Tray

Guimard saw himself as an “art architect”, which in the context of Art Nouveau means a craftsman of all the arts. He set to work on a plate with as much circumspection as on an architectural component. All elements are composed in harmony and worked out in the tiniest detail. Preference is given to malleable materials such as cast iron, bronze and flexible metals. Here Guimard attains the greatest perfection, and his metal works are almost beyond comparison with his creations in wood.

The plate is a gift from Mme Hector Guimard (1949).