Hector Guimard: Parisian Art Nouveau Architecture Rediscovered

(PRWEB) August, 2003 -- Delano Greenidge Editions is pleased to announce the November 2003 release of Hector Guimard: Architect, Designer (1867-1942).

Best known for his Paris subway entrances (floating forms of glass and metal), Guimard completed several major—but almost unknown—landmarks during his lifetime. An enigmatic figure, not one personal letter from or to Guimard survives. He was an architect who worked alone like an artist in his studio.

In lush color, Hector Guimard: Architect, Designer (1867-1942) presents a comprehensive, chronological inventory of the architect’s work. The book is the product of a remarkable collaboration between art historian Georges Vigne and photographer Felipe Ferré. Combining Ferré’s 30-year photographic project on Guimard with authoritative biographical and historical texts by Vigne, the book returns this nearly forgotten master in line with the major architects of the 20th century.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY GEORGES VIGNE:

“Any book on Hector Guimard must either begin or end with an elegy for the large number of his buildings that no longer exist. It might express regret for the demolition of Hôtel Nozal or anger that all we have left of Castel Henriette is a memory. Unfortunately demolition is often the fate of innovative buildings. They disturb the conventional taste of their own times and often fail to please in later eras. Sometimes all it would have taken to save them is patience.”

EDITOR’S NOTES

Art Nouveau was an international style of architecture and design that emerged in Europe during the 1890s. A number of architects including Guimard in Paris, Victor Horta in Brussels, Josef Hoffmann in Vienna and Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona were either participants or strongly influenced by it. As Art Nouveau evolved into the 20th Century, singular figures like Guimard and Hoffmann became major forces of influence on the development of modern architecture.

Hector Guimard was born in 1867 in Lyon, France and studied at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Beginning with the design of Café-restaurant “Au grand Neptune” in 1888, Guimard embarked on an architectural career that included a wide range of commercial and private commissions in and around Paris. His most important structures include the Paris Métro entrances, Le Castel Béranger, Villa Berthe, Hôtel Guimard, the Synagogue at 10 rue Pavée in the 4th arrondissement and la Bluette in Calvados. He produced more than 100 major projects until he moved to the United States in 1938. He died in New York in 1942

Georges Vigne is the former director of the Musée Ingres in Montauban, France. He is the author of more than 15 publications and has organized exhibitions on Hector Guimard and Ingres, among other major figures of 19th and 20th century French art.

Felipe Ferré is a photographer and graphic designer who lives and works in Paris.
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Pub date: November 2003
Dimensions: 400 pp., 25 x 32 cm (9.8 x 12.6 in.)
Subjects: Decorative Art/Architecture/Art Nouveau/France/Guimard/Paris
Illustrations: 680 images in color and B&W
Price: $85.00/€85.00/£60.00
ISBN: 0-929445-20-1
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Distributed by Delano Greenidge Editions in North America, Airlift Book Company in the UK. Call+1 (917) 492-8014 for more information.

Advance galleys and images are available on a limited basis. For book requests, images, or further inquiries, please contact Arthur Fournier at ajfournier@thing.net or by telephone at +1 (917) 492-8014.

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Based in the village of Harlem in New York City, Delano Greenidge Editions is an independent publisher of visual books. For more information, please e-mail dge@thing.net.