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FRANKFURT.- The first ever retrospective about
André-Charles Boulle, the most illustrious cabinetmaker of all time, opened on
October 28. With a scenography by Juan Pablo Molyneux, it takes place in the
Museum of Decorative Arts of Frankfurt, the emblematic building created by
Richard Meier. It was conceived by two French art historians, Jean
Nérée Ronfort and Jean Dominique Augarde, in close cooperation with Professor
Ulrich Schneider, director of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of
Decorative Arts) of Frankfort.
Even before he was 30 years old, the name
of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), Founder, Chaser, Gilder, Sculptor and
Marqueter Ordinary to the King, was famous throughout Europe. In 1672 Louis XIV
granted him a workshop inside the Louvre palace. His totally innovative genius
in the concept of forms is paired with an unheard of virtuosity in the use of
gilt bronze, which he was the first to unite with marquetry on a background of
tortoiseshell. His creations were the absolute summit of opulence and elegance,
combining extraordinary forms with materials verging on the precious, and a
technical excellence never achieved again since.  He worked for the
Queen, the King, the Grand Dauphin and for the princes of the royal family.
Eminent bankers of the kingdom vied for his works to furnish their mansions on
the Place Vendome. The Princes Electors of Saxony, Bavaria and Cologne, the King
of Spain, were among his clients. Displayed today in the greatest
museums of the world, and symbols since three centuries of financial and social
success, André Charles Boulle’s furniture is inseparable from other expressions
of French art avidly sought after by the foremost European courts at the time of
the Sun King. The exhibition everyone has been waiting for …
The exhibition « André Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and the Art of his Time, A
new Style for Europe » is the fruit of the combined expertise of a French group,
The Association André-Charles Boulle and the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum
of Decorative Arts) of Frankfurt hosts this event unique of its kind. Most of
the works are shown for the first time, and some have never before left the
countries where they are conserved. This is the case for the loans from the
State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Mobilier National in Paris, the
Château of Versailles et des Trianons, the Banque de France, the Castle of
Mannheim, the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, the Swedish Royal Collection, and
other major cultural institutions. In all, nearly thirty international museums
whose names bring to mind the treasures of Western civilisation, and a few
eminent private collectors, from seven countries (France, Germany, Great
Britain, Slovenia, Sweden, Russia, and the United States of America) will have
permitted the coming together of these masterpieces. Through their loans they
reveal to the public an unprecedented image of a decisive evolution of Western
art. The exhibition assembles some sixty exceptional pieces in floral
marquetry, in tortoiseshell and brass marquetry or gilt bronze, witnesses to
André-Charles Boulle’s talent. Displayed side by side with bronzes, tapestries
and paintings, they illustrate the cultural beacon that was Paris at that time,
and the genesis of a new European aesthetic. A rare collection of original
drawings by André-Charles Boulle’s contemporaries from the Museum of Decorative
Arts in Paris and Berlin will complete this ensemble. The Manufacture des
Gobelins, founded by Louis XIV in 1662, which has since become the Mobilier
National, will also exhibit its latest works by the most committed contemporary
designers, from Le Corbusier to the brothers Bouroullec, furniture and
tapestries symbols of its continuity of creation. Fully supported by
international cultural institutions
 In a city considered to be one of
the crossroads of Europe, this exhibition reflects the age-old economic and
cultural ties between Germany and France. By the presence of remarkable works of
art it shows how a community of taste and thought was established between the
two countries, but it also illustrates the cultural cooperation between them and
the other European countries, and in a larger sense, the United States. Monsieur
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, has granted his High
Patronage to the exhibition. A prestigious international honour
committee brings its support to this event. Present among its members are
particularly H.E. Bernard de Montferrand - French Ambassador to Germany, H.E.
Reinhard Schäfers - German Ambassador to France, but also H.E. Alexander Avdeev,
Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. The exhibition also receives the
support from the City of Frankfort and the State of Hessen, and the French
Heritage Society (U.S.A.), and solicits the participation of firms and private
patrons wishing to assert their engagement in favour of a strong European
cultural policy through this emblematic project. An eminent scientific
committee guarantees the quality of this event. In addition to Jean Nérée
Ronfort, Jean Dominique Augarde and Ulrich Schneider, it is composed of other
specialists in Decorative Arts ; Arnauld Bréjon de Lavergnée - Director of the
collections of the Mobilier National et des Manufactures des Gobelins ; Joan
Dejean - Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia ;
Theodore Dell - American historian, author of the catalogue of André-Charles
Boulle’s furniture at the Frick Collection of-York ; Peter Hughes - Former
Curator of the Wallace Collection in London ; Hans Ottomeyer - General Director
of the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin ; Tamara Rappe - Director of
European Decorative Arts at the State Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg ;
Sigrid Sangl - Curator at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Münich ; Gillian
Wilson -Curator Emeritus of Decorative Arts of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los
Angeles. A scenography signed Juan Pablo Molyneux
The
building of The Museum für Angewandte Kunst which hosts the exhibition is
emblematic of the city of Frankfort. Conceived by Richard Meier in 1985, it was
to influence the design of the J. Paul Getty Museum and became the model of all
future creations by the architect. In this building, bathed in light,
Juan Pablo Molyneux situated the exhibition. He created the proper setting to
enshrine the aesthetic to which Boulle has given birth, and which was to become
a paradigm of art for centuries to come. A fierce proponent of engaged
classicism, Molyneux conceives scenographies that find their origins in History,
without however being simple reconstitutions. “I try to distil that which is
expected in order to transform it into something unexpected “he says.
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