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Considered by many as Lavirotte's masterpiece, this astounding block of flats granted on the occasion of the 1901 Concours de façades de la ville de Paris calls for many comments. First of all I'd like to insist on the fact that it has never been an order placed by Bigot to Lavirotte to realize some sort of advertising for his ceramic products. According to the file VO11 - 2912 of the Paris archives, the owners of the building were Lavirotte himself & a folk named Charles Combes. Besides Bigot never lived in the building (by the way, neither did Lavirotte who had his residence & agency on the 5th floor of his block of flats square Rapp). (Thanks to Georges Vigne for putting things clear.)
The front is in itself a technical achievment, showing how beautiful, practical & strong ceramic can be. This was the 1st building which front was in its entirety covered by ceramic sculpted elements.
(Sculpted stone in the lobby)
People too often make a fool or at least an odd folk out of Lavirotte, just because of the exentric ornaments he seemed to like so much. However he showed that strange taste in only a few buildings (if compared to his known oeuvre) & his reputation at the time of his life was not far behind Guimard's one & his talent, although debated, was not completely denied. When I first discovered the private spaces of the 29 av. Rapp, I was stunned by the very unpleasant & at times disturbing side of the artistic choices Lavirotte made in arranging his building. He seems to translate some sort of fright, or even fascinated disgust for sexual anatomy. We are nowadays shocked by such a type of choice in decorating a living place. But remember that art, at the turn of the 19th & 20th centuries was nothing less than the transcription of huge,if not romantic, passions & fears. A very weird Art-Nouveau building indeed, if not the weirdest.
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Photograph courtesy of C. Boissy. Cf. http://lartnouveau.com |