Pierre Legrain

Pierre-Emile Legrain (1889-1929) was a French bookbinder, framer, landscape designer, furniture designer, and interior architect. This is the first full-length monograph about him, exploring his life and his creations in every genre, and highlighting the formal links between his work as an ensemblier, bookbinder, and draftsman.

Pierre Legrain is credited with revolutionising bookbinding in the early 20th century. In 1916 he was commissioned by the French bibliophile, couturier, and collector Jacques Doucet to design bindings for his extensive library. He created nearly 400 unique bindings for him, and numerous frames for Doucet's exceptional modern art collection - including a steel frame for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - as well as a series of African-inspired furniture. He was a member of the UAM, whose logo he designed, and he associated with Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Jean Cocteau, the sculptors Gustave Miklos and Henri Laurens, the painter Francis Picabia, and the milliner Jeanne Tachard for whom he designed a garden.

His rare body of work - a hundred or so pieces of furniture and a few interiors - is dispersed today in museums and private collections throughout the world. Text in French.

200 colour, 150 b/w images

About the Author

A journalist and art historian, Laurence Salmon teaches at the Ecole superieure d'art et de design (ESAD) in Orleans and at the Ecole cantonale d'art (ECAL) in Lausanne. She contributes to Les Echos/Serie Limitee, Elle Deco, Intramuros, Le Jardin des Modes, Maison Francaise,and to the Dutch magazine Frame. She curated the exhibition 'In Progress, le design face au progres' at the Grand Hornu Images, Belgium. She is the author or co-author of numerous works including Christian Lacroix vu par David Dubois et Christian Rizzo (Bernard Chauveau, 2009), and L'experience de la ceramique (Bernard Chauveau, 2007).