The French Union of Modern Artists (french: Union des artistes modernes; UAM) was a movement made up of decorative artists and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s founded in France on 15 May 1929 and active until 1959. Initially made up of around 20 dissidents of the Société des Artistes-Décorateurs (SAD) and led by

Robert Mallet-Stevens Robert Mallet-Stevens (March 24, 1886 – February 8, 1945) was an influential French architect and designer. Early life Mallet-Stevens was born in Paris in a house called Maison-Laffitte (designed by François Mansart in the 17th century). H ...

, the UAM offered a strong and militant alternative to the SAD. Motivated towards making a clean break from the past and struggling against objects ''in style'', artists of the union proclaimed 'We must rise up against everything that ''looks rich'', against whatever is ''well made'', and against ''anything inherited from grandmother''...impose will where habit is not invoked...overcome the habit of the eyes'. Young makers of

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

joined the union with aims to create works of art in their field through the use of less expensive materials, making it more accessible than the current trend of expensive ''bijoux blancs''. UAM members participated annually in the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...

with an exhibit created by 'The Group', and emphasized design over decoration. Interiors were designed to function with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

, steel and

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and furniture made of metallic structures was arranged within, without additional decoration. Their message was amplified through various shows and manifesto's (its first in 1934 'For Modern Art as a Frame for

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

Life') and activity peaked at the 1937

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

where

Francis Jourdain Francis Jourdain (2 November 1876 – 31 December 1958) was a painter, furniture maker, interior designer, maker of ceramics, and other decorative arts, and a left-wing political activist. Early years Francis Jourdain was born on 2 November 18 ...

's rationalist work was displayed in his interior design for A Workers Home;

Marcel Gascoin Marcel Gascoin (24 August 1907 – 29 October 1986) was a designer who specialized in modular storage units and sets of matching furniture. He played a major role in the emergence of French design after World War II (1939–45). Several of Gascoin ...

's storage and organization capabilities were displayed in his library exhibit;

Charlotte Perriand Charlotte Perriand (24 October 1903 – 27 October 1999) was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. In her article "L'Art de Vivre" f ...

exhibited folding chairs with steel tubing; and

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring m ...

introduced one of the first chairs constructed with the new material -

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...

. Members included as 'Actifs' on the 'catalogue de la première exposition de l'UAM, 1930 (catalogue of the first exhibition, 1930)': * Charlotte Alix (1897–1987) * Pierre Barbe *

Louis Barillet Louis Barillet (1880 – 1948) was a French artist, known for his work in stained glass. Among those with whom he collaborated were Théodore-Gérard Hanssen and Jacques Le Chevallier. His windows may be seen in the church of Notre-Dame-des-M ...

(1880–1948) *

Georges Bastard Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

(1881–1939) *

Jean Burkhalter Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

(1895–1982) *

Jean Carlu Jean Carlu ( Bonnières-sur-Seine, France, 1900–1997) was a French graphic designer who specialised in posters. He was a member of a family of architects; his brother Jacques Carlu for example designed the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. He made pos ...

(1900–1989) * Paul Colin (1892–1985) * Etienne Cournault (1891–1948) *

Joseph Csaky Joseph Csaky (also written Josef Csàky, Csáky József, József Csáky and Joseph Alexandre Czaky) (18 March 1888 – 1 May 1971) was a Hungarian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic arts, graphic artist, best known for his early partici ...

(1888–1971) *

Sonia Delauney Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

(1885–1979) *

Jean Dourgnon Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

(1901–1985) * Jean Fouquet (1899-1984) *

Eileen Gray Eileen Gray (born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; 9 August 187831 October 1976) was an Irish architect and furniture designer who became a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture. Over her career, she was associated with many notable Euro ...

(1879–1976) * Hélène Henry (1891–1965) *

René Herbst René Herbst (March 18 , 1891 – September 29 , 1982, in Paris) was a French furniture designer This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design. A * Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) * Eero Aarnio (born 1932) * Robert ...

(1891–1982) * Lucie Holt-Le-Son (1899-???) *

(1876–1958) * Robert Lallemant (1902–1954) * Jacques Le Chevallier (1896–1987) *

(1886–1945) * Pablo Manes (1891–1962) * Jan & Joel Martel (1896–1966) *

Gustave Miklos Gustave Miklos, also written Gusztáv Miklós and Miklós Gusztáv (30 June 1888, in Budapest – 5 March 1967, in Oyonnax) was a sculptor, painter, illustrator and designer of Hungarian origin. An influential sculptor involved with Cubism and e ...

(1888–1967) * Jean Charles Moreux (1885–1956) *

(1903–1999) *

(1901–1984) * Jean Puiforcat (1897–1945) * André Salomon (1891–1970) * Gérard Sandoz (1914–1988) * Louis Sognot (1892–1969) * Raymond Templier (1891–1968) * ''Œvres'' de Pierre Legrain (1889–1929) Other members include: * Rose Adler (1892–1969) * Francis Bernard * André Bloc (1896–1966) * A.-M. Cassandre (1901–1968) *

Philippe Charbonneaux Philippe Charbonneaux (18 February 1917 – 4 June 1998) was a French industrial designer, best known for automobile and truck design, but also known for other products such as television sets. Many of his works are now exhibited in places s ...

(1917) *

Pierre Chareau Pierre Chareau (4 August 1883 – 24 August 1950) was a French architect and designer. Early life Chareau was born in Bordeaux, France. He went to the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris by the time he was 17. Work Chareau d ...

(1883–1950) *

(1907–1986) * Adrienne Gorska (1899–1969) *

Pierre Guariche Pierre Guariche (1926–1995) was a French designer, interior decorator and architect. He is perhaps best known for the residential lights that he designed for Pierre Disderot in the 1950s, but he was also an innovative furniture designer and arc ...

(1926–1995) * Gabriel Guevrekian *

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

(Le Corbusier) (1887–1965) *

Pierre Jeanneret Pierre Jeanneret (22 March 1896 – 4 December 1967) was a Swiss architect who collaborated with his cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier), for about twenty years. Early life Arnold-André-Pierre Jea ...

(1896–1967) * Frantz-Philippe Jourdain * Jean Lambert-Rucki * Claude Lemeunier * Charles Loupot *

André Lurçat André Lurçat (August 27, 1894 – July 11, 1970) was a French modernist architect, landscape architect, furniture designer, city planner, and founding member of CIAM. He was active in the rebuilding in French cities after World War II. He was th ...

, * Mathieu Matégot (1910–2001) * Charles Peignot * Georges-Henri Pingusson (1894–1978), * Claude Prouvé (1929) * Robert Le Ricolais (1894–1977) *

Carlo Rim Carlo Rim (19 December 1902 – 3 December 1989) was a French film screenwriter, producer and director. Born Jean Marius Richard, he made an anagram of his initials (RJM - treating I and J as the same letter) for his pseudonym, adding "Carlo" a p ...

(1905–1989) * André Salmon *

Roger Tallon Roger Tallon (6 March 1929 – 20 October 2011) was a French industrial designer. Biography After studying as an engineer (1944–1950), Tallon was employed by Caterpillar France and DuPont. In 1953, he joined Technès, the technical ...

(1929) *

Maximilien Vox Maximilien Vox (real name: Samuel William Théodore Monod) was a French writer, cartoonist, illustrator, publisher, journalist, critic art theorist and historian of the French letter and typography. He was born on 16 December 1894 in Condé-sur-N ...

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Union of Modern Artists Interior design Arts organizations based in France Arts organizations established in 1929 Organizations disestablished in 1959 1929 establishments in France 1959 disestablishments in France