In 2008, Galerie Jacques Lacoste and Galerie Patrick Seguin organized a major exhibition on the work of Jean Royère at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York. The two Parisian galleries reunited again over this important figure in the history of 20th-century furniture and decoration, for the publication of a substantial monograph. A reference work, the book approaches Jean Royère’s work from a new perspective, highlighting a singular, innovative universe whose expression is based on complete creative freedom. This 676-page, bilingual edition is presented in a two-volume box set.
Volume 1 (303 pages): Introduced with prefaces by Jacques Lacoste and Patrick Seguin, the first volume contains three interviews with Lorenz Baümer, Béatrice Salmon and Christian Lacroix, by art historian and journalist Françoise-Claire Prodhon. These are followed by a chapter revisiting the Jean Royère exhibition at New York’s Sonnabend Gallery in 2008. Jean Royère’s work is approached via four major themes inspired by his creations: Vegetal, Animal, Imaginary, and Line and Drawing. Each of these four themes, introduced with a text by Françoise-Claire Prodhon, is richly illustrated with archival and contemporary images.
Volume 2 (373 pages): Opening with a 1963 interview with Jean Royère by Pascal Renous, this second volume contains an important glossary, “Le Répertoire de Jean Royère”, featuring 380 referenced and illustrated pieces, along with their respective variants. Following on from this repertoire, a notebook of drawings and sketches reproduce for the first time 156 original drawings by Jean Royère.
