Max Le Verrier Art Deco Lamps, Sculptures & Bookends

Max Le Verrier sculptuur
Max Le Verrier lamp
Boekensteunen van Max Le Verrier
Max Le Verrier panthersculptuur
Origineel art-decowerk van Max Le Verrier
Art Deco lamp Max Le Verrier
Max Le Verrier sculptuurcollectie

DECONAMIC is the official reseller of Max Le Verrier
Art Deco lamps, sculptures and bookends.
All items are cast by the artist’s great-grandson using the original molds.
A Certificate of Authenticity is provided with every purchase.

Max le Verrier

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Explore our exclusive selection of Max Le Verrier lamps, sculptures and bookends

These timeless symbols of French Art Deco are sought after by collectors worldwide. Discover iconic lamps such as Clarté, Espana, Enigme, animal sculptures like Baghera, Ouganda, Pluie or the elegant Delassement bookends.
Each piece is a testament to craftsmanship, character and originality. If you’re looking for a particular model, please contact us. We are happy to assist. 

About Max Le Verrier

Max Le Verrier was a pioneer of the French Art Deco movement.
As sculptor, designer and founder, he left an indelible mark on decorative arts history. His works represent the elegance, vitality and geometric purity of the interwar period.
His Clarté lamp – a woman holding a globe – remains one of the most iconic Art Deco lamps ever made and was shown in prestigious exhibitions such as the Pompidou Center and Harrod’s.

History of Max Le Verrier, 1891 – 1973

Louis Octave Maxime Le Verrier was born in Neuilly sur Seine to a Belgian mother and a Parisian father who was a goldsmith and jeweller. He served in the French army during the First World War before studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva where he met the artists and fellow students Pierre Le Faguays and Marcel Bouraine. The three artists became life-long friends.
In 1919 Max Le Verrier opened his own foundry, producing sculptures and decorative objects, lamps, bookends and car mascots. Drawn by his love of animals to zoos and circuses, he carved his first sculpture, the famous pelican in a typical 1925’s style. He signed the work with his pseudonym Artus. During this period Max Le Verrier created many models of animals f.e. panthers like Baghera, Ouganda and Jungle, an impressive Lion, storks, squirrels and horses most of which where cast in art metal in preference to bronze.
It was in front of the cages of the Jardin des Plantes that Max le Verrier created his work monkey with umbrella, a three-year-old chimpanzee who answered to the pretty name of Boubou. A great friendship was born between the monkey and the artist. Boubou held by the zookeeper outside the cage, agreed to strike a pose in exchange for bananas. Moreover, every morning, he looked at the side of the entrance to wait for the one who was going to immortalize him in. The sculpture Pluie received a medal at the Salon des Humoristes in 1927.
Among the artists whose work he cast were the sculptors: Pierre Le Faguays, pseudonym Fayral, Marcel Bouraine, pseudonym Derenne & Briand, Raymonde Guerbe, Jules Masson, Charles, Janle, Denis, De Marco and Garcia as well as his own works. These items were sold in the atelier at 100 rue du Théâtre in Paris.
Max Le Verrier was a Full Member of the Société des Artistes Décorateurs and exhibited there regularly. He had a stand at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels in the Grand Palais, where his display was awarded a Gold Medal. His stand at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition was awarded a Medal of Honour.
In 1928 Max Le Verrier carved from a live model, his famous Clarté lamp which depicted a nude woman on tip-toe with an illuminated globe in her outstretched hands, the main piece of art of his collection. In fact, he needed 3 different life models: one for the head, another one for the chest, and one for the legs. For this last part, he asked a dancer playing in Josephine Baker’s ballets to pose. This model came in 4 sizes, Lueur Lumineuse, Lumina, Clarté, Clarté life size. The majority of Le Verrier’s figurines are of maidens with a similar idealized athleticism.
The Clarté lamp was displayed in the exhibition Lumières at the Georges Pompidou Center from May to August 1985 but also in 1987 the exhibition Made in France at Harrod’s in London and in the exhibition De main de maître at the Grand Palais in Paris. It was also exhibited in the Martinez hotel in Cannes in 2000.
Max Le Verrier worked throughout the 1930s. He was arrested in 1944 for his work in the French Resistance, but after the War he continued to sculpt until his death in 1973.

His legacy continues today through his descendants who continue the original casting process. Collecting a Max Le Verrier sculpture is owning a piece of Art Deco history.

Recommended literature about Max le Verrier

  • Max Le Verrier, un esprit Art Déco – a richly illustrated monograph by Bénédicte Wattel & Damien Blanchet Le Verrier.
    Editions Louvre Victoire.
  • Art Deco sculpture, Alistair Duncan.
  • Art Deco sculpture, Victor Arwas, Academy.
  • Art Deco and other figures, Brian Catley, Antique collectors club.
  • Art Deco a guide for collectors, Katherine Morrison McClinton.
  • Statuettes of the Art Deco period, Alberto Shayo.
  • Bronzes, sculptors and founders, H. Berman, Abage.
  • Lampen 1890-1930, Albrecht Bangert.
  • Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, E. Benezit, Gründ.
  • The dictionary of sculptors in bronze, James Mackay, Antique Collectors Club.
  • Dictionnaire illustré des sculpteurs animaliers & fondeurs de l’antiquité à nos jours, Jean Charles Hachet, Argus Valentines.