Not currently on display at the V&A

Plaque

ca.1897 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier was a pivotal figure in the movement to unite the fine and decorative arts in France at the end of the 19th century. A versatile, largely self-taught artist, Charpentier was a medalist, sculptor, and designer. Born in 1856 in a working class neighborhood in Paris, he was apprenticed to a decorative engraver at the age of twelve. In the 1870s he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts under the renowned medalist Hubert Ponscarme. Charpentier worked almost exclusively in low relief. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879 and regularly showed his work at such well-established venues, but he also participated in avant-garde artists’ circles in Brussels, Vienna, and Paris. He experimented with innovative formats, styles, and subjects in a wide range of materials, including the common bronze, silver, terracotta and plaster, and the more unusual alloys, pressed paper, and pâte de verre. Charpentier excelled at all aspects of decoration including furniture, interior design, metal designs, ceramics and leather objects. He had a feel for volume, a baroque sentiment and a vivid imagination that made him one of the best representations of the Art Nouveau style in Paris. He designed numerous interiors, notably for Adrien Bénard president of the Société du Métropolitain, the same man who commissioned Hector Guimard to create the famous Métro entrances. Charpentier also collaborated on a billiard room for the Baron Vitta with Bracquemond and Jules Chéret.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Bronze, cast
Brief description
Bronze plaque, ca. 1897, France, Alexandre Charpentier
Physical description
Rectangular plaque for the front of a lock. The head and shoulders of a boy painting in relief. The edge is moulded.
Dimensions
  • Height: 8.2cm
  • Width: 15.1cm
  • Depth: 0.9cm
Object history
Art Nouveau Exhibition RF.2003/220
Summary
Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier was a pivotal figure in the movement to unite the fine and decorative arts in France at the end of the 19th century. A versatile, largely self-taught artist, Charpentier was a medalist, sculptor, and designer. Born in 1856 in a working class neighborhood in Paris, he was apprenticed to a decorative engraver at the age of twelve. In the 1870s he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts under the renowned medalist Hubert Ponscarme. Charpentier worked almost exclusively in low relief. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879 and regularly showed his work at such well-established venues, but he also participated in avant-garde artists’ circles in Brussels, Vienna, and Paris. He experimented with innovative formats, styles, and subjects in a wide range of materials, including the common bronze, silver, terracotta and plaster, and the more unusual alloys, pressed paper, and pâte de verre. Charpentier excelled at all aspects of decoration including furniture, interior design, metal designs, ceramics and leather objects. He had a feel for volume, a baroque sentiment and a vivid imagination that made him one of the best representations of the Art Nouveau style in Paris. He designed numerous interiors, notably for Adrien Bénard president of the Société du Métropolitain, the same man who commissioned Hector Guimard to create the famous Métro entrances. Charpentier also collaborated on a billiard room for the Baron Vitta with Bracquemond and Jules Chéret.
Collection
Accession number
327-1901

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Record createdNovember 30, 2004
Record URL
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