Villa Noailles () is an early modernist house, built by architect

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 ...

for art patrons Charles and

Marie-Laure de Noailles Marie-Laure Henriette Anne de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles (; née Bischoffsheim; 31 October 1902 – 29 January 1970) was a French artist, regarded one of the 20th century's most daring and influential patrons of the arts, noted for her asso ...

, between 1923 and 1927. It is located in the hills above

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered arou ...

, in the

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

, southeastern France.

History

Charles de Noailles was born in 1891, his wife Marie-Laure in 1902. They were married in 1923. Before their marriage, they became friends of artist-filmmaker

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

, and Noailles commissioned a portrait of his wife by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

in 1923. In 1923, they signed a contract with the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens to build a summer villa in the hills above the city of Hyères. Construction took three years, and eventually also included a triangular Cubist garden designed by Gabriel Guevrekian. The main artists noticed at the

Salon des artistes décorateurs Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

of 1924 for their integrated furniture were commissioned. The decoration included furniture bought or made specially for the villa, by Mallet-Stevens himself with his armchair « Transat » created for the swimming pool, by Djo-Bourgeois,

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 ...

, Pierre Legrain,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Dominique (Marie André Domin),

Sybold van Ravesteyn Sybold van Ravesteyn (born Sijbold van Ravesteijn, 18 February 1889, Rotterdam — 23 November 1983, Laren) was a Dutch architect. He designed many train stations, many now demolished, a zoo, public buildings such as theatres, as well as residen ...

and

Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (, 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch artist, who practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He was married to artist, pianist and choreographer Nell ...

from

De Stijl ''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body ...

, the

Wassily Chair The Wassily Chair, also known as the Model B3 chair, was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925–1926 while he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. Despite popular belief, the chair was not designed spec ...

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most i ...

, or from the brands Smith & Co and Ronéo, as well as textiles by

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

and

Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...

, luminaires by Jean Perzel, ironworks by Claudius Linossier, stained glass by

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 ...

and pieces of art : sculptures by Jean and Joël Martel,

Henri Laurens Henri Laurens (February 18, 1885 – May 5, 1954) was a French sculptor and illustrator. Early life and education Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor. From 1899 to 1902, he attended drawing class ...

, Constantin Brâncuși, Alberto Giacometti,

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of ...

, paintings by Mondrian or Braque, etc. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the couple were important patrons of modern art, particularly surrealism; they supported film projects by

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to eac ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

, and

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

; and commissioned paintings, photographs and sculptures by Balthus,

Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo, ...

, Constantin Brâncuși, Miró, and

Dora Maar Henriette Theodora Markovitch (22 November 1907 – 16 July 1997), known as Dora Maar, was a French photographer, painter, and poet. A romantic partner of Pablo Picasso, Maar was depicted in a number of Picasso's paintings, including his ''Portr ...

. Villa Noailles features prominently in Man Ray's film '' Les Mystères du Château de Dé''. In 1940 the villa was occupied by the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

and turned into a hospital. From 1947 until 1970, the villa was the summer residence of Marie-Laure. She died in 1970, and the house was purchased by the city of Hyères in 1973. Charles de Noailles died in 1981. The villa is now used as an arts center and for special exhibits. James Lord was a guest there in the mid-fifties. In his book ''Picasso and Dora: a memoir'' he writes: "...an undistinguished cubist extravaganza of reinforced concrete set atop a high hill, within the ancient walls of a Saracen fortress. It had been designed in the late twenties by a fashionable architect named Mallet-Stevens, contained something like fifty rooms and was surrounded by a large garden." He recalls the room, where Marie-Laure tried to seduce him: "...a large salon at Saint-Bernard which had no windows but was lighted from above by a bizarre cubist skylight which occupied almost all the ceiling, adding to the sense of existing outside time in a stranded ocean liner." The beauty of the location did not help, however, the "redoutable viscountess" in conquering his

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...

References

External links

*
VillaNoailles - the site of Villa Noailles

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Var (department) Gardens in Var (department) Modernist architecture in France Noailles Houses completed in 1927 Arts centres in France Tourist attractions in Var (department) Robert Mallet-Stevens 20th-century architecture in France

History

References

Further reading

External links