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 A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

, 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 Scien ...

in Paris, where he studied under Gaston Redon and

Gustave Umbdenstock Gustave Umbdenstock (24 December 1866, Colmar - 16 November 1940, Paris) was a French architect; most familiar for his railway stations. Biography His father, also named Gustave, was a cloth merchant. From 1885, he was a student of Julien Guad ...

. 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' Med ...

. 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 The Louvre Palace (french: link=no, Palais du Louvre, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and t ...

Gobelins Manufactory The Gobelins Manufactory () is a historic tapestry factory in Paris, France. It is located at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near Les Gobelins métro station in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally established on the site as a medieval ...

, 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 ...

, 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 Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of ...

, preceded Speer's "cathedral of light" at the Festliches Nürnberg 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 B ...

in 1950, and appointed to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

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 ...

Work

* reconstruction of the Hôtel-de-ville,

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded ...

, with sculptor

Carlo Sarrabezolles Charles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles (27 December 1888 – 11 February 1971), also known as ''Carlo Sarrabezolles'' (or Charles or Charles-Marie), was a French sculptor. Life Sarrabezolles was born in Toulouse, studied at that city's École d ...

, 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 know ...

, 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. Prof ...

, Paris, 1927–1928 * French Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia, with sculptor

, 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 André Granet (born Paris 6 May 1881: died 27 October 1974) was a French architect who also specialized in organizing and designing major exhibitions. In addition he manifested a passion for aviation. Architecture André Granet, the archite ...

, 1931 * decorative scheme for the

SS Normandie The SS ''Normandie'' was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line ''Compagnie Générale Transatlantique'' (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlant ...

, 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, wi ...

, 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 The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Pur ...

, with architect

Pierre Patout Pierre Patout (1879-1965) was a French architect and interior designer, who was one of the major figures of the Art Deco movement, as well as a pioneer of Streamline Moderne design. His works included the design of the main entrance and the Pavil ...

, 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 Fran ...

, 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 Est ...

, 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