The term sideboard, also known as a dresser, is a long and low piece of furniture, usually placed in a dining room. The sideboard can also be used as a decorating tool.

There are vintage art deco sideboard and art nouveau sideboard. How do you recognize an art nouveau type of thread? Who are the great sideboard designers who have marked this style? Find out below all the answers to these questions.

The creators of famous art nouveau furniture

Many furniture designers have marked the history of the art nouveau style. Three of them have particularly distinguished themselves with exceptional creations

Louis Majorelle

Born in the city of Toulouse on September 26, 1859 and died in Nancy on January 15, 1926, Louis Majorelle also known as Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle was a French decorator and furniture designer. He made his furniture in the French tradition of the cabinetmaker. Louis Majorelle was one of the world's leading designers of Art Nouveau furniture. In the early 1900s he became one of the vice-presidents of the Nancy School.

In the 1880s, Louis Majorelle made pastiches of old Louis XV-style furniture. In 1894, he presented them at the exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Art in Nancy. His meeting with Emile Gallé will profoundly influence him. Thus, as early as 1890, his furniture was greatly inspired by nature: dragonflies, plant stems, lily leaves, etc.

He also adds metal to the drawers on some of his works. Louis Majorelle entered the pantheon of furniture designers of the Art Nouveau movement at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, France in 1900. His works will make him popular in the world.

Eugene Gaillard

Although he studied law, he would never pursue a career in law. Eugene Gaillard became a sculptor, craftsman and furniture designer. This conversion earned him recognition as one of the leading Art Nouveau artists of his time.

The interiors, furniture and textiles designed by Gaillard were also marketed by Siegfried Bing through his Art Nouveau House. Until 1914, Eugène Gaillard designed furniture of bewitching elegance in the Art Nouveau style.

His approach to design and patterns reveals a floral inspiration, but is not intended to imitate nature as he explains in a 1906 essay entitled "About Furniture". In 1901, Eugène Gaillard co-founded the Society of Decorative Artists, exhibiting his creations at their fairs.

Maurice Dufrène

Maurice Dufrène was born in Paris in 1876. From an early age, he had a certain interest in furniture making. He collects wood scraps from his father's workshop and uses them in his own creations. He eventually dropped out of painting at the School of Decorative Arts to work for Julius Meier-Grafe at La Maison Moderne.

It is a gallery that employs a team of craftsmen to produce original furniture editions. At the age of 23, Dufrène became director of the gallery. It was during this period that his creations evolved into the popular style of Art Nouveau. Maurice Dufrène exhibited his own works for the first time in 1902. From 1903, he regularly presented his productions at the Salon d'Automne and at the Salons of the National Society of Fine Arts.

Buffet art déco style 1930

The art nouveau era sideboard from 1890 to 1910

We often remember the last years of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century with a certain romanticism. Images of luxurious and elaborate interiors are common. Furniture resembling trees and flowers has become very popular and the style that has emerged is known as Art Nouveau. It takes its name from a Parisian art gallery that encouraged innovative designs.

The style had some local variations in the different places where it had developed. But most Art Nouveau furniture had common features. They were often inspired by nature and included many references to trees and flowers. Many curved lines were used for the different elements of the drawings.

Art Nouveau sought asymmetry and, although the design of the furniture continued to be mainly symmetrical due to its functional nature, designers sometimes incorporated small asymmetrical details. Refined finishes were common and noble woods such as mahogany, walnut or maple were associated with more exotic woods such as ebony or snakewood, delicately polished and varnished.

How do I recognize an art nouveau sideboard?

Many wonder how differentiate art deco from art nouveau, if it is easy, recognize an ancient 19th century bahut and identify its style is less so.

Art Nouveau furniture is characterized by organic shapes and curved lines. The motifs we see here are the result of the influence of nature shaped by an excellent craftsmanship. Solid wood is the main material used to make Art Nouveau furniture. It is highly polished and shiny, giving the sideboard a very elegant style. Europe and the United States are the countries where this form of furniture has become popular.

While the beauty and grace of Art Nouveau furniture was popular at the time, the trend has not changed today. In the aftermath of the First World War, the Art Nouveau movement that symbolized opulence was abandoned. However, it has been back in the spotlight for several decades.