La Chaux-de-Fonds is a town of 38,000 inhabitants in a green setting in the Swiss Haut-Jura, 1,000 metres above sea level. It owes its structure, appearance, a large part of its character, and even its existence as a town to the watch-making industry. Its grid-pattern layout comes from determined and idealistic town planning, born out of the Age of the Enlightenment, applied to its reconstruction and development following the accidental fire in 1794 which destroyed the whole village: today La Chaux-de-Fonds is the most important Swiss example of coherent urban construction from the 19th century.
Art Nouveau was imported to La Chaux-de-Fonds at the end of the 19th century under the influence of watch-making patrons and their trade representatives, and finds pride of place in the watch-making arena. Window panes, tiles, stairwell designs, stuccos, wood and iron work found their way into new constructions.
Unique in Switzerland, it is at La Chaux-de-Fonds school of art that Art Nouveau found an original field of expression. Charles L’Eplattenier (1874-1946), an artist sensitive to the precepts of Art Nouveau and an enthusiastic teacher, developed a school whose expression was both original and ambitious. His advanced courses in art and decoration, launched in October 1905, introduced certain students of the school of art to the study of nature, among them Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, later Le Corbusier. The idea that “only nature can inspire” drove the young professor and his students to the study of the regional flora and fauna and to create a specific stylistic vocabulary called Pine tree Style. Together they achieved remarkable results in the creation of numerous designs (commissioned publicly or privately), which bear witness to exceptional industriousness. The creations include the most diverse objects: watch boxes, various ornamental pieces and even architecture with, for example, the Villa Fallet project in 1906. The Crematorium (1909-1910) is the most complete of all these works and is considered a masterpiece of this intense period of artistic innovation.
Geographically, it is interesting to note that La Chaux-de-Fonds is situated where French or Belgian Art Nouveau – typified by curves – and the much more geometric German (Jugendstil) or Austrian (Sezessionstil) Art Nouveau meet.
“The basis of our decorative style continues to be the pine tree. At its various ages, this tree offers endless decorative possibilities when studied as a whole or in detail. Large silver thistles, gentians and the like, together with the local fauna, lushly complement these elements.”
Image | artist | function | date |
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Aubert, Georges | painter, sculptor, drawer, painter-decorator, teacher ; co-founder of the Ateliers d’art réunis (1910) ; teacher at the Nouvelle Section de l’Ecole d’art (1911-1914) | 1886-1961 | |
Jeanneret, Charles-Edouard known as Le Corbusier | architect, town planner, theoretician, writer, publisher, painter, engraver, drawer, sculptor, furniture and tapestry designer ; co-founder of the Ateliers d’art réunis (1910) ; teacher at the Nouvelle Section de l’Ecole d’art (1911-1914) | 1887-1965 | |
L’Eplattenier, Charles | painter, drawer, illustrator, sculptor, architect, painter-decorator, educationalist ; teacher at the Ecole d’art de La Chaux-de-Fonds (1897-1914), creator of the Cours supérieur in 1905, founder of the Nouvelle Section in 1911 | 1874-1946 | |
Perrin, Léon | sculptor, decorator ; co-founder of the Ateliers d’art réunis ; teacher at the Nouvelle Section de l’Ecole d’art (1911-1914) | 1886-1978 | |
Evard, André | painter, drawer and miniaturist ; co-founder of La Maison d’Art in 1903 | 1876-1972 | |
Goering, Marie-Louise | painter, watercoloursit, embroiderer, textile designer | 1876-1973 | |
Humbert, Charles Auguste | painter, painter-decorator. Husband of Madeleine Woog | 1891-1958 | |
Lauper, Charles | drawer, painter-decorator, editor for the Revue internationale d’Horlogerie ; co-founder of La Maison d’Art in 1903 | 1878-1915 | |
Niestlé, Adrien | engraver | 1887-1972 | |
Perrochet-Junod, Jeanne Adrienne | sculptor, ceramist | 1878-1956 | |
Reussner, Charles | sculptor, painter, art caster ; joined the Ateliers d’art réunis in 1910 | 1886-1961 | |
Woog, Madeleine | painter. Wife of Charles Humbert | 1892-1929 | |
Boillot, Léon Constant | architect | 1871-1956 | |
Chapallaz, René | architect | 1881-1976 | |
Crivelli, Jean | entrepreneur, architect | 1871-1960 | |
Gogler, Charles Edouard | furniture designer and manufacturer; owner of the shop Maison Moderne | 1885-1976 | |
Péter, Georges | Frédéric (1886-1966) & Maurice (1887-1972) cabinet makers at La Sagne | 1862-1941 |
Cover | Author | Description | date | Link |
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David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch (dirs) | Le Style salpin. Une expérience de l'Art nouveau [édition 2006 revue et augmentée] Somogy, Paris Scheidegger&Spiess |
2006 | ||
H. Allen Brooks | Le Corbusier's formative years : Charles-Edouard Jeanneret at La Chaux-de-Fonds University of Chicago Press |
1997 | ||
Maurice Favre | "Le monde du Cours supérieur par les carnets de Charles Humbert" Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n° 2 |
1998 | ||
Cathy Gfeller | "L’essor de l’Art nouveau ŕ La Chaux-de-Fonds ou Les débuts de l’Ecole d’art (1900-1914)" Scientific article in Nouvelle revue neuchâteloise, 9e année, no. 34 |
1992 | ||
Anouk Hellmann | "La participation de Charles L’Eplattenier (1874-1946) ŕ l’embellissement du crématoire et du cimetičre de La Chaux-de-Fonds (1909-1937)" Scientific article Mémoire de licence, Université de Genčve, Faculté des Lettres |
2000 | ||
Anouk Hellmann | "Les Ateliers d’art réunis de La Chaux-de-Fonds (1910-1916)" Scientific article in Art + Architecture en Suisse, année 53, n°3 |
2002 | ||
Anouk Hellmann | "Le crématoire de La Chaux-de-Fonds: un monument singulier" Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n° 3-4 |
2003 | ||
Anouk Hellmann | « Charles L’Eplattenier, artiste et pédagogue (1874-1946) » Scientific article in Michel Schlup (dir.), Biographies neuchâteloises (1900-1950). Hauterive : Attinger |
2005 | ||
Jean-Daniel Jeanneret | « La Chaux-de-Fonds et l’Art nouveau » Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n° 2 |
1998 | ||
Jean-Daniel Jeanneret | « Le Crématoire de La Chaux-de-Fonds : une śuvre d’art totale » Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n° 2 |
1998 | ||
Claire Piguet | « L’Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel : une architecture et un ensemble décoratif » Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n° 3-4 |
2003 | ||
Marie-Eve Scheurer | « Le mouvement de l’Art nouveau et l’Ecole d’art de La Chaux-de-Fonds ŕ l’époque de Charles L’Eplattenier » Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n° 2 |
1998 | ||
Jean-Daniel Jeanneret [dir.], Marikit Taylor, Aline Henchoz, Jérôme Heim | Guide Bon Pied Bon Œil – 262 objets du patrimoine à découvrir La Chaux-de-Fonds, Fondation pour le patrimoine de La Chaux-de-Fonds |
2022 | ||
Fabienne Hoffmann | « Les vitraux Art nouveau de La Chaux-de-Fonds: l'étude d'un patrimoine domestique » Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n°1-2 |
2022 | ||
Nadja Maillard | « Le premier prend la porte et la cage. Le deuxième prend la cage et la porte. Que fait le troisième? Réflexions sur quelques cages d'escalier du canton de Neuchâtel » Scientific article in Revue historique neuchâteloise, n°1-2 |
2022 | ||
Marikit Taylor | « What happened to Art nouveau? Le Corbusier, his mentors, and what they meant » Scientific article in Coup de fouet, n°21 |
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Marikit Taylor | « Marie-Louise Goering, a Style Sapin Creator », Scientific article in Coup de fouet, n°26 |
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Marikit Taylor | «While the boys were playing, Marie-Louise Goering was silently redesigning La Chaux-de-Fonds » Scientific article in Actes du colloque: Breaking the Art Nouveau Glass Ceiling – The women of Art nouveau, CDF International Congress, Barcelona |
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Jean-Bernard Vuillème | Le Style sapin à couteaux tirés éditions SUR LE HAUT, |
2022 | ||
Anouk Hellmann (dir) | Gravée dans le temps École d'arts appliqués de La Chuax-de-Fonds (1872-2022, Zurich, Scheidegger & Spiess |
Partner:
Ville de La Chaux-de-Fonds
Service de l’urbanisme, des mobilités et de l’environnement
Passage Léopold-Robert 3
Case postale 370
CH – 2301 La Chaux-de-Fonds
Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)32 967 63 96
E-mail: marikit.taylor@ne.ch
Local Partners:
Ecole d’arts appliqués
Musée des beaux-arts
Tourisme Neuchâtelois Montagnes
Links
Art nouveau à La Chaux-de-Fonds
Ecole d’arts appliqués
World Heritage in Switzerland
The City of La Chaux-de-Fonds has acquired a building that is emblematic of the Style Sapin. This house was built in 1906 according to plans by Charles Édouard Jeanneret, the future Le Corbusier.
The Musée des beaux-arts of La Chaux-de-Fonds presents the exhibition “Sortir du bois. À la lisière du Style Sapin”, which examines the legacy of Art Nouveau in La Chaux-de-Fonds by highlighting artists who were previously neglected or forgotten.
Join La Chaux-de-Fonds for a weekend journey through the Style Sapin.
Visits, meetings and concerts will be on the agenda.