Roger-Henri Expert
Encyclopedia
Roger-Henri Expert was a French architect.
Life
The son of a merchant, Expert first studied painting at the École des beaux-arts in Bordeaux, then from 1906 attended the Ecole des Beaux-ArtsÉcole des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris, where he studied under Gaston Redon
Gaston Redon
Gaston Redon was a French architect, teacher, and graphic artist. Redon was born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine to a prosperous family, the younger brother of Odilon Redon. Gaston attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the atelier of Louis-Jules André, and took the Prix de Rome for architecture in 1883...
and Gustave Umbdenstock. In 1912 he won the second Prix de Rome
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...
and spent three years in Rome at the Villa Medici
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' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French...
. 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, Gobelins Manufactory
Gobelins manufactory
The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the XIIIe arrondissement...
, the Panthéon
Panthéon, Paris
The Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens...
, 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
International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism
The International exhibition of hydropower and tourism was an exhibition which ran from May 21 to October 25, 1925 in the city of Grenoble in France, in order to dedicate the city, the capital of "white coal".In 1925, Grenoble was the site of an international exhibition on hydroelectric power and...
in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
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
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, preceded Speer's "cathedral of light" at the Festliches Nürnberg
Festliches Nürnberg
Festliches Nürnberg is a short 1937 propaganda film chronicling the Nazi Party rallies in Nuremberg, Germany in 1936 and 1937. The film was directed by Hans Weidemann.-Synopsis:...
by a few months.)
Expert was made Commander of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1950, and appointed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
in 1954. He died the following year, and is buried at the cemetery at Arcachon
Arcachon
Arcachon is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.It is a popular bathing location on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux in the Landes forest...
.
Work
- reconstruction of the Hôtel-de-ville, ReimsReimsReims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, with sculptor Carlo SarrabezollesCharles Marie Louis Joseph SarrabezollesCharles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles , also known as Carlo Sarrabezolles , was a French sculptor....
, 1924-1927 - Hotel Splendid and the casino, DaxDaxDax may refer to:In French geography:* Arrondissement of Dax, an arrondissement of the Landes département of France* Town of Dax, Landes, FranceIn Star Trek:...
, 1925-1932 - Tourism Pavilion, exposition internationale de la houille blanche et du tourismeInternational Exhibition of Hydropower and TourismThe International exhibition of hydropower and tourism was an exhibition which ran from May 21 to October 25, 1925 in the city of Grenoble in France, in order to dedicate the city, the capital of "white coal".In 1925, Grenoble was the site of an international exhibition on hydroelectric power and...
, GrenobleGrenobleGrenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, 1925 - the Rue d'Ulm buildings of the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifsÉcole nationale supérieure des arts décoratifsThe École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs is a public university of art and design and is one of the most prestigious French grande école...
, Paris, 1927-1928 - French Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia, with sculptor Carlo SarrabezollesCharles Marie Louis Joseph SarrabezollesCharles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles , also known as Carlo Sarrabezolles , was a French sculptor....
, 1928-1933 - two pavilions and the illuminated lights for the Paris Colonial ExpositionParis Colonial ExpositionThe Paris Colonial Exhibition was a six-month colonial exhibition held in Paris, France in 1931 that attempted to display the diverse cultures and immense resources of France's colonial possessions.-History :The exposition opened on 6 May 1931 in the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern outskirts of...
, with fellow architect André Granet, 1931 - decorative scheme for the SS NormandieSS NormandieSS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.Her novel...
, circa 1932 - 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 TrocadéroJardins du TrocadéroJardins du Trocadéro 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....
, for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne was held from May 25 to November 25, 1937 in Paris, France...
, Paris - French pavilion for the 1939 New York World's Fair1939 New York World's FairThe 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, with architect Peter Patout, 1939 - interior of the French Embassy, London, 1946-1948
- residential building towers within the Old Port of MarseilleMarseilleMarseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, 1946-1952 - the reinforced concreteReinforced concreteReinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
Sainte-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus church, MetzMetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
, begun 1937, completed 1954
Sources
- this page translated from its French equivalent accessed 9/13/2010