Madeleine Castaing, Coffee table in veneered mahogany, 1950’s

Madeleine Castaing, in the style of.

Veneered mahogany coffee table standing on six feet, each composed by four small bamboo imitation ringed columns. They’re linked together by  two square stretchers with concaves edges. Moulded rectangular tray with canted corners, top in black lacquer in the Chinese style decorated with flowers, foliage and butterflies, surrounded by a frieze of geometrical motifs.

Work realized in the 1950’s.

Madeleine Castaing (1894-1992) was a French decorator and antique dealer known for being a sponsor for many artists of her time. In 1915, she married the art critic Marcellin Castaing, with whom she developed a passion for art and literature. The couple knew many artists of the period such as Erik Satie, Pablo Picasso, Blaise Cendrars, André Derain, Jean Cocteau and Amedeo Modigliani.At the death of this one, they met the Russian painter Chaïm Soutine, became his friend and were the main purchasers of his canvas.

From the 1930’s, her decorator choices had an impact on the art world, thus creating the “Castaing style”. Anyway, it was only during the Second World War that she opened an antiques shop in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. She quickly became famous thanks to her very personal style, didn’t hesitating to go against the main trends of this period.  She wanted to get away from the stylistic conventions and set the furniture free from “the stylistic straightjackets, as Coco Chanel free the woman from the corset” (Edmond Petit). She is considered as one of the greatest decorators of the 20^thcentury and still today her style is known all around the world, as the blue color that is sometimes called by her name, the «Castaing blue».