Francis JOURDAIN
(b Paris, 2 Nov 1876; d Paris, 31 Dec 1958)

Designer, writer and painter, son of (1) Frantz Jourdain. He trained as a painter, developing an intimiste style related to that of Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. In 1911 he gave up painting and, inspired by the writings of Adolf Loos, turned to furniture design. In 1912 he opened a small furniture factory, Les Ateliers Modernes, and designed interiors composed of modular wooden furniture for workers; some were sold through the socialist newspaper L’Humanité.

By 1919 he owned a shop, Chez Francis Jourdain. From 1913 to 1928 he exhibited regularly at the Salon d’Automne and with the Société des Artistes décorateurs. He was a prolific writer on modern art and aesthetics and published numerous articles in French journals, arguing against the ostentatious luxury that characterized most French design during this period. In 1929 he was a founder of the avant-garde group the Union des Artistes Modernes, of which he was an active member until 1947; of particular note was his interior for an Intellectual Worker (travailleur intellectuel), exhibited in the pavilion at the Exposition Internationale in Paris in 1937.
Between 1925 and 1930 Jourdain collaborated with Robert Mallet-Stevens, designing interiors for the architect’s villas in the Rue Mallet-Stevens (1927), for the Magasin Bally (1928) and for the offices of the magazine La Semaine à Paris (1930). Jourdain’s designs were characterized by his concern for simplicity and his preference for uncomplicated construction. He was able to create a sense of spaciousness in the most restricted areas, using his systems of built-in furniture and storage. These were not only functional but also decorative in their lively interplay of geometric forms. Jourdain also took an active interest in politics throughout his career. In 1927, with Henri Barbusse (1873–1935), he founded Les Amis de L’URSS, establishing ties with Soviet artists and architects in Moscow. In 1932 he was a founder of the anti-fascist committee Amsterdam–Pleyel, and of the Association des Ecrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires.

WRITINGS
‘Le Rationalisme en art’, Cah. Rationalistes, lvii (1937), pp. 1–12
Pierre Bonnard ou les vertus de la liberté (Paris, 1946)
Sans remords ni rancune (Paris, 1953)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Moussinac: Francis Jourdain (Geneva, 1955)
A. Fournier: ‘Francis Jourdain: Parisien’, Europe, xlv–xlvi (1968), pp. 320–32
Francis Jourdain (exh. cat. by J. Rollin, Saint-Denis, Mus. A. & Hist., 1976)
A. Despond and S. Tise: Jourdain (Paris, 1988)

SUZANNE TISE

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