Paul Sédille
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and theorist; and designed the 1880 reconstruction of the iconic Magasins du Printemps department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
in 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...
.
Life
Though Sédille is best known for his Printemps design, he was also associated with the CreusotCreusot
Creusot may refer to*Le Creusot, region of France noted for its heavy industry*Urban Community of Creusot-Montceau, region of France*155 mm Creusot Long Tom, an artillery piece*Creusot steam hammer*10233 Le Creusot, an asteroid...
family foundry and was very active in professional associations and architectural education in the 1880s. He wrote a number of compelling pieces of architectural criticism, especially his review of contemporary Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
architecture, and reflected what were by and large Teutonic
Teutons
The Teutons or Teutones were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani...
theoretical concerns that have come to be understood as architectural realism, based on the works of Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture, who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in Dresden and was put on the government's wanted list. Semper fled first to Zürich and later...
.
Directly related to his interest in Semper
Semper
Semper may refer to:*Semper Fidelis, a motto used by, among others, the United States Marine Corp*Semper Fortis, an unofficial motto of the United States Navy*Semper Paratus, the United States Coast Guard motto...
, Sédille was an advocate of highly-coloured polychrome
Polychrome
Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...
architecture. His participation in the Universal Expositions of 1878 and 1889 in 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...
were demonstration pieces of his approach of integrating colorful terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
tilework and structural into the vocabulary of classical, beaux-arts architectural forms.
Sédille made his mark as a private architect executing residential commissions during an age that celebrated heroic, civic works such as the Paris Opéra
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
(1860–1875) by Charles Garnier
Charles Garnier (architect)
Charles Garnier was a French architect, perhaps best known as the architect of the Palais Garnier and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.-Early life:...
or the Palais de Justice (Paris, 1857–68) by Joseph-Louis Duc
Joseph-Louis Duc
Joseph-Louis Duc was a French architect. Duc came to prominence early, with his very well-received work at the July Column in Paris, and spent much of the rest of his career on a single building complex, the Palais de Justice.- Biography :...
and Honoré Daumet
Honoré Daumet
Pierre Jérôme Honoré Daumet was a French architect.Daumet was the winner of the Prix de Rome in 1855, and in 1861 conducted a treasure-hunting expedition to Macedonia at the request of Napoleon III, accompanying the archaeologist Léon Heuzey...
.
Work
- renovation of the Théâtre du Palais-RoyalThéâtre du Palais-RoyalThe Théâtre du Palais-Royal is a 750 seat theatre at 38, rue Montpensier in Paris. In 1637 Cardinal Richelieu began work on a theatre on the east wing of the Palais-Royal building, to break the theatre monopoly of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and it was opened in 1641...
, with interior work by sculptor Jules DalouJules DalouAimé-Jules Dalou was a French sculptor, recognized as one of the most brilliant virtuosos of nineteenth-century France, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.-Life:...
, Paris, 1880 - Basilique du Bois-Chenu, Domrémy-la-PucelleDomrémy-la-PucelleDomrémy-la-Pucelle is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.The village, originally named Domrémy, is the birthplace of Joan of Arc. It has since been renamed Domrémy-la-Pucelle after Joan's nickname, la Pucelle d'Orléans .-Geography:Domrémy is positioned along the...
(origin of Joan of ArcJoan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
), begun 1881, consecrated 1896 - PrintempsPrintempsPrintemps is a French department store .The flagship Printemps store is located on Boulevard Haussmann in the IXe arrondissement of Paris along with other well-known department stores like Galeries Lafayette. There are other Printemps stores in Paris and throughout France...
department store renovation, Paris, with sculptor Henri ChapuHenri ChapuHenri-Michel-Antoine Chapu was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his works.-Life and career:...
, 1883 - monument to industrialist Eugène SchneiderEugène SchneiderJoseph Eugène Schneider was a French industrialist who in 1836 co-founded the Schneider company with his brother Adolphe.-Biography:...
, with sculptor Henri ChapuHenri ChapuHenri-Michel-Antoine Chapu was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his works.-Life and career:...
English
Berry, J. Duncan. "From Historicism to Architectural Realism: On Some of Wagner's Sources," in: Harry F. Mallgrave (ed.), Otto Wagner: Reflections on the Raiment of Modernity (Santa Monica, 1993): 242-278. ISBN 089236257XHitchcock, Henry-Russell. Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 4th ed. (Harmondsworth, 1977), 384. ISBN 0300053207
Mallgrave, Harry F. Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673-1968 (Cambridge, 2005): 207. ISBN 0521793068
Middleton, Robin D. "Paul Sédille," in: Adolf K. Placzek (éd.), The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects (New York, 1982), 4: 20-21.
French
Bus, Charles du. "Deux aspects de l'art urbain," Gazette des beaux-arts, 4ème pér., 12 (1914): 368-90.Encyclopdédie d'architecture, 3ème sér., 4 (1885): 1-35 + pls. 860f., 896f., 899, 919, 927f., 931, 941, 965, 981f., 992, 997f., 1004-6.
Hautecoeur, Louis. Histoire de l'architecture classique en France. La fin de l’architecture classique 1848-1900 (Paris, 1957), vol. 7: 377, 413, 447.
Lafenestre, Georges. "Les magasins du Printemps réédifiés par M. Paul Sédille," Gazette des beaux-arts, 2ème pér., 27 (1883): 239-53.
Lucas, Charles. Nécrologie: M. Paul Sédille," La construction moderne 15 (1900): 179-80.
Lucien, Étienne. "La vie et les ouvrages de Paul Sédille," L'Architecture 13 (1900): 305-8, 313-15.
Marrey, Bernard. Les grands magasins des origines à 1939 (Paris, 1979): 97-109. ISBN 2708400452
Sully-Proudhomme, René François Armand. "Paul Sédille," Revue de l'art ancient et moderne 9 (1901): 77-84, 149-60.
Sully-Proudhomme, René François Armand. Paul Sédille (Paris, 1902).
German
Contag. "Der Neubau des 'Magasin au Printemps (sic)' in Paris," Deutsche Bauzeitung 20 (1886): 33f.Hofmann, Albert. "Die französischen Architektur der Dritten Republik," Deutsche Bauzeitung 21 (1887), 38, 127.
Thieme-Becker 30: 422.