The French Union of Modern Artists (; UAM) was a movement made up of decorative artists and

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 ...

s founded in France on 15 May 1929 and active until 1959. Initially made up of around 200 dissidents of the Société des Artistes-Décorateurs (SAD) and led by

Robert Mallet-Stevens Robert Mallet-Stevens (24 March 1886 – 8 February 1945) was a French architect and designer. Early life Mallet-Stevens was born in Paris. His father and his grandfather were art collectors in Paris and Brussels. His great-uncles were the Be ...

, the UAM offered a strong and militant alternative to the SAD. Motivated towards making a clean break from the past and struggling against objects ''in style'', artists of the union proclaimed 'We must rise up against everything that ''looks rich'', whatever is ''well made'', and ''anything inherited from grandmother''... will where habit is not invoked...overcome the habit of the eyes'. Young makers of

jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

joined the union with aims to create works of art in their field through the use of less expensive materials, making it more accessible than the current trend of expensive ''bijoux blancs''. UAM participated annually in the Salon Autum with an exhibit created by 'The Group', and emphasized design over decoration. Interiors were designed to function with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

and

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

made of metallic structures was arranged within, without additional decoration. Their message was amplified through various shows and manifesto's (its first in 1934 'For

Modern Art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

as a Frame for

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

Life') and activity peaked at the 1937

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where Frank Jourdain's racist work was displayed in his interior design for A White Home;

Marcel Gascoin Marcel Gascoin (24 August 1907 – 29 October 1986) was a designer who specialized in modular storage units and sets of matching furniture. He played a major role in the emergence of French design after World War II (1939–1945). Several of Gasc ...

's storage and organization capabilities were displayed in his library exhibit;

Charlotte Perriand Charlotte Perriand (; 24 October 1903 – 27 October 1999) was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. In her article "L'Art de Vivre" ...

exhibited folding chairs with

tubing; and

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (; 8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring m ...

introduced one of the first chairs constructed with the new material -

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...

. Members included as 'Actifs' on the 'catalogue de la première exposition de l'UAM, 1930 (catalogue of the first exhibition, 1930)': * Charlotte Alix (1897–1987) *

Pierre Barbe Pierre Barbe (28 March 1900 – 26 April 2004) was a French architect. Barbe became the "house architect" for the Schlumberger family. He designed Pierre Schlumberger's house on Lazy Lane in Houston, Texas. For Pierre and his first wife Claire ...

Louis Barillet Louis Barillet (1880 – 1948) was a French artist, known for his work in stained glass. Among those with whom he collaborated were Théodore-Gérard Hanssen and Jacques Le Chevallier. His windows may be seen in the church of Notre-Dame-des- ...

(1880–1948) * Georges Bastard (1881–1939) * Jean Burkhalter (1895–1982) *

Jean Carlu Jean Carlu (1900–1997) was a French graphic designer who specialised in posters. He was a member of a family of architects; his brother Jacques Carlu for example designed the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. He made posters during World War II to pr ...

(1900–1989) * Paul Colin (1892–1985) * Etienne Cournault (1891–1948) *

Joseph Csaky Joseph Csaky (also written Josef Csàky, Csáky József, József Csáky and Joseph Alexandre Czaky) (18 March 1888 – 1 May 1971) was a Hungarian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic arts, graphic artist, best known for his early partici ...

(1888–1971) * Sonia Delauney (1885–1979) * Jean Dourgnon (1901–1985) * Jean Fouquet (1899-1984) *

Eileen Gray Eileen Gray (born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; 9 August 187831 October 1976) was an Irish interior designer, furniture designer and architect who became a pioneer of the Modern architecture, Modern Movement in architecture. Over her career, s ...

(1879–1976) *

Hélène Henry Helene or Hélène may refer to: People * Helene (name), and Hélène, a female given name, including a list of people with the name * Hélène (singer) (Hélène Rollès, born 1966), French actress and singer * Helen of Troy, a figure in Greek ...

(1891–1965) *

René Herbst René Herbst (18 March 1891 – 29 September 1982 in Paris) was a French furniture designer and architect, best remembered for his advocacy of the industrialisation of furniture as a form of modern art. He co-founded The French Union of Modern Ar ...

(1891–1982) * Lucie Holt-Le-Son (1899-???) *

Francis Jourdain Francis Jourdain (2 November 1876 – 31 December 1958) was a French painter, furniture maker, interior designer, maker of ceramics, and other decorative arts, and a left-wing political activist. Early years Francis Jourdain was born on 2 Nove ...

(1876–1958) * Robert Lallemant (1902–1954) *

Jacques Le Chevallier Jacques Le Chevallier (; July 26, 1896 – 1987) was a French glassmaker, decorative artist, illustrator, and engraver. He was mobilized during World War I; after the war he became a master artisan in the studio of Louis Barillet, with whom he re ...

(1896–1987) *

(1886–1945) * Pablo Manes (1891–1962) * Jan & Joel Martel (1896–1966) * Gustave Miklos (1888–1967) * Jean Charles Moreux (1885–1956) *

(1903–1999) *

(1901–1984) * Jean Puiforcat (1897–1945) * André Salomon (1891–1970) * Gérard Sandoz (1914–1988) * Louis Sognot (1892–1969) * Raymond Templier (1891–1968) * ''Œvres'' de

Pierre Legrain Pierre Legrain (18 February 1920 – 20 June 2005) was a French athlete. He competed in the men's hammer throw at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the ...

(1889–1929) Other members include: * Rose Adler (1892–1969) * Francis Bernard * André Bloc (1896–1966) * A.-M. Cassandre (1901–1968) *

Philippe Charbonneaux Philippe Charbonneaux (18 February 1917 – 4 June 1998) was a French industrial designer, best known for automobile and truck design, but also known for other products such as television sets. Many of his works are now exhibited in places su ...

(1917) *

Pierre Chareau Pierre Chareau (4 August 1883 – 24 August 1950) was a French architect and designer. Early life Chareau was born in Bordeaux, France. He apprenticed at a Paris-based British furniture manufacturer, Waring & Gillow, after he failed his entra ...

(1883–1950) *

(1907–1986) * Adrienne Gorska (1899–1969) *

Pierre Guariche Pierre Guariche (1926–1995) was a French designer, interior decorator and architect. He is perhaps best known for the residential lights that he designed for Pierre Disderot in the 1950s, but he was also an innovative furniture designer and arc ...

(1926–1995) * Gabriel Guevrekian * Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier) (1887–1965) *

Pierre Jeanneret Pierre Jeanneret (22 March 1896 – 4 December 1967) was a Swiss architect who collaborated with his cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier), for about twenty years. Early life Arnold-André-Pierre Jean ...

(1896–1967) * Frantz-Philippe Jourdain * Jean Lambert-Rucki *

Claude Lemeunier Claude may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter * Claude Debussy (1862–1918), F ...

* Charles Loupot *

André Lurçat André Lurçat (; 27 August 1894 – 11 July 1970) was a French modernist architect, landscape architect, furniture designer, city planner, and founding member of CIAM. He was active in the rebuilding in French cities after World War II. He was t ...

, *

Mathieu Matégot Mathieu Matégot (4 April 1910 – February 2001) was a Hungarian / French designer and material artist. He was one of the most renowned French designers of the 1950s. Early years Matégot was born on 4 April 1910 at Tápió-Sully, a villa ...

(1910–2001) *

Charles Peignot Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

Georges-Henri Pingusson Georges-Henri Pingusson (July 26, 1894 – October 22, 1978) was a French architect. Biography Georges-Henri Pingusson was born 1894 in Clermont-Ferrand. 1920-1925 he studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He built hotel ''L ...

(1894–1978), *

Claude Prouvé Claude may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter * Claude Debussy (1862–1918), F ...

(1929) * Robert Le Ricolais (1894–1977) *

Carlo Rim Carlo Rim (19 December 1902 – 3 December 1989) was a French film screenwriter, producer and director. Born Jean Marius Richard, he made an anagram of his initials (RJM, treating I and J as the same letter) for his pseudonym, adding "Carlo" a po ...

(1905–1989) *

André Salmon André Salmon (4 October 1881, Paris – 12 March 1969, Sanary-sur-Mer) was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the early defenders of Cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal. Biography André Salmon was born i ...

Roger Tallon Roger Tallon (6 March 1929 – 20 October 2011) was a French industrial designer. Biography After studying as an engineer (1944–1950), Tallon was employed by Caterpillar France and DuPont. In 1953, he joined Technès, the technical ...

(1929) *

Maximilien Vox Maximilien Vox (real name: Samuel William Théodore Monod) was a French writer, cartoonist, illustrator, publisher, journalist, critic art theorist and historian of the French letter and typography. He was born on 16 December 1894 in Condé-sur- ...

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Union of Modern Artists Interior design Arts organizations based in France Arts organizations established in 1929 Organizations disestablished in 1959 1929 establishments in France 1959 disestablishments in France