Villa Paul Poiret, 1921-1923Villa NoaillesHôtel Martel rue Mallet-Stevens, 1926-1927Immeuble de rapport du 7 rue Méchain in Paris
Robert Mallet-Stevens (24 March 1886 – 8 February 1945) was a French architect and designer.
Early life
Mallet-Stevens was born in Paris. His father and his grandfather were art collectors in Paris and Brussels. His great-uncles were the Belgian painters Joseph Stevens and Alfred Stevens.
He received his formal training at the École spéciale d'Architecture in Paris between 1903 and 1906. He was primarily interested in collaboration between different art forms according to the precepts established by Viollet le Duc who had created the school with Émile Trélat in 1865. At the school he wrote Guerande about relationships between the different forms of art.[1]
Career
In 1924, Mallet-Stevens published a magazine called La Gazette Des 7 Arts and at the same time with the help of Ricciotto Canudo founded the Club des amis du 7ème art. A Paris street in the 16th arrondissement, Rue Mallet-Stevens, was built by him in the 1920s and has on it six houses designed by him.[2]
A portfolio of 32 of Mallet-Stevens' designs was published under the title Une Cité Moderne in 1922.[3] In addition to designing shops, factories, a fire station in Paris, apartment buildings, private homes, and interiors, he was one of the first architects to show an interest in cinema. He designed film sets and his design for Marcel L'Herbier's silent film L'Inhumaine (1924) is considered a masterpiece.
In 1923 he was commissioned by Charles de Noailles to build the Villa Noailles located on the hill of the Château d'Hyères, the first core of which was completed in 1925 and whose extensions followed one another until 1933. "It is part of the rationalist movement, favored at the time of Viollet le Duc. Modern in style, it is totally in line with the spirit of rationality and functionality. In this architecture, we celebrate a new art of living where the body and nature are privileged. It meets a simple objective: to let light in and make it the central element of the building".[4]
During his career he assembled a team of artisans and craftspeople who worked with him: interior designers, sculptors, master glaziers, lighting specialists, and ironsmiths.[5] An example of his collaborative nature is provided by the Union des Artistes Moderne (UAM), formed in 1929 by a group of 25 dissidents of the Société des Artistes-Décorateurs (SAD). Mallet-Stevens was the UAM's first president.[6]
Legacy
Mallet-Stevens ordered that his archives be destroyed upon his death. His wishes were honored and his memory fell into obscurity. A French exhibit of his drawings, models, and actual works at the Centre Pompidou in 2005 sparked public interest in his contributions.
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