ALFRED PORTENEUVE

(1896 – 1949)

Trained in architecture at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, Porteneuve is probably better known as the nephew and collaborator of the eminent French Art Deco designer, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann.

With Ruhlmann he participated in the design of l’Hotel du Collectionneur pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris. A fine designer on his own, Porteneuve opened his own workshop after Ruhlmann’s death in 1933. He favored fruitwoods, laminates and metal, sometimes collaborating with lacquerist Jean Dunand.

Porteneuve decorated and furnished numerous private residences as well as commercial offices, government installations, and interiors of the 1939 oceanliner Pasteur.