Antiquing in France: Buying a Giant Monastery Table

Buying antiques in France is always an adventure. You're never quite sure what you might find, or how much you'll spend (prices and exchange rates fluctuate every season) or, in some instances, how you're going to manage to get things home.  Occasionally, we stumble upon something really exceptional - so rare and extraordinary that you can hardly believe your luck. That is exactly what happened during our last buying trip. Jean-Marc and Jean-Noel came across an incredible GIANT monastery table (over 20 feet long!) and decided they just couldn't do without this once-in-a-lifetime purchase. And so the buying process began...

Here's a snippet from that serendipitous moment:



This beautiful Portuguese table did finally make to Austin, TX, into our gallery (as did it's sister table  - the other long table you see in the clip above) and it stops people in their tracks. It's spectacular and gorgeous and we're pleased to share it with you. Enjoy!

Festival de Cannes 2011

The 64th Cannes Film Festival is well underway in France and La Croisette is buzzing with excitement! Jury President Robert De Niro opened the ceremony with an honorary Palme d’Or for Producer-Director Bernardo Bertolucci, and Tuesday, 78-year-old Jean-Paul Belmondo, one of France’s cherished actors of the French New Wave, received a Palme d’Or in honor of his 50 year career.

Barbara Gandolfi and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Stars the world over grace the French Red Carpet this year: Robert De Niro, Jude Law and Uma Thurman (Jury members for Feature Films), Melanie Laurent, Nathalie Baye, Marion Cotillard (just a few of the locals), Owen Wilson, Jodie Foster and of course Brad Pitt, Sean Pean and Terence Malick presenting their highly anticipated film “Tree of Life”, which was filmed right here in Austin, TX!

Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt.

We’ve been following the excitement on Le Grand Journal, our favorite source for French news, which airs the show live, right outside the Palais des Festivals every year especially for the event.

Marion Cotillard and Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris".

Kirsten Dunst charms the paparazzi.

Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The Festival runs through May 22nd. Bonne Chance a Tous!

Jean-Michel Frank at Hermès

Jean-Michel Frank

Interior by Jean-Michel Frank

Jean-Michel Frank was an influential French interior designer in the 1920s and '30s. He designed minimalist interiors with plain-lined yet luxurious furniture. His elegant Confortable armchair and sofa were some of the most admired pieces of furniture of the 20th century. His work inspired, and continues to inspire, modern designers around the world.

After launching Hermès Maison in Paris, the new home division of Hermès, and displaying Pavillon Hermès in Milan during the recent Design Week, Hermès is launching its new home division in the US this month. They are reintroducing Jean-Michel Frank's Confortable armchair and sofa (designed with Hermès in 1924), and several of his other designs.

Confortable club chair in sheepskin by Jean-Michel Frank.

The Confortable line of club chairs, originally skinned in leather, is offered in velvet bull calf, smooth calfskin, and goatskin. They are a prime example of Jean-Michel Frank's rectilinear designs, as well as his use of unexpected materials. They are, as all of his work, a model of understated luxury.

Jean-Michel Frank style chairs at Jean-Marc Fray Antiques

To see more of our chic, vintage armchairs and club chairs, click here.

Piet Mondrian and De Stijl

This winter the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, opened an exhibition exploring the works of Piet Mondrian and De Stijl. Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter and a key contributor to the De Stijl Movement of the early 20th century. He coined the term "Neo-Plasticism" to describe this style characterized by rigid lines and primary colors.

De Stijl, or "The Style," was a group of Dutch artists and well as a journal they published from 1917 until 1931. They sought to express a utopian ideal through abstraction, a fundamental reality rather than emotions. They simplified shape and color to their most basic, clearly defined forms. They worked with planes on a white background, adding only primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. Symmetry was avoided; balance and harmony were achieved through opposition. 

Neoplasticism did not end with painting, but naturally flowed into furniture, interior design, and architecture. Straight lines and primary colors were used to achieve three-dimensional works of art. The Red Blue Chair was designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1917. Originally painted in the "non-colors" of De Stijl (black, gray, and white), it was repainted in 1923 to match the primary colors being used by Mondrian.

The Schröder House, also designed by Rietveld, was built in Utrecht in 1924 and is the best example of De Stijl architecture. Its facade is composed of intersecting, rectilinear planes in black, gray, and white, with primary colored accents. It has an open floor plan; in place of walls the house has rotating and sliding panels that can partition off space as needed by the residents.

De Stijl influenced fine arts, music, typography, furniture design, fashion, and architecture the world over. It proposed using geometry, asymmetry, and abstraction to express beauty. It had profound impact on the art and architecture to come in the Bauhaus, International Style, and Modern movements, and we can still see its effects today.

Dress designed by Yves Sant Laurent

Piet Mondrian, "composition en rouge, bleu et blanc II", 1937
© Mondrian / Holtzman trust, coll. Centre Pompidou, RMN

Mondrian / De Stijl
December 1, 2010 - March 11, 2011
Place Georges Pompidou
75004 ParisGeneral phoneline : +33 (0)1 44 78 12 33

Places We Love: Les Fermes de Marie – Megève, France

Megève, France

 It’s WINTER, which means ski season in many parts of the world (like France), and apparently it’s been a great year for SNOW! So for all you snow bunnies out there, here’s a tip we thought we would pass on about one of our favorite hotels in France’s très chic ski resort, Megève: Les Fermes de Marie.

Les Fermes de Marie

 Les Fermes de Maries is a cozy Savoyard chalet-style hotel and spa, nestled in the heart of France’s most exclusive ski resort in the French Alps. This virtual “village” is made up of 9 individual but interconnected chalets, century old alpine farmlands, 2 restaurants and an award-winning spa.

A chalet at les Fermes de Marie

Jocelyne and Jean-Louis Sibuet had a vision when they started refurbishing a traditional farmhouse over 20 years ago to create this enchanting, intimate, beautifully decorated and comfortable refuge for skiers and summer vacationers alike.

Guest bedroom at Les Fermes de Marie

It’s been years since our last visit, but friends and family have assured us that Les Fermes de Marie has lost nothing of its original style – if anything, its gotten better (the spa was not finished when we were there). Guests feel instantly at home, with an elegant bar, a library, cozy fireplace lounges and several inviting little nooks perfect for curling up with a book, gardens and two gastronomic restaurants. 

Fireplace Lounge at Les Fermes de Marie

The 71 luxuriously appointed and spacious rooms are decorated with charm, natural woods, old wooden beams, accented with antiques, carefully selected textiles… all tastefully done with a “French Touch”. You really do feel like you are at home, in a French chalet.

The world–famous spa, with a heated pool and 17 treatment rooms, offers custom treatments using the house line of skin care products - “Pure Altitude” - composed of local plants such as Edelweiss and Arnica.

Treatment Room at the Les Fermes de Marie Spa

And if that weren’t enough, they even have two "Chalets" that sleep 10, for family gatherings or other special occasions. Les Chalets des Fermes feature their own private spa as well.

Megève, France

Les Fermes is 5 minutes away from the center of lively Megève, which is full of bars and restaurants (3 of which are Michelin star rated) and of course, plenty of shopping for the swish clientele this town attracts. It is definitely a mountain vacation destination - winter or summer - offering a magnificent setting for sport, relaxation, fresh air and total indulgence in the art of fine living.

In the village of Megève

Bon voyage!

Les Fermes de Marie
Chemin de Riante Colline
74120 Megève
Tel: 33(0)4 50 93 03 10

'Tis The Season...

Season's Greetings!!

Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year

From Jean-Marc Fray French Antiques.

 

 Sending a little French holiday cheer to your and yours...
Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année à tous!

Notre Dame de Paris à Noel.

Fouquet's Paris.

Christmas in Lille.

Galleries Lafayette Paris.

Buche de Noel.

Fourviere à Lyon.

Christmas lights on the Champs Elysee.

Bonne Homme de neige... French snowman!

La France - Snowed In...

Looks like France is going to have a white Christmas if this weather keeps up! It's been snowing all over France like never before! Jean-Marc and Jean-Noel got to experience it first hand, driving (at a snail's pace) through Lyon in a veritable blizzard... over 2 ft of snow in some areas! Traffic came to a stand still yesterday all over the country. We are relieved to hear that the Fray brothers are relatively safe in Venice now (where the water's rising!). 

Bon courage!!!

Tain l'Hermitage.

Argeles-sur-Mer.

Lac Leman.

Amiens.

Canal du Midi - Beziers.

Avignon.

Genissiat.

Corsica.

Nice.

Marseille.

The Palais Lascaris

Testimony to Genovese baroque architecture, the aristocratic Palais Lascaris in Nice, France was built in the mid-17th century for the Counts Lascaris-Vintimille, under whose tutelage it belonged until 1802.  The City of Nice purchased it in 1942 in very poor condition and in 1946 designated the building an Historical Monument. It has since been transformed into a museum well worth visiting should you find yourself on the French Riviera.

Bed chamber ceiling fresco - The Abduction of Psyche.

Nestled in the heart of Nice’s Old Town on Rue Droite, the Palais Lascaris is home to the municipal museum of “popular art and traditions”. Although its architects are unknown, its style is Genovese baroque. Major renovations did not begin until 1963 but were completed in 1970 when it was officially opened to the public.

Foyer staircase of the Palais Lascaris.

Ceiling fresco of Venus and Adonis

Its opulent façade, large windows and balconies with marble balusters draw you into a foyer where a monumental staircase winds upward, surrounded by frescoes and luxuriously decorated salons on each floor. Flemish tapestries, statues, furniture dating from the 17th and 18th centuries as well as faiences from the same era embellish the residence. The third, “noble” floor, so-called due to the apartments situated there, boasts its original ceiling frescoes dating from the 17th century. The statues and the rococo décor of the salons were added in the 18th century.

Bed chamber on the "noble" floor of the Palais.

17th century painted doors and tile floors.

18th century furniture.

"Le Banquet" Flemish tapestry.

Chapel ceiling fresco - Wisdom defies Time and Death.

The Palais is also home to a beautiful collection of antique musical instruments, some of which are on permanent display.  In 2009, the Groupe Axa presented the Palais Lascaris with an exceptional gift – the Gaveau-Erard-Pleyel foundation. The elements of this foundation, put together by three of the biggest names in European musical instrument manufacturing, consist of instruments, books, letters, engravings, tools, illustration, photos and more, all of which tell an elaborate story of the history of the piano and the harp from the 18th century until the mid 20th century in France and all of Europe.

Naderman harp, c. 1780.

The exhibit will be on display in the Palais Lascaris from October 20, 2010 to April 2011.