Print Size: 8.5" x 11" (Frame: 16" x 20") Architect: Robert Mallett-Stevens
This Magasin de Nouveautes, or sundries store, is one of the buildings included in the "Cité Moderne" by Robert Mallet-Stevens, one of the most influential French architects in the 1920s and '30s. Although he worked side-by-side with Le Corbusier for many years, Mallet-Stevens quickly fell into obscurity after his death, largely because his archives were destroyed at his behest. An Art Deco designer under the clear influence of Josef Hoffman, Mallet-Stevens' work incorporates avant-garde cubism and the historical past with equal ease, emphasizing the importance of detail, geometric patterning, and the inseparable blending of architecture and the decorative arts. Also unlike Le Corbusier or other Modernists, Mallet-Stevens' vision of the ideal city did not focus on the urban plan or the inter-relationship of parts within the larger whole. His interest was the individual building and its decorative character. His engaging architectural drawings, pretty rather than technical, presented a wishful fantasy and mesmerizing escapism against the backdrop of WWI mass destruction. Too many questions or critical analysis would ruin the enchantment of the erect bushes and building, distinguished by its enormous windows and cinema-like ground floor, replete with theatrical masks and marquee.
