63 - CHARLOTTE PERRIAND (1903–1999)

CHARLOTTE PERRIAND (1903–1999) Bookcase, “Nuage” model, designed circa 1958. Sipo wood frame with vertical shelves made of folded, black-lacquered aluminum sheet. H. 70 - W. 280 - D. 33.5 cm (Scratches, scuffs, oxidation, chips in the lacquer, and traces of rust) Provenance: Model created for the Miferma company buildings, Cité d’Idjil, Cansado, Mauritania. Bibliography: - Jacques Barsac, “Charlotte Perriand, The Complete Works, Vol. 3: 1956–1968,” Éditions Norma, Paris, 2017, a variation of the model reproduced on pp. 33 and 117. - “Living with Charlotte Perriand,” exhibition catalog, Laffanour-GalerieDowntown, Paris, September 26–November 2, 2019, a variation of the model reproduced on p. 354. Description: Designed by Charlotte Perriand beginning in 1952, the Nuage bookcase is part of her exploration of modularity and the freedom to arrange interior spaces. Inspired in particular by the principles of spatial organization she discovered during her stays in Japan, it is based on an ingenious system of horizontal shelves supported by metal brackets, allowing for a multitude of configurations. In the late 1950s, Charlotte Perriand developed this principle for a major commission from Miferma (Mauritanian Iron Mines) to furnish the Cansado mining town. As part of this extensive architectural and furniture program, she designed furnishings tailored to the town’s new housing units and living spaces. The Nuage bookcase thus took on specific variations there, notably combining sipo wood with aluminum or lacquered sheet steel. This commission demonstrates Charlotte Perriand’s ability to apply her formal and structural research to the scale of a comprehensive development project, in which furniture plays a full and integral role in the design of the living environment.