Mathieu MATEGOT (1910-2001) - Lot 94

Mathieu MATEGOT (1910-2001) Rare pair of large Osaka armchairs in suspended black leather forming the seat and backrest on a tubular white-lacquered metal frame. H. 68 cm. - L. : 70 cm. - D. : 104 cm. Ateliers Mathieu Matégot, circa 1955 (Tear on one seat, paint chips and oxidation) Provenance : - La Cave aux disques - 24 place Saint André des Arts - 75006 Paris. Bibliography : - Patrick Favardin, Les décorateurs des années 50, Norma, 2002, similar model reproduced on p. 40. - Philippe Jousse & Caroline Mondineau, Mathieu Matégot, Jousse Entreprise, 2003, similar model reproduced on p. 53. - Patrick Favardin, Mathieu Matégot, Norma, 2014, similar model reproduced on p. 95. Note: "Designed in 1954, a particularly fertile year in the designer's career, the Osaka armchair is made of lacquered metal upholstered in thick black or orange leather. Its rarity suggests that this model was handcrafted in small series, or made to order individually. Simple in appearance, this seat demonstrates a sensitive and well-managed economy of means: it consists of a curved tubular steel structure onto which thick leather with wide topstitching follows the shape of the body. Matégot also took care to join the two front legs with an arched brace to reinforce the seat. Curious to experiment with different materials, Matégot offers here a new way of flexible upholstery, an alternative to the armchair generally conceived as a rigid structure. The Osaka armchair was also made in rattan: like its leather version, the seat's scale is given by its envelope, not by its construction with its simple lines." P. Jousse