Paul Follot

Paul Follot Designer and Décorateur, Paris 1877 – Sainte-Maxime 1941 (according to other sources 1942)

Origin and Education:
Paul Frédéric Follot was born on 17 July 1877 in Paris. His father was Félix Follot, proprietor of the wallpaper manufactory Société Charles Follot — Paul Follot thus grew up in an environment familiar with decorative design and artisanal production. He began his training as a sculptor (sculpteur) and subsequently became a student of Eugène Grasset (1845–1917), the Swiss-born graphic artist and decorative designer active in Paris, who is regarded as one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau. Grasset taught at the École Guérin (1890–1903), the École d'Art graphique in the Rue Madame (1903–1904) and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (1904–1913), among other institutions; his students included, besides Follot, Paul Berthon, Maurice Pillard Verneuil and Augusto Giacometti. From Grasset, Follot adopted a predilection for floral wood motifs and carving that would shape his early designs.

Career:
Between 1901 and 1903, Follot worked for the Paris gallery La Maison Moderne, founded by Julius Meier-Graefe, for which he produced designs for jewellery and tapestries. During this period he met Maurice Dufrêne, who was also working for Meier-Graefe — an encounter that decisively influenced Follot's subsequent artistic path. In 1903 Follot participated in the re-establishment of the artists' collective "L'Art dans Tout", which campaigned for the equal standing of applied and fine art and sought to give greater weight to French craftsmanship in the face of industrial — particularly German — competition. In 1904 Follot became self-employed; in the same context he co-founded the "Société des artistes décorateurs" and participated in the Salons of 1908 and 1909, with which he opened new directions for the French decorative arts. In 1907 he married the German painter Elfriede Vendel-Jörgensen. Around this time he established an hôtel particulier at 5, rue Victor-Schœlcher in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, which served simultaneously as residence, studio and exhibition space for his designs — entirely in the spirit of the programme of "L'Art dans Tout". In 1911 he designed ceramics for Wedgwood, textiles for Cornille et Cie and silver objects for Christofle. His dining room ensemble in sycamore, ebony and amaranth, exhibited at the 1912 Salon d'Automne — with openwork chair backs in the form of fruit and flower baskets — is considered one of the earliest examples of the emerging Art Deco and followed the principles that André Vera had formulated in his manifesto "L'Art Décoratif" in January 1912. In 1920 Follot took up a teaching post in applied arts at the school in the Rue Madame. In 1923 he became head of the Atelier Pomone, the interior design workshop of the Paris department store Le Bon Marché, which developed high-quality yet affordable furniture and decorative objects for a bourgeois clientele. For the 1925 World Exhibition he realised several pavilions, including the Pomone Pavilion. From 1928 Follot sat on the board of the English company Waring & Gillow, where he designed furniture and interiors for the "Modern Art" department together with Serge Chermayeff; in the same year he designed the interiors of the Hôtel George V in Paris. In 1930 he was summoned to Siam to furnish four royal palace complexes on behalf of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) — however, the abdication of the monarch prevented the realisation of this large-scale project, of which only plans and drawings survive. After 1931 Follot resumed independent practice. In 1935 he received the commission for a suite on the ocean liner Normandie, which was presented at the Brussels World Exhibition; its opulent style was a deliberate counterpoint to the austerity of the modernist currents that were increasingly challenging Art Deco. For the same liner, and commissioned by Pleyel, he also designed a rosewood piano on a single pedestal base, which was exhibited at the 1937 Paris World Exhibition; he additionally designed the circular carpet model for the desk of the jury presidency of the Union corporative des artisans français (UCFAF), manufactured by the Société Tapis France Orient.

The French Wikipedia provides additional biographical details absent from the English-language literature: according to this source, Follot was born in the 12th arrondissement of Paris; in 1907 he married Elfriede Vendel-Jörgensen, with whom he had two children, Erwin (1908–1957) and Sylvie (1912–1997). His residence and studio building at Rue Victor-Schœlcher, erected in 1914 to his own designs by the architect Pierre Selmersheim, has been used by the Institut Giacometti since 2018. In 1939 Follot retired to the south of France. Regarding the year and place of death, the sources diverge notably. The majority — English Wikipedia, Galerie Marcilhac, Encyclopedia of Design, iDesignWiki — cite 1941 as the year of death without specifying the location. The German auction house Ketterer Kunst (in both its German and English artist biographies) as well as the art portal Art Directory also date Follot's death to 1941, but consistently name Sainte-Maxime (Var, southern France) as the place of death. The French Wikipedia, in turn, contradicts itself on this point: the header data of the article give Paris (14th arrondissement) as the place of death, while the body text states that Follot died in 1942 in "Saint-Maxime". Mr Expert and the Gazette Drouot also cite 1942, with Mr Expert even specifying the exact date of 10 March 1942 in Paris. In sum, several independent sources converge on Sainte-Maxime as the place of death, while the year of death remains inconsistent between 1941 (majority) and 1942 (Mr Expert, Gazette Drouot, French Wikipedia body text). This contradiction cannot be definitively resolved from the available literature and is deliberately left open here rather than smoothed over.

Lighting and Light Objects:
As early as around 1904/1905, Follot designed the lamp model "Foliage" (Laubwerk) for La Maison Moderne: an object made entirely of silvered bronze with openwork leaf and blossom decoration, without a separate glass shade. The model was exhibited in 1904 at the Paris Salon and in 1904 and 1905 at the International Exhibition in St. Louis; it stands approximately 46 cm tall and bears a signature engraved on the base. "Foliage" is thus a self-contained bronze object — not a base-plus-glass-shade model.

The Dedication Lamp "À Jean Faure": At the centre of this portrait stands a signed table lamp by Paul Follot from around 1905, stylistically positioned between Art Nouveau and early Art Deco. This piece is currently offered for sale at www.maxsvintageart.com. The base consists of finely modelled silvered bronze; on the underside are a hand-engraved dedication "À Jean Faure" and a large, stylised monogram "PF". Atop the base sits a glass shade by Loetz (Powolny execution) in orange glass that has since darkened considerably. The lamp treated here consists of a 23 cm tall bronze base with a separately mounted Loetz glass shade (Powolny tulip) and stands 40 cm tall overall.

Designer: Paul Follot (signed, monogram "PF")
Model: Not identical to "Foliage" (which is a continuous 46 cm bronze object without a glass shade); presumably a separate, unnamed Follot model with Loetz glass shade Dedication: Hand-engraved inscription "À Jean Faure" on the underside
Period: c. 1905 Material: Silvered bronze, glass shade presumably Loetz (Powolny)
Dimensions: Overall height 40 cm, base height 23 cm, base diameter 12.5 cm, shade 13 × 12.5 cm
Socket: Original French bayonet fitting

That this is a real, repeatedly executed model — even though it is not "Foliage" — is supported by an independent find: a nearly identical piece — same dimensions (base 23 cm, diameter 12.5 cm, shade 13 × 12.5 cm, overall height 40 cm), same Loetz Powolny tulip in orange, same double signature "Paul Follot" and "Jean Fauré" with hallmark on the base underside — was independently traded via the French vintage platform Selency as "Lampe Art nouveau signée Paul Follot tulipe Loetz" and has since been sold. This correspondence in form, dimensions, glass shade and double signature makes it plausible that this is a small series or at least a repeatedly executed model with this signature combination — regardless of whatever name (if any) it may be catalogued under.