Edgar Brandt & Daum

EDGAR BRANDT (France, 1880-1960) & DAUM, France.
Table lamp, ca. 1930.
Wrought iron.
Daum glass shade.
Measurements: 53 x 28 x 28 cm.

Table lamp with wrought iron shaft. Of organic character, vegetal growths based on scrolls and leaf litter run along the body from the base, altering with eggs, so that the structure is pierced with tracery. Following the materials that characterized the prolific Edgar Brandt, the pyramidal lampshade has been made of glass manufacture Daum.

A French forger, Edgar Brandt was one of the most important iron craftsmen of the French Art Deco period, making an international leap and extending his fame worldwide. He made trellises and lamps for numerous private homes and hotels; he also received public commissions, such as the monument to the First World War. Brandt exhibited at the annual Salons, where he presented a wide variety of non-architectural metal objects, including grilles, radiator covers, lamps or consoles. The 1925 Exposition provided Brandt with numerous opportunities to showcase his work, starting with the imposing entrance to the Exposition, the Gate of Honor. He always had a great facility for combining materials: generally wrought iron and bronze, but also gilded copper and, later, steel, aluminum or the alloy "Studal" Raymond Subes was a follower of his.

The Daum manufacture was founded at the end of the 19th century by Augustin Daum (1853-1909), from a small family glassworks in Nancy. He would be joined by his brother Antonin (1864-1931), and Daum's workshops would soon after become a meeting and training place for many young artists, who promoted the Art Nouveau style in Nancy. At first they made ordinary glass, but in 1891 they decided to open a decorative workshop and undertake artistic production, probably as a result of the success of Émile Gallé (1846-1904) at the 1889 Exhibition. Eventually, Daum will have a factory with more than three hundred employees and an artistic production of great variety. During World War I, the factory closed, but resumed production after the war, adapting to the change of aesthetics and leaving behind the modernism of its first period. During the Art Nouveau period, most of Daum's pieces were made of acid-etched cameo glass, but with the new Art Deco style, new techniques and decorative styles were investigated.