Emilio Terry
Encyclopedia
Jose Emilio Terry y Dorticos (1890–1969), known as Emilio Terry was a Cuban artist, interior designer, artist and landscape artist, best known for his career in France. Creating furniture, tapisteries and objets d'art, he was influenced by the château de Chenonceau
, acquired by his family, and he created a style that was at once classical and baroque, which he called the "Louis XIX style".
. His mother Antonia Terry, married to Francesco Terry, was a great beauty and after 1897 she and her husband moved to New York, where she and her daughter Natica were painted in 1897 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury
- Mrs Terry's portrait is in a London private collection, Natica's portrait is unlocated; and after their daughter Natica's marriage to Count Stanislas de Castellane and her move to France shortly afterwards, the Terrys followed her there, where eventually they acquired the Chateau de Rochecotte
; Antonia Terry is buried in a mausoleum in the grounds. For 30 years, until the end of the First World War, Emilio Terry divided his life between Paris
and Havana
.
Emilio owned a villa on the Côte d'Azur and a Paris apartment at 2, place du Palais-Bourbon. He bought the Paris residence from Boni de Castellane in 1914. Boni records in his Mémoires : "I didn't have much money. […] M. Terry, brother of my sister in law Stanislas […], fell in love with my apartment, and […] and asked me to give over the lease to him. […] I sold my furniture to this noble Cuban. »
On 24 June 1934, Emilio Terry bought from his brother in law Stanislas the historic château de Rochecotte
, near Langeais
(Indre-et-Loire
), famous for having belonged to Dorothée de Courlande, duchesse of Dino and received Talleyrand on frequent visits. Pendant 35 ans, Emilio Terry restored this château and decorated it in the right period style. He bequeathed Rochecotte to his great-nephew Henri-Jean de Castellane, but this was sold in the early 1980s and is now a country house hotel.
.
In 1933, he realised a model of a double-spiral house, called "en colimaçon" ("snail-style"), which illustrated one of his theories, that the art of architecture expressed a "dream to be realised" ("rêve à réaliser"). A 1936 portrait of Emilio Terry by Salvador Dali
shows this and other models in the foreground. Expressions of the "style Louis XVII" can be found in the work of the landscape artist Achille Duchêne
and the designer Madeleine Castaing
(in the latter case an amicable rivalry arose between her and Terry in the 1950s, with them both claiming to be the author of a certain motifs
Among his clients, Emilio Terry worked for the Greek arms-manufacturer Stavros Niarchos
as well as Rainier III of Monaco (for whom he decorated an apartment intend for princess Grace
) and the Beauvau-Craon family
(for whom he redesigned the gardens around their château d'Haroué
in Lorraine
in the French style).
From the 1950s, Emilio Terry took on the interior design of the Château de Groussay
, at Montfort-l'Amaury
(Yvelines
), acquired in 1939 by the multi-millionaire Carlos de Beistegui
. He decorated each piece, designed the furniture, created an Italian-style theatre for artists of the Comédie-Française
, designed a new park à l'anglaise
and added 18th century style buildings.
's film Le Bal du comte d'Orgel
, with Jean-Claude Brialy
, and the bibliothèque de Groussay was the setting for Frédéric Mitterrand
's television broadcast Plaisir de France.
Château de Chenonceau
The Château de Chenonceau is a manor house near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century...
, acquired by his family, and he created a style that was at once classical and baroque, which he called the "Louis XIX style".
Life
The Terry y Dorticos family was Hispano-Irish in origin, and had made its fortune in the sugar plantations on CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. His mother Antonia Terry, married to Francesco Terry, was a great beauty and after 1897 she and her husband moved to New York, where she and her daughter Natica were painted in 1897 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury
Adolfo Müller-Ury
Adolfo Muller-Ury was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life.-Heritage and early life in Switzerland:...
- Mrs Terry's portrait is in a London private collection, Natica's portrait is unlocated; and after their daughter Natica's marriage to Count Stanislas de Castellane and her move to France shortly afterwards, the Terrys followed her there, where eventually they acquired the Chateau de Rochecotte
Château de Rochecotte
The château de Rochecotte is a late 18th century château located in the French village of Saint-Patrice, near Langeais, in Indre-et-Loire. It is known for its various owners and their many successive rebuilds....
; Antonia Terry is buried in a mausoleum in the grounds. For 30 years, until the end of the First World War, Emilio Terry divided his life between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
.
Emilio owned a villa on the Côte d'Azur and a Paris apartment at 2, place du Palais-Bourbon. He bought the Paris residence from Boni de Castellane in 1914. Boni records in his Mémoires : "I didn't have much money. […] M. Terry, brother of my sister in law Stanislas […], fell in love with my apartment, and […] and asked me to give over the lease to him. […] I sold my furniture to this noble Cuban. »
On 24 June 1934, Emilio Terry bought from his brother in law Stanislas the historic château de Rochecotte
Château de Rochecotte
The château de Rochecotte is a late 18th century château located in the French village of Saint-Patrice, near Langeais, in Indre-et-Loire. It is known for its various owners and their many successive rebuilds....
, near Langeais
Langeais
Langeais is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-Sights:Langeais has a church of the 11th, 12th and 15th centuries, but is chiefly interesting for its large and historic château built soon after the middle of the 15th century by Jean Bourré, minister of Louis XI. Here the...
(Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
), famous for having belonged to Dorothée de Courlande, duchesse of Dino and received Talleyrand on frequent visits. Pendant 35 ans, Emilio Terry restored this château and decorated it in the right period style. He bequeathed Rochecotte to his great-nephew Henri-Jean de Castellane, but this was sold in the early 1980s and is now a country house hotel.
Works
At once neoclassical and baroque, Emilio Terry designed furniture, tapisteries, objets, houses, gardens, and the interior decor of apartments and châteaux. He launched an architectural style which he named the "style Louis XVII", an imaginary style freely inspired by historical examples, notably those of Palladio or Claude Nicolas LedouxClaude Nicolas Ledoux
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only in domestic architecture but town planning; as a consequence of his visionary plan for the Ideal City of Chaux, he became known as a utopian...
.
In 1933, he realised a model of a double-spiral house, called "en colimaçon" ("snail-style"), which illustrated one of his theories, that the art of architecture expressed a "dream to be realised" ("rêve à réaliser"). A 1936 portrait of Emilio Terry by Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
shows this and other models in the foreground. Expressions of the "style Louis XVII" can be found in the work of the landscape artist Achille Duchêne
Achille Duchêne
Achille Duchêne was a French garden designer who worked in the grand manner established by André Le Nôtre. The son of the landscaper...
and the designer Madeleine Castaing
Madeleine Castaing
Madeleine Castaing was a French antique dealer and interior designer of international renown. She was the friend and the sponsor of many artists, including Soutine, who made her portrait in 1928...
(in the latter case an amicable rivalry arose between her and Terry in the 1950s, with them both claiming to be the author of a certain motifs
Among his clients, Emilio Terry worked for the Greek arms-manufacturer Stavros Niarchos
Stavros Niarchos
Stavros Spyros Niarchos was a Greek shipping tycoon, sometimes known as "The Golden Greek." In 1952, Stavros Niarchos built the first supertankers capable of transporting large quantities of oil, and subsequently earned millions of dollars as global demand for his ships increased.- Early life :He...
as well as Rainier III of Monaco (for whom he decorated an apartment intend for princess Grace
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
) and the Beauvau-Craon family
Beauvau family
The Beauvau family was a historic family originating in Anjou. The Beauvau du Rivau branch was rooted in Brittany and produced two bishops of Nantes, whilst the Beauvau-Craon branch was established in Lorraine....
(for whom he redesigned the gardens around their château d'Haroué
Château d'Haroué
The château de Craon, also known as the château d'Haroué or palais d'Haroué is a French château located in a small valley in the centre of the village of Haroué, in the Saintois, in the département of Meurthe-et-Moselle and the région of Lorraine...
in Lorraine
Lorraine (province)
The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
in the French style).
From the 1950s, Emilio Terry took on the interior design of the Château de Groussay
Chateau de Groussay
The Château de Groussay is located in the town of Montfort-l'Amaury, in the Department of Yvelines, in France. The Château was built in 1815 by the duchesse de Charest, a daughter of Louise Elisabeth de Croÿ-Havré, marquise de Tourzel, the governess of the royal enfants de France of Louis XVI...
, at Montfort-l'Amaury
Montfort-l'Amaury
Montfort-l'Amaury is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris N of Rambouillet....
(Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
), acquired in 1939 by the multi-millionaire Carlos de Beistegui
Carlos de Beistegui
Don Carlos de Beistegui y de Yturbe , also known as Charles or Charlie de Beistegui, was an eccentric multi-millionaire art collector and interior decorator and one of the most flamboyant characters of mid-20th century European life. His ball at the Palazzo Labia in Venice in 1951 is still...
. He decorated each piece, designed the furniture, created an Italian-style theatre for artists of the Comédie-Française
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....
, designed a new park à l'anglaise
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
and added 18th century style buildings.
In film
The château and parc de Groussay appeared in Marc AllégretMarc Allégret
Marc Allégret was a French screenwriter and film director.Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer. Allégret became André Gide's lover when he was fifteen and Gide was forty-seven...
's film Le Bal du comte d'Orgel
Le bal du Comte d'Orgel
Le Bal du comte d'Orgel is the second and last novel by Parisian literary prodigy Raymond Radiguet . Published in 1924 and centering on adultery, it proved controversial, as did his first novel, Le Diable au corps, published in 1923. Le Bal du comte d'Orgel was adapted into a 1970 film.- External...
, with Jean-Claude Brialy
Jean-Claude Brialy
Jean-Claude Brialy – died 30 May 2007, Monthyon, Seine-et-Marne, France was a French actor, director, and socialite.-Biography:...
, and the bibliothèque de Groussay was the setting for Frédéric Mitterrand
Frédéric Mitterrand
Frédéric Mitterrand , a Franco-Tunisian citizen, is the French Minister of Culture and Communication. Throughout his career, he has been an actor, screenwriter, television presenter, writer, producer and director.-Biography:...
's television broadcast Plaisir de France.
See also
- FollyFollyIn architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
- Achille DuchêneAchille DuchêneAchille Duchêne was a French garden designer who worked in the grand manner established by André Le Nôtre. The son of the landscaper...
- Madeleine CastaingMadeleine CastaingMadeleine Castaing was a French antique dealer and interior designer of international renown. She was the friend and the sponsor of many artists, including Soutine, who made her portrait in 1928...
- Jacques GarciaJacques GarciaJacques Garcia, is a French architect, interior designer and garden designer, best known for his contemporary interiors of Paris hotels and restaurants.-Biography:...
- Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing
- Castellane family