Paris 75016 Fontaines du Trocadéro 20090815

Roger-Henri Expert (18 April 1882 – 13 April 1955) was a French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Life

The son of a merchant, Expert first studied painting at the École des beaux-arts in Bordeaux, then from 1906 attended the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Scienc ...

in Paris, where he studied under

Gaston Redon Gaston Redon (28 October 1853 – 20 November 1921) was a French architect, teacher, and graphic artist. Biography Redon was born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine to a prosperous family, the younger brother of Odilon Redon. Gaston attended the Éco ...

and Gustave Umbdenstock. In 1912 he won the second

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

and spent three years in Rome at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

. He returned to the Ecole as an instructor, in 1922, then as the head of his atelier in 1934, until 1953. In 1921 he accepted a position as ''Architecte des Bâtiments civils et palais nationaux'' (official architect of national structures), responsible for the maintenance of the Louvre Palace, Gobelins Manufactory, the

Panthéon The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...

, as well as new projects for embassies, fair pavilions and other government commissions through the 1950s. Stylistically Expert worked in a simplified classicism tending towards Art Deco—his Tourism Pavilion for the 1925

International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism The International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism (French: ''Exposition internationale de la houille blanche et du tourisme'') was an exhibition which ran from May 21 to October 25, 1925 in the city of Grenoble in France, in order to promote ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

is an early and uncharacteristic showy example. He also developed an expertise in architectural lighting. (His dramatic floodlighting for the 1937 Paris Exposition, seen by Albert Speer, preceded Speer's "cathedral of light" at the

Festliches Nürnberg ''Festliches Nürnberg'' ( en, Festive Nuremberg) is a short 1937 propaganda film chronicling the Nazi Party Nuremberg Rally, rallies in Nuremberg, Germany in 1936 and 1937. The film was directed by Hans Weidemann. Synopsis The film runs in c ...

by a few months.) Expert was made Commander of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1950, and appointed to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

in 1954. He died the following year, and is buried at the cemetery at

Arcachon Arcachon ( ; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Gironde. It is a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux, in the Landes forest. It has a sandy beach and a mild climate said to be favourable for i ...

Work

* reconstruction of the Hôtel-de-ville, Reims, with sculptor Carlo Sarrabezolles, 1924–1927 * Hotel Splendid and the casino,

Dax, Landes Dax (; oc, Dacs; eu, Akize) is a commune in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France, sub-prefecture of the Landes department. It is known as a spa destination, specialising in mud treatment for rheumatism and similar ailments. Dax is also kn ...

, 1925–1932 * Tourism Pavilion, '' exposition internationale de la houille blanche et du tourisme'',

, 1925 * the Rue d'Ulm buildings of the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ÉnsAD, also known as Arts Decos', École des Arts Décoratifs) is a public grande école of art and design of PSL Research University. The school is located in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. Profi ...

, Paris, 1927–1928 * French Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia, with sculptor Carlo Sarrabezolles, 1928–1933 * two pavilions and the illuminated lights for the

Paris Colonial Exposition The Paris Colonial Exhibition (or "''Exposition coloniale internationale''", International Colonial Exhibition) was a six-month colonial exhibition held in Paris, France, in 1931 that attempted to display the diverse cultures and immense resour ...

, with fellow architect André Granet, 1931 * decorative scheme for the SS Normandie, circa 1932"Art Deco Relics of the Normandie" by Wendy Moonan
from the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. * The 10 Rue Küss School, reinforced concrete in the shape of a ship, 13th arrondissement, Paris, 1932–1934 * fountains and pools of the

Jardins du Trocadéro Jardins du Trocadéro (Gardens of the Trocadero) is an open space in Paris, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, bounded to the northwest by the wings of the Palais de Chaillot and to the southeast by the Seine and the Pont d'Iéna, w ...

, for the

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mus ...

, Paris * French pavilion for the 1939 New York World's Fair, with architect Pierre Patout, 1939 * interior of the French Embassy, London, 1946–1948 * residential building towers within the Old Port of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, 1946–1952 * the reinforced concrete Sainte-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus church,

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

, begun 1937, completed 1954

References

Sources

Brief biography of Expert
@ Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine * this page translated from its French equivalent accessed 9/13/2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Expert, Roger-Henri 1882 births 1955 deaths 20th-century French architects Prix de Rome for architecture École des Beaux-Arts alumni Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur