Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum


The French Artists Who Designed The Interiors of the Residence of Prince Asaka

Henri Rapin
French painter and interior designer.
Rapin studied under the neo-classical painter Jean-Léon Gérôme and first submitted his works to the Salon around 1900. From 1903, he began submitting furniture to the Salon, and in 1910, submitted stylistically simple furniture made of elaborate materials.
In 1924, he was appointed chair of the Art Department at the Sèvres National Porcelain Manufacture and the School of Decorative Arts. As the deputy chairman of the Association of Decorative Artists, he gave his relentless effort for the opening of the Art Deco Exposition in 1925. At the same time, he demonstrated his talents as an artist at many of the pavilions at the Exposition, among which were the designs for the Great Hall and the Dining Hall of the French Embassy Pavilion, and the garden of the Sèvres National Porcelain Manufacture Pavilion.
Upon construction of the Prince Asaka Residence, he was requested by Prince Asaka himself in 1929 to take charge of the interior decoration.

Ivan-Leon Brancho
Sculptor. Branchot became a member of the Association of French Artists around 1893 and submitted his works to the Salon thereafter. Two of Branchot's works that can be seen at the Prince Asaka Residence today are the marble relief in the Great Hall and the relief on the wall of the Great Dining Hall.


Jewelry designer and glassware artist. Lalique studied drawing and sculpture in Paris and London. He established himself as the authority of Art Nouveau jewelry design at the Paris World Exposition in 1900 with his sensual works using plants, insects, and nudes as motifs. In 1906, he was commissioned by the perfumer François Coty to design perfume bottles, and from then on, became involved in glass art. Using the techniques of pressed glass and blown glass, which were highly artistic and at the same time, could satisfy the needs of mass production, he produced diverse works ranging from small objects such as car mascots to monumental masterpieces. Lalique was also renowned as an Art Deco glass artist. At the Art Deco Exposition in 1925, he had his own pavilion and produced a monumental glass water fountain next to it.
For the Prince Asaka Residence, he designed the glass-relief door for the front entrance and the chandeliers for the Grand Guest Room and the Great Dining Hall.

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