field in which he was a passionate and talented artist.
He started as an employee in a furniture factory boulevard Diderot, located in the Faubourg Saint Antoine, epicenter of Parisian furniture makers. In 1933, he received a prestigious order from the Carlton on the Champs Elysees. His career took off and a year later, he was in charge of the contemporary furniture section at Pierre Gouffé gallery in the Faubourg Saint Antoine.
During the War he participated in the Resistance. He ended his collaboration with Pierre Gouffé and opened his own gallery in 1942 in Argenson street. Its production was both modern and in touch with the rustic style, fashionable at that moment, then turned definitively towards modern creation.
The end of World War strengthen the success of Jean Royere. In 1946, he opened a second gallery in Cairo under the name "Jean Royere and Aladin". It will open later galleries in Beirut, Le Touquet, São Paulo, and in Tehran. In Paris he left the rue d'Argenson, for 182 of the prestigious Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
It created interior decorations for luxurious locations and resorts (such has : Thonon-les-Bains, Le Fouquet's, the ocean liner France, ...), as well as in places of political power (such as : France legation in Helsinki , the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington, the new Senate in Tehran, ...).
It puts an end to his career in 1972 and moved permanently to the United States in 1980. His collection was auctioned at Drouot on June 19, 1980. He bequeathed all its designs and many of his major works of art to the Arts Décoratifs museum, such as the sofa "Banana". He died shortly after that, the 14th of May 1981, in Pennsylvania.
His work is caracterized by a colorful, light and humorous production, enhanced by his choice of materials such as painted metal, wood, wool, straw, herbarium flowers, and even sponged tissu. He dedicated himself especially in the creation of fireplaces, he even wrote a book "Fireplaces and firesides" (Ed. Art by Charles Moreau) in 1950. It is a warm space which inspired him sleek design, often made with bricks.
Bibliography
- Jean Royère, Ed. Jacques Lacoste & Galerie Patrick Seguin, 2012
- Patrick Favardin, Les décorateurs des années 50, Ed. Norma, 2002
- Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier, Jean Royère, Ed. Norma, 2002
- Jean-Luc Olivie, Jean Royère, décorateur à Paris, Ed. Norma, 1999
- Jean Royère, Cheminées et coins de feu, Ed. d'Art Charles Moreau, 1950
