Gustave Serrurier-Bovy — pair of oak armchairs, circa 1904

Pair of oak armchairs with black-lacquered iron bolts and woven rush seats. Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, circa 1904.

The back is made of two slightly curved oak panels fixed to the frame with exposed bolt heads. Those bolts are not applied decoration: with Serrurier-Bovy the joint itself is the motif. For the rest, square-cut uprights, a plain rush seat and no carving.

Serrurier-Bovy and Belgian Art Nouveau

Gustave Serrurier-Bovy (Liège 1858 – Liège 1910) studied drawing, archaeology and architecture at the Liège academy and reasoned from Viollet-le-Duc: a form may show how it is made. In 1888 he opened his own house in Liège for complete interiors and decorative objects. After the Arts and Crafts exhibition in London in 1893 he built contacts with Mackmurdo, Voysey and Crane, and brought Liberty's work to Belgium.

His cabinet de travail at the 1894 Salon de la Libre Esthétique in Brussels made his name. In 1900 he built the Pavillon bleu with René Dulong at the Paris World's Fair; in 1904 he won gold and silver at the Saint Louis World's Fair. Alongside Horta, Hankar and Van de Velde he counts as one of the four major names of Belgian Art Nouveau, but he is the most constructional of the four: less whiplash line, more visible joinery, closer to the English Arts and Crafts. From 1905 he carried that logic into Silex, his range of affordable furniture for ordinary households.

These chairs belong to that rational side of his work: material, joint and proportion do the work.

• Designer: Gustave Serrurier-Bovy
• Date: circa 1904
• Material: oak, black-lacquered iron, woven rush seat
• Dimensions: H 93 × W 50 × D 50 cm
• Quantity: pair

More information on request.