Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Paris – France
107 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
01 44 55 57 50
Georges Hoentschel in the museums
The interior designer: most of the decors that he designed are still to be seen in the mansions. For example, the Hotel de Ganay, the Erraruziz Palace in Buenos Aires or Luton Hoo in England, today converted into a hotel. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris has preserved the Pavillon de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, allowing us to appreciate the quality of the work executed by 50 craftsmen under the aegis of Georges Hoentschel’s studios. This beautiful ensemble, typical of the Art Nouveau style, proves the talent of the assembleur Georges Hoentschel and includes furniture, ceramics and a Symbolist fresco. Some of the designs were lost with the demolition of the houses (Julius Wernher’s London residence, Jacques Doucet’s mansion, Rue Spontini). At the start of 20th century, Jacques Doucet put together a collection of furniture and paintings from the 18th century in France, including pictures by La Tour, Chardin Watteau and furniture by Roentgen and Jacob. He was preparing a home, with his marriage in view, but the wedding was cancelled, so Doucet decided to sell everything at auction. The newspapers called it “the sale of the century” after it realised 15 million gold francs.
The collector: after the premature death of his wife, Antoinette Desaillle, Georges Hoentschel sold part of the collections that adorned his Hall in the mansion on the Boulevard Flandrin to his friend John Pierpont Morgan. Today, the 1,882 pieces from his collection constitute the basis of the French 18th century and Medieval departments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is possible to view the medieval statuette “Angel from Le Lude” in the Frick Collection in New York. It is a piece of enormous charm that obsessed the collector Frick until he managed to acquire it from the private mansion of Pierpont Morgan. The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum has Monet’s “La débâcle par temps gris” on view, in Lisbon, Portugal. Stoneware collections are in the Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye Museum and the Musée d’Orsay.
Paris – France
107 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
01 44 55 57 50
Paris – France
Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris
01 53 43 40 00
New York – États-Unis
1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028
+1 212-535-7710
New York – États-Unis
1 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021
1 212-288-0700
Lisbonne – Portugal
Av. de Berna 45A, 1067-001 Lisboa, Portugal
351 21 782 3000
Bedfordshire – Royaume-Uni
The Mansion House, Luton
Bedfordshire, LU1 3TQ
Tel +44 (0)1582 734437
Château de Saint-Amand
58130 Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye – France
03 86 39 74 97
Paris – France
1 Rue de la Légion d’Honneur, 75007 Paris
01 40 49 48 14
Buenos Aires – Argentine
Av del Libertador – 1902
4801 8248