Gustave Serrurier-Bovy (1858–1910) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

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 ...

and

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

designer. He is credited (along with

Paul Hankar Paul Hankar (11 December 1859 – 17 January 1901) was a Belgian architect and furniture designer, and an innovator in the Art Nouveau style. Career Hankar was born at Frameries, in Hainaut, Belgium, the son of a stonemason. He studied at th ...

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 ...

and

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.' ...

) with creating the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style, coined as a style in Paris by

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

Siegfried Bing Samuel Siegfried Bing (26 February 1838 – 6 September 1905), who usually gave his name as S. Bing (not to be confused with his brother, Samuel Otto Bing, 1850–1905), was a German-French art dealer who lived in Paris as an adult, and who ...

Artistic career

Serrurier-Bovy was born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

. In 1884 he visited

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he became interested in the Arts and Crafts movement. He returned to Belgium and put several of the new movement's concepts into practice into his creations, which he sold at his store in

. He also designed his own villa, "L'Aube," situated in the Parc de Cointe, in Liège, and produced work for the

Brussels International (1897) The Brussels International Exposition (french: Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles, nl, Wereldtentoonstelling te Brussel) of 1897 was a world's fair held in Brussels, Belgium, from 10 May 1897 through 8 November 1897. There were 27 partici ...

. He died in

. Serrurier-Bovy became known for his line of simple, refined furniture. Several pieces of his furniture are on display in the Art Nouveau section at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, along with those of his fellow Belgian Art Nouveau architects.

Analysis of his work

The work of Gustave Serrurier-Bovy exhibits strong influence of the English Arts and Crafts style, especially the rustic nature of that style. During his stay in England, Serrurier-Bovy became fascinated with the work of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

. The resulting designs followed the English model, but differed in its more extensive use of asymmetry, which had been a growing aspect of English furniture since the work of

Edward William Godwin Edward William Godwin (26 May 1833, Bristol – 6 October 1886, London) was a progressive English architect-designer, who began his career working in the strongly polychromatic " Ruskinian Gothic" style of mid-Victorian Britain, inspired by ...

had become popular. He often used asymmetry to advantage, for example combining several pieces of furniture into one unit, such as an open bookcase over a slant-front desk mounted on a

chest of drawers A chest of drawers, also called (especially in North American English) a dresser or a bureau, is a type of cabinet (a piece of furniture) that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers generally stacked one above another. In American English a ...

flanked on one side by a low cupboard. Serrurier-Bovy also employed slightly arched trusses in his architectural designs.''Art Nouveau in Belgium''
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References

Belgian architects Art Nouveau architects Art Nouveau designers 1858 births 1910 deaths Walloon people People from Liège Belgian furniture designers {{Belgium-architect-stub