Joseph Paul Anthony Selmersheim, known as Tony Selmersheim (2 June 1871 – 16 August 1971) was a French architect and decorator.
Life
Joseph Paul Anthony Selmersheim was born on 2 June 1871 in
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
, Yvelines.
His parents were
Antoine Paul Selmersheim, an architect, and Madeleine (or Marie) Victorine Louise Eugénie Naples.
His brother was Pierre Selmersheim.
He became an architect, and worked with
Charles Plumet
Charles Plumet (17 May 1861 – 15 April 1928) was a French architect, decorator and ceramist.
Life
Charles Plumet was born in 1861. He became an architect and designed buildings in medieval and early French Renaissance styles.
He collaborated wi ...
.
Selmersheim worked at ''La Maison Moderne'' of
Julius Meier-Graefe
, ro, Reșița), Resicabánya Dist., Krassó-Szörény Co, Bánság, Royal Hungary, Imperial and Royal Austria(now Romania)
, death_date =
, death_place = Vevey, VD, Switzerland
, nationality = German, Hungarian Ge ...
, whose showrooms displayed rooms decorated in
Art Nouveau style, with designers such as
Henry van de Velde
Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium ...
,
Victor Horta
Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often ...
, Charles Plumet and
Maurice Dufrêne.
By the start of the 20th century the partnership of Selmersheim and Plumet had become the leading Art Nouveau company in Paris.
They tried to combine British and Belgian design innovations with French taste. The results could be graceful.
However, the buildings they made were not particularly innovative apart from the addition of curvilinear ornamentation, which was unusual at the time.
Frantz Jourdain
Frantz Jourdain (3 October 1847 – 22 August 1935) was a Belgian architect and author. He is best known for La Samaritaine, an Art Nouveau department store built in the 1st arrondissement of Paris in three stages between 1904 and 1928. He was re ...
wrote a positive article on Selmersheim in 1904. He noted that Selmersheim felt an architect should also be a designer.
He discussed a complete room that Selmersheim had designed, including the structure, decoration and furniture, which succeeded by relieving the inhabitant of the need to concern himself with making his home habitable.
Gustave Soulier considered Plumet and Selmersheim were truly innovative in their furniture designs, which combined workmanship, elegance and functionality.
Selmersheim became a member of
L'Art dans Tout, a group of decorative artists.
Tony Selmersheim died on 16 August 1971 in
Ussy-sur-Marne
Ussy-sur-Marne (, literally ''Ussy on Marne'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
Demographics
Inhabitants of Ussy-sur-Marne are called ''Ussois''.
Notable people
* André the Gi ...
, Seine-et-Marne.
Publications
*
File:Oil lamp Tony Selmersheim.jpg, Oil lamp (left) by Tony Selmersheim beside vase by Maurice Dufrêne
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Selmersheim, Joseph Paul Anthony
1871 births
1971 deaths
People from Saint-Germain-en-Laye
20th-century French architects
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
French centenarians
Men centenarians