Art Nouveau armchair

Armchair with openwork back in molded oak and carved with vine leaves and bunches of grapes. Attributed to the school of nancy by gauthier poinsignon. H 96, 58x58 cm. Camille gauthier was a furniture designer born on september 3, 1870 in norroy-lès-pont-à-mousson and died in 1963 in montricoux. He attended the école des beaux-arts in nancy and then, in 1891, the école des arts décoratifs in paris. He started at majorelle in 1893 as a draftsman in the design office. In july 1900, camille gauthier decided to leave the maison majorelle in order to establish herself on her own account by founding a company who aimed to manufacture and sell furniture and works of art. He settled at 8 rue d'auxonne in nancy. Like émile gallé and louis majorelle, he mechanized his workshop. This allows him to create simple furniture but keeping a naturalistic décor. In 1901, he was on the executive committee of the école de nancy. In order to develop his business, camille gauthier made the decision around 1904 to partner with the industrialist paul eugène désiré poinsignon (1872-1916). Both are domiciled in 1906 10 rue d'auxonne in nancy. In 1924, camille gauthier, who remained solely responsible for the company after the death of paul poinsignon in 1916, sold the company to charles delfour who continued production and distribution by catalogues under the name gauthier-poinsignon.