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Tony SELMERSHEIM, Art Nouveau Mantelpiece in Green Campan Marble, 1910

This highly original mantelpiece was carved in the Art Nouveau style in1910 by tony Selmersheim, in Campan green marble. The lintel is adorned with a vast curve imitating a pediment, ending at the corners in two curves echoing the shape of the upper part of the jambs. The interior of the mantel is highlighted by slightly mushroom-shaped curves, typical of Art Nouveau. The mantels are recessed at right angles to the inside, and follow two arcs on the outside. The ornamentation on the narrow sides is meticulous, echoing the curves underlining the cut-out jambs and featuring a beautiful “whiplash” line. This 1910 mantel was realized in Campan vert, a green marble with white veins. Green Campan is one of several varieties of Campan marble, including Ribbon Campan marble, Pink Campan and Campan Grand Mélange. It is quarried at the Campan site on the Payolle plateau (hamlet Espiadet) in the upper Adour valley in the Hautes-Pyrénées. In the late 19th and early 21st centuries, the green Campan variety became fashionable for cladding interiors, buildings and other edifices abroad, such as the cathedrals of Westminster, Peterborough and Bristol in the United Kingdom. Joseph Paul Tony Selmersheim (1871-1971) was the designer of this mantel. He was a 20th-century French architect, decorator, furniture designer and cabinetmaker. In 1890, he enrolled at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. To complement his courses, he enrolled in Eugène Grasset's classes at the Ecole Guérin and attended the “Atelier des Epinettes”, which trained art workers. In 1895, he founded and chaired the Société des cinq, which in 1895 became the Société des six with Charles Plumet, and finally became L'Art dans tout in 1897. This movement challenged the hierarchies between major and minor arts, the compartmentalization between artistic, craft, and industrial production, and sought to create a “social art”. In August 1903, Plumet and Selmersheim created the Ch. Plumet et Tony Selmersheim company, which produced and sold furniture and decorative items. Tony took over the business alone in 1904 and continued until 1938-39. Throughout his career, Tony Selmersheim took part in numerous Salons. It was at the Salon de l'Automne in 1910 that he exhibited this fireplace carved from his drawings. This fireplace is exhibited as part of a bedroom. It was presented with a slightly curved decorated by painter Charles Guérin, reminiscent of the Art Nouveau style. This style is reflected both in the absence of any clear demarcation between the lintel and the legs (on the contrary, the ornamentation is continuous) and in the plant-inspired lines running through the marble. This fireplace could be appreciated for its “very personal” character, says Amédée Marandet in the “Chronique artistique” section of the L'Aurore newspaper of May 13, 1911. Next to our fireplace, another was exhibited designed by Tony Selmersheim for the dining room, sculpted by Mr. Huve from a model by the sculptor Camille Lefèvre. After the 1910 Salon, these two Tony Selmersheim’s rooms, including our fireplace, were exhibited again at the 1911 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs.