Against Wind and Tide | TEFAF Maastricht 2023
MECC Maastricht, NL
March 11 – 19, 2023

This year, Demisch Danant presents a collection of important French furniture design from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s; works by Paris-based American artist Sheila Hicks; contemporary pieces by designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance; and 19th-century paintings by French artist Eugène Isabey.

The aim of our selection is to bring together major works from designers and artists of different periods within an exhibition that combines classicism and modernity. This genre of décor is largely inspired by Parisian apartments of the ‘60s, where most of the works that hung on the walls had been inherited from older relatives. Under the influence of interior decorators such as Henri Samuel or Charles Sévigny, Parisians gradually began to incorporate contemporary furniture and art into their traditional surroundings.

In this vein, Maria Pergay, who was a talented antiques dealer before she began designing steel furniture at the end of the ‘60s, has always valued the dialogue between different periods. She brilliantly combined the decorative arts of the past with contemporary furniture and knew how to make objects come alive together, despite the centuries that separated them.

Part of our exhibit is dedicated to the Mobilier National, displaying one of the most beautiful French desks of the 20th century. Commissioned by the Mobilier National in 1967 from Joseph-André Motte, the Senior Civil Servant's Desk prototype was created by Mobilier National’s Atelier de Recherche et de Création workshops. In the booth, facing this desk, is a pair of Iéna Armchairs by Pierre Paulin, commissioned in 1985 for the hypostyle hall of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council in the Palais d’Iéna. The Mobilier National ensemble is completed by two major works by Paris-based American artist Sheila Hicks, including a 1966 tapestry from the Prayer Rug series.

The interior of our stand reconstitutes an art salon. Erected on a Versailles parquet floor stands a series of display panels, on which hang masterpieces by Eugène Isabey (1803–1886): Seascape in stormy weather (1832) and Sailors saluting Christ as they leave the port of Saint-Valery-en-Caux (1867). Beneath the Isabey paintings are Maria Pergay’s iconic daybed, as well as a unique corner couch by Gilbert Poillerat, commissioned by interior decorator René Prou for the house of clients in Neuilly sur Seine in 1960.

In this section of the booth are also recent pieces from Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance; a console table in cork, a stool from the Burnt Cork collection, and a Madonna del Monte coffee table with a cross-shaped steel base on which sits a sculpted glass plate that evokes ripples of water on the surface of a lagoon.

Beyond is a spectacular wall-mounted vanity by Joseph-André Motte in champagne-coloured anodised aluminum, a private commission for a Parisian apartment in 1965. Also noteworthy is the extremely rare Portrait Seat – Charles de Gaulle by Roger Tallon and César, commissioned in 1967 for the Orly Airport Christmas nativity scene.

This exhibit is a triple tribute; to the Mobilier National and the support it gave to French design between 1967 and 1987, to Maria Pergay and her talent both as an artist and as an interior decorator, and finally, to the painter Eugène Isabey, part of the Romantic movement. He was considered one of the great seascape painters of his time, but unfortunatly has since sunk into obscurity, like so many other artists of the 19th century.

The title, Against Wind and Tide, is inspired by Isabey’s seascapes, known for their orchestration of magnificent scenes of storms and shipwrecks. It is also a means of acknowledging the perseverance of the creators seen here, who managed to impose their ideas and talents against all odds.