Jourdain, Frantz Calixte Raphaël

Jourdain, Frantz Calixte Raphaël (1847–1935). Antwerp-born architect and writer. He was influential as the designer of the Art Nouveau La Samaritaine Department Store in Paris (1905–10), extended by him in 1914 and 1926–8. He saw Art Nouveau as the C19 equivalent of C18 French Rococo, and argued for gracious ornament to bring elegance to buildings. His fulminations against a slavish adherence to Beaux-Arts Classicism before 1914 were influential at the time, and were associated with the search for a renewal of French culture. His son, Francis (1876–1958), was an important interior designer of the Modern Movement, exhibiting at the Paris exhibitions of 1925 and 1937.

Bibliography

Barre-Despond & and Tisé (1991);
Borsi & and Godoli (1978);
Clausen (1987);
Jervis (1984);
Jourdain (1893, 1895, 1902, 1914);
Rey (1923)