Art & Statues
Jean Puiforcat by Françoise de Bonneville
Jean Puiforcat by Françoise de Bonneville
Published in 1986 by Editions du Regard, this 339-page monograph is a comprehensive study of Jean Elysée Puiforcat, widely regarded as the most important French Art Deco silversmith. Written by Françoise de Bonneville with bilingual French and English text, the book traces Puiforcat's life from his World War I service through his apprenticeship as a silversmith and designer and his subsequent career in Paris. Illustrated throughout in color and black and white, it documents his distinctive silver work, built on smooth geometric forms and often accented with ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli, rosewood, and gilding. The cover reflects that geometric sensibility directly, showing a striking silver form built from interlocking triangular and curved shapes. This monograph remains the standard English-language reference on Puiforcat's career and design output.
De Bonneville's text follows Puiforcat from his early training through the development of his signature style, one built on pure geometric volumes rather than the more ornamental approaches common among his contemporaries. His work for the table, including tea services, tureens, and centerpieces, along with trophies, sculpture, and religious objects, is documented extensively, showing how his forms grew increasingly abstract and architectural over the course of his career. The book also covers his move from Paris to Saint-Jean-de-Luz around 1927 and his brief period working in Havana between 1928 and 1930.
Jean Puiforcat trained as a sculptor before turning to silversmithing, and that background shaped the sculptural, almost minimalist quality that distinguished his work from more traditionally ornamented Art Deco silver. His pieces remain among the most sought-after examples of French decorative metalwork from the period, prized for the precision of their geometry and the quality of their materials.
This monograph is essential reading for collectors of French Art Deco silver, and its bilingual text and extensive illustration make it accessible to English-speaking readers researching a designer whose work is otherwise documented primarily in French sources. It remains the definitive study of Puiforcat's career.
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