Mid 20th century French Mahogany Reclining Armchair in the Style of Jean-Pierre Hagnauer

Parisian designer Jean-Pierre Hagnauer. In 1945 Hagnauer began his career as an antiques dealer and interior designer. His teacher was the famed post-war French interior designer Georges Geffroy, whose influence was extensively seen within Hagnauer’s apartment, located on the rue de Seine, Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Adjoined to Hagnauer’s apartment was his shop that housed no display window. Only known to the most important of collectors, Hagnauer’s surreptitious approach and sophisticated nature are reflected further in the 1979 publication, Architectural Digest: International Interiors: “Everything about him is understated, reassuring. He says little and is content to let his remarkable collection of furniture make its own statement” (pp. 76-79). Hagnauer produced distinguished interiors for his clients, from his work for Jean Cocteau, where he arranged the décor of his country house near Fountainebleau, to the interior of a houseboat for the actor Jean Marais. Hagnauer would always exhibit at the biennial Salon des Antiquaires and every May at the prestigious exhibition held in the Hôtel George V. Regarding his own thoughts on décor, Hagnauer strived to avoid anachronisms, trends and being literal, an effort he also applied to his own furniture design and practice.

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