The Start of a Modern Geometrical Vision of Architecture
One of the main motivators of the art deco movement was Cubism. A building that exemplifies this movement was La Maison Cubiste (The Cubist House), or “Projet d'hôtel”. The La Maison Cubiste was designed for the architectural installation of the Art Décoratif section of the 1912 Paris Salon d'Automne. The entire 1912 Paris Salon d’Automne was dedicated to showing a cubist interpretation of architecture and interior design.
The façade of the La Maison Cubiste was created by the sculptor, Raymond Duchamp-Villon. The interior was made up of only two rooms, since it was just show house. The rooms were a living room and bedroom. These room were designed by painter/designer Andre Mare.
For 1912, this project was exceptionally modern and progressive and created before the major upswing of the art deco movement. You can see from the photo that there is still influence from a more classical style with more Roman/Greek inspired columns and even the “sculpture” portion could be considered a pediment like structure. The important factor is the angular lines and geometric shapes used in the façade.
At this time the bourgeois lifestyle was still maintained by the majority of people. Through this project the designers and artist wanted to show how cubism could be incorporated into the bourgeois lifestyle in a comfortable and modern way.
A more traditional approach was taken to the living room and bedroom. Andre Mare believed it would be enough to have a simplified style of bourgeois style with just hanging cubism art. Even in 1912 just displaying the cubism art in a bourgeois home was seen as radical. It is steps as small as this that progress the interior design industry towards art deco.
The reason for creating a cubist inspired home was to try to redefine the definition of how architecture should influence society. A book was written at the same time of the construction of La Maison Cubiste titled “Du Cubisme”. It explains that cubism should not be tied to a specific location or idea. The creation should be independent and should not “immediately satisfy the mind”, Cubism should inspire the imagination within people’s mind. The way in which this movement is so essential to design history is that it sparks the general idea that design can provoke people to be more conceptual about design. This way we can look towards the future and not be fixated on the overdone traditions of the past.
