Robert Mallet-Stevens
French, 1886?1945
Hôtel des voyageurs (Hotel), 1987 (published)
(Originally published 1922)

Une Cite Moderne: Drawings by Robert Mallet-Stevens, Architect

Saturday, October 31, 2009—Sunday, September 19, 2010
Gallery 368
Free Exhibition

This exhibition in the MIA's Modernist Paperworks Gallery features a selection from the 1987 reprint of Une Cite Moderne by Paris-born architect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens. Influenced heavily by Austrian architect and designer Josef Hoffmann, founder of the Wiener Werkstatte (1903-32), Mallet-Stevens conceived Une Cite Moderne (A Modern City) in 1917, publishing it in portfolio form in 1922. His architectural drawings feature modern versions of public buildings typically found in cities, showcasing the rectilinear geometry and abstracted ornament favored by Hoffman.

In 1925, Mallet-Stevens exhibited his interior designs at L'Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts) in Paris. In the 1920s and '30s, Mallet-Stevens went on to become the preeminent designer of the Art Deco style in France.