The Estate of Unclassifiable French Designer André Dubreuil

In April 2022, the press and the art world unanimously celebrated the genius of André Dubreuil, who died the year he turned 71. A genius of recycling, the "poet of iron" (to quote the title of Jean-Louis Gaillemin’s book devoted to Dubreuil) pursued his path on the fringe of trends, even going against them, turning resolutely to form and aesthetics in a decade steeped in functionalism. In London, where he went into "exile" at a very young age, he began to revisit the decorative arts, drawing on his mastery of French furniture vocabulary. On his return to France, in 1992 he moved into a barn in Mareuil, a region that reflects his identity, where the heritage of the Périgord meets the most contemporary forces. There he passed on his often unique technical know-how in workshops that brought him to the attention of Karl Lagerfeld and French billionaire and collector Bernard Arnault. The contents of this restored building, including not only Dubreuil's creations but also pieces from the world he shaped, will be sold over two days. The house has also been put up for sale, but the workshop is still active, run by the craftsmen he trained, who work with Dubreuil’s friend, the gallery owner Gladys Mougin.

In the Footsteps of the Great Cabinetmakers
Going against the current of the then-all-conquering minimalism, André Dubreuil’s furniture was defined as the antithesis of functionalism. Function was of little interest to the designer who was once an antique dealer. According to his tenets, furniture should be enigmatic, or its use should not be immediately obvious, at least. An avid reader of Philippe Julian (1919-1977), who came up with the phrase "ambiguous furniture" and wrote a book of the same title in 1947, Dubreuil cherished furniture that told a family story and had hidden secrets—in short, with a distinct ambiguity. He happily poked fun at the great archetypes of Western furniture by reappropriating commodes and cabinets, among other items. His half-moon cabinet (€25,000/30,000, see photo) with its imposing façade in engraved copper enameled in green and orangey ochre, contrasts a dreamy aspect with a solid knowledge of the classical language. Dubreuil refused to yield to the simplicity of refinement. He rejected the adage of his followers in London, Tom Dixon and Mark Brazier-Jones, who said "it was complicated to make things easy, but easy to make them complicated." He then set out to prove that you can aim for the minimal without neglecting the complexity of movement—and his iconic piece, the Spine Chair (1986), came into being. This chair, illustrates the spirit of the time and Dubreuil's fondness for materials and forms. It can be found in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. For these graphic demonstrations—which he produced in several variations—he adopted a mannerist syntax, especially in his earliest pieces. In 1985, his tubular steel armchair with an orange leather seat, Araignée 2 (Spider 2: €3,000/5,000), illustrated his work with iron, developed from "curves that generate each other" (Dubreuil, quoted by Jean-Louis Gaillemin). This dynamic gesture engaging the body is that of the craftsman held in high regard by the creator. It is also that of Boulle and Riesener, through an ornamental tradition that can be seen in Paris (€8,000/12,000 for the pair, see photo), a fire-spotted steel chair produced in an edition of 20 for his first solo exhibition in 1988: "The burning of the welding machine was intended to enliven the volumes created by the assembly of sheet metal [...]; using an industrial technique to achieve cabinetmaking processes like the impressive flamed mahogany or burl veneering of the early 19th century."  (André Dubreuil, poète du fer).

The World of a Dreamer
When in 2015 he opened up his barn, which was converted into a studio and house, to AD Magazine Dubreuil posed with his dog Tahor on a magnificent emerald velvet chesterfield by Jacques Granges. In the background, we see evidence of his love for the traditional global arts. In the photo, two ceremonial paddles from Madagascar, one surmounted with a stylized buffalo, the other with two guinea fowl (€200/300 for both) illustrate his affinity with the mystical and the sacred. For Jean-Louis Gaillemin, his work lies "between the mysterious and the liturgical", a ceremonial at work in an esoteric 2001 piece full of symbols: Porte de l’Inde (Gate of India: €15,000/20,000, see photo). This immense work is over two meters high, with a video screen hidden in a block of rock crystal placed in the center, "surmounted by the owl Minerva embracing the snake of vitality", whose "stone egg rolled in the Indian sea is a guarantee of happiness" (to quote Jean-Louis Gaillemin again), is a mysterious objet d’art that undoubtedly best encapsulates Dubreuil's philosophy and spirituality. It responds to another very disparate artifact, but one with a clearly identifiable function: a steel lamp (€10,000/15,000) with a Chinese jade circle, which resembles a kind of altar for private devotion. We also find coral, another favorite material of the artist, who lauded its ambiguity and the magical aspect of the plant that turns into a mineral: "We flirt with the liturgical, but we do not know exactly what it is. The mystery must remain," says Gaillemain.
 

The same fervor permeated Dubreuil’s love of the arts of Asia and especially China, whose history and gastronomy he admired. In several creations, he mingled his mastery of steel with Coromandel lacquer plaques. The ones measuring 139 x 54 cm/54.7 x 21.3 in enclosed in a set of seven frames, decorated with birds and phantasmagorical flora (€2,500/3,500), are truly remarkable: a finely orchestrated chaos reminiscent of his interior. In the middle of his living room overlooking the countryside stood a table with a varnished copper turntable on an oxidized steel base (€10,000/15,000, see photo). The marks in the middle of the table recalled a centerpiece the designer made from an old iron seed tray, evoking the shapes of a pagoda and used to contain corals and African statues—an object midway between recycling and subversion. But his poetic gestures were sometimes content with very little. Dubreuil took a polychrome terracotta sculpture of a bearded man in a turban and added a gilt metal crescent moon and a patinated steel frame (€100/150): a votive offering in which dreams and mystery seal this pact opposing the functional.