Union des Artistes Modernes
A Paris association of modernist designers and architects, formed in 1929, that championed metal, glass and function over decorative luxury.
No works indexed yet · 10 related artists
No open-access works for Union des Artistes Modernes are in the index yet. They will appear here as more collections are indexed.
About
The UAM formed in Paris in 1929 when a group of designers broke away from the Société des Artistes Décorateurs, whose salons they found too devoted to precious decoration. The architect Robert Mallet-Stevens became its first president, and members over the following years included René Herbst, Pierre Chareau, Francis Jourdain, Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier. Its first exhibition opened in 1930 in the Pavillon de Marsan at the Louvre, and a 1934 manifesto argued that modern art should frame contemporary life.
Herbst built chairs of chromed tube with seats of stretched elastic cords, Jean Puiforcat reduced silver to spheres and cylinders, and Jean Fouquet and Raymond Templier made geometric jewellery in platinum, onyx and enamel. After the Second World War the group carried on through the Formes Utiles exhibitions of well-designed everyday goods before it dissolved in 1958. Look for machined metal, glass, polished planes and ornament reduced to structure.
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