at
FRENCH PAINTER AND DECORATOR (1902 - 1987)
DISTINGUISHED AT AN EARLY AGE FOR THE QUALITY
OF HIS ENGRAVINGS.
Her debut
HER BIOGRAPHY
Paule Marrot was born in Bordeaux in 1902 into a close-knit, bohemian family that moved to Paris, quai de Jemmapes, five years later. After the First World War, she enrolled at the Arts Décoratifs where she discovered wood engraving. Her tastes ranged from music to variety dancing, but it was painting that held a privileged place in her education with the painter André Silvestre who trained her.
At the age of 17, she left school to devote herself to wood and linoleum engraving. She was accepted as a student in a Compagnonnage directed by Maurice Denis and Georges Desvallières, l’Art Sacré, where she became an engraving teacher. In 1924 she married Paul Angelloz who also accompanied her in her professional life.
Paule Marrot exhibited in 1925 at the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs. In 1926, with the collaboration of Berthe Maspous, she began to print her sketches on the floor of her dining room. She opened her first store in 1929. In 1932, she exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs where she found her public. In 1933, she begins her collaboration with Jean Schlumberger, director of the Etablissements Steiner in Ribeauvillé. In 1935, André Arbus called upon her for the luxurious Normandie liner. She opened her second store on rue de l’Arcade in 1936. She spent the Second World War in the Yvelines, then in Bordeaux and Mouans-Sartoux without ever stopping working despite the material difficulties. In 1944, she bought a studio in Montmartre where Paule Marrot often worked between her stays in Ribeauvillé. 1952: Legion of Honor. From 1953 to 1965, she collaborates with the Renault company. She worked on the color of the bodywork and on the interior decoration of the cars. For her,” explains an article of the time, “the car must be integrated by the colors to the nature in the middle of which it is called to circulate. When Jean Schlumberger died in 1963, she turned to other printers without abandoning Ribeauvillé. In 1973, Paule Marrot exhibited at the Musée de l’Impression sur Etoffes in Mulhouse, then in 1975, the Swedish firm Artek showed her creations after 1959. In 1975, Paule Marrot was sold to the Société des nouveaux établissements Charles Steiner. Paule Marrot created a few more models and passed away in 1987.
Her exhibition
"The joyful abode
PAVILLON DE MARSAN
NOVEMBER 1953 - FEBRUARY 1954
The theme of Paule Marrot’s exhibition, “La demeure joyeuse” (The joyful dwelling), accurately defines the contribution of an artist who combines a very sure technique as a draughtsman, painter and engraver, a poetic sense of nature and a realistic knowledge of her craft: in her work, fantasy and reason go hand in hand.
Paule Marrot has revitalized the art of printed fabric – percale, cotton and linen – as it had its great eras in France.
Paule Marrot fostered a culture of creative art freedom full of vibrant color.
SHE IS CONSIDERED AS THE POPESS OF HOME DECORATION.
Parisian by adoption, she has the tastes and experience of the land. His domain is the woods, the meadows, the vegetable gardens, the gardens with all their flowers whose colors, species and habits are familiar to him.
Because she loves nature, she hasn’t tried, or dared, to stylize it: roses, jasmine, poppies, primroses and carnations bloom along her fabrics, attracting birds and butterflies. Its sheaves, garlands, bushes, fields of wheat and foliage are a reflection of nature, like bouquets of fresh flowers, matching every aspect of a city or village home, with antique or modern furnishings.
But Paule Marrot’s art is not limited to this friendly fidelity: as a painter she harmonizes tonalities, as a builder she repeats, alternates rhythms and values.
We’d like to think that Paule Marrot, accustomed to architecturally designing the interior of the home, devoted herself to floral fabric because she was convinced in advance of its aesthetic and expressive necessity, and of the role it was destined to play in our homes.
Because she loves nature, she hasn’t tried, or dared, to stylize it: roses, jasmine, poppies, primroses and carnations bloom along her fabrics, attracting birds and butterflies. Its sheaves, garlands, bushes, fields of wheat and foliage are a reflection of nature, like bouquets of fresh flowers, matching every aspect of a city or village home, with antique or modern furnishings.
But Paule Marrot’s art is not limited to this friendly fidelity: as a painter she harmonizes tonalities, as a builder she repeats, alternates rhythms and values.
We’d like to think that Paule Marrot, accustomed to architecturally designing the interior of the home, devoted herself to floral fabric because she was convinced in advance of its aesthetic and expressive necessity, and of the role it was destined to play in our homes.
"For half a century, Paule Marrot has transformed the modest printed cotton fabric into a complete work of art, a major element of contemporary decoration.
