Virtual tour

The Grand Salon of the Hotel d'un Collectionneur
(The House of a Collector) Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann

'Grand Salon', 'Hôtel du Collectionneur'	Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann: 'Table araignée'	Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann: 'Table araignée'

The Hôtel d'un Collectionneur was the most ambitious project by an individual designer and the most acclaimed display in the exhibition. It housed a suite of elegant rooms conceived by the leading French furniture maker, or ébéniste, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann.

Pierre Patout designed the pavilion, with a vast oval room, the Grand Salon, as its focal point. Ruhlmann brought together many leading artists and designers to decorate the Salon, including Jean Dunand, Jean Dupas, Antoine Bourdelle and Edgar Brandt.

Its sumptuous decoration, rich use of colour and elegant modernization of traditional forms and techniques have led many critics to consider the Grand Salon the greatest achievement of French Art Deco. Several works from the interior, notably the Donkey and Hedgehog cabinet and Jean Dupas' painting Les Perruches, have become Art Deco icons.

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