{"id":826,"date":"2021-01-19T21:40:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T20:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/?p=826"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:54:15","slug":"verdurin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/verdurin\/","title":{"rendered":"Verdurin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\"Verdurin
\u00a9 Roland Tisserand \u2013 at Atmosph\u00e8re d\u2019Ailleurs \u2013 Flowers by Debeaulieu<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n


\u201cBut, M. Swann, you mustn\u2019t run away without feeling the little bronze mouldings on the backs. Isn\u2019t it an exquisite surface? No, no, not with your whole hand like that; feel them property!\u201d
\u201cIf Mme. Verdurin is going to start playing about with her bronzes,\u201d said the painter, \u201cwe shan\u2019t get any music to-night.\u201d
\u201cBe quiet, you wretch! And yet we poor women,\u201d she went on, \u201care forbidden pleasures far less voluptuous than this.\u201d<\/p>Marcel Proust, Swann\u2019s Way<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\"Verdurin
\u00a9 Roland Tisserand \u2013 at Atmosph\u00e8re d\u2019Ailleurs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\"Madeleine
Madeleine Lemaire in her \u201csalon\u201d (1845-1928).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Alexandra Exter, Costume design for Bronislava Nijinska, Night on Bald Mountain<\/em>, 1925.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Verdurin, the character<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sidonie Verdurin belongs to the Parisian bourgeoisie and reigns over her salon which brings together painters, musicians and writers. Swann frequented this salon for a while before being expelled from it for having frequented another one. Mme Verdurin does not tolerate the slightest infidelity from the members of her “clan”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mme Verdurin was genuinely fond of her regular visitors, the faithful of the little clan, but wished them to be entirely devoted to their Mistress. Cutting her losses, like those jealous lovers who will tolerate unfaithfulness, but only under their own roof and even in front of their eyes, that is to say when it scarcely counts as unfaithfulness, she would allow the men to have mistresses or male lovers, on condition that the affair had no social consequence outside her own house, that the tie was formed and perpetuated in the shelter of her Wednesdays.<\/p>\nMarcel Proust, The Captive<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Social vanities are the driving force behind Madame Verdurin, pushing snobbery to the point of claiming its lack of distinction. The Verdurin salon participated in the emergence of a new Parisian artistic milieu, heteroclite and avant-garde. It accelerates the careers of painters, musicians, praises the Russian ballets\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is through her character that Marcel Proust points out the cultural and social aspirations of the Parisian bourgeoisie of this period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Anthony Guerr\u00e9e<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\"Fauteuil
Empire style armchair.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Louis
Louis Barillet, Jacques Le Chevallier, Th\u00e9odore-G\u00e9rard Hanssen, Screen, ca. 1928.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Extrait
Excerpt from the research notebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Literature to Design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To a folding screen chair<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The screen appeared in China with the Zhou dynasty before conquering the Western interiors. Intended to trace the boundaries of the intimate, to conceal it while suggesting it. Over time, the screen became a real piece of furniture, particularly in the 1930s thanks to the creations of Eileen Gray and Louis Barillet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a funny passage from Swann’s way<\/em>, Marcel Proust highlights the sensual relationship between Madame Verdurin and her furniture. One day Sidonie Verdurin invites Swann to “paw” the small bronzes of her Beauvais armchair:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My husband claims I don\u2019t like fruit because I eat less than he does. But the fact is I\u2019m greedier than any of you, but I don\u2019t need to put them in my mouth because I can feed on them with my eyes. What are you all laughing at? Ask the doctor, he\u2019ll tell you that those grapes act on me like a real purgative. Some people go to Fontainebleau for their cure; I stay here for my own little Beauvais cure. Now, Monsieur Swann, you mustn\u2019t leave without feeling the little bronze mouldings on the backs. The patina is so soft, isn\u2019t it? No, no, with your whole had \u2013 feel them properly<\/p>\nMarcel Proust, Swann\u2019s way<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In reference to this famous passage from In the Search<\/em> of Lost Time, the “Verdurin” folding screen chair is decorated with hammered bronze spheres inviting to touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Verdurin entered the collections of the Mobilier National.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Roland Tisserand \u2013 at Atmosph\u00e8re d\u2019Ailleurs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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VERDURIN<\/em><\/strong> – screen-chair<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Dimensions : 172 x 50 x h 150 cm s.h. 45 cm
Structure in solid cedar
Hammered brass balls with bronze patina
Vegetable-tanned neck-leather color \u00ab cocco \u00bb
Signed et numbered (limited edition 8 pieces)
Made in France<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PRICE REQUEST<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cBut, M. Swann, you mustn\u2019t run away without feeling the little bronze mouldings on the backs. Isn\u2019t it an exquisite surface? No, no, not with your whole hand like that; feel them property!\u201d\u201cIf Mme. Verdurin is going to start playing about with her bronzes,\u201d said the painter, \u201cwe shan\u2019t get any music to-night.\u201d\u201cBe quiet, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chairs-lost-time","tag-mobilier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16247,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions\/16247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony-guerree.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}