LOUIS SÜE
LOUIS SÜE
Louis Süe was born into a family of wine merchants in the Bordeaux region. He was the eldest son of Henri Marie Sidonius Süe and his wife Marie-Elisa Mathilde Süe, née Paulet. He had one brother. He was the great nephew of the writer Eugène Süe and the family also boasted some famous doctors.
After his secondary school studies in Bordeaux, Louis Süe enrolled at Sainte-Barbe College in Paris. He prepared for the École Polytechnique but left in 1893 to become a student under Victor Laloux at Paris School of Fine Arts. He presented a project for a gymnasium in the first class competition and obtained his first bronze medal. His professor of theory was Georges Gromort. He qualified as a DPLG architect in June 1901 and began to build in 1903. In collaboration with the architect Paul Huillard, from 1903 onwards he created artists’ studios and investment properties in rue Cassini, boulevard Raspail and boulevard du Montparnasse. They set up business at 17 rue Boissonade in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. In 1906, they opened an agency at 81 rue Madame and then, in 1912, another agency at 27 quai Voltaire.
He joined up with André Groult and Paul Poiret before the outbreak of the First World War. He was involved in decorating Paul Poiret’s house – this was used to host the fashion parades of the famous couturier. In 1914 he was living at 124 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris. He was mobilized in the French Oriental Army.
He married his first wife, Hélène Marie Aline Macqueron, in 1916 and she bore him a son. He divorced her in 1919 and married his second wife, Suzanne Julia Béringuet, a painter and the sister of François Berouard.
He broke away from Art Nouveau and founded the Atelier français in the rue de Courcelles with Drésa, Roger de La Fresnaye and André Mare (1885-1932) who, in 1912, exhibited his cubist house. He then founded the Compagnie des Arts français in 1919 with André Mare with whom, after the war, he created the festival décor for the Victoire in Paris – in collaboration with the painter Gustave Jaulmes. Following the manufacture of mass-produced furniture, the Compagnie des arts français experienced financial difficulties and was bought out in 1922 by Gaston Monteux – an industrialist, shoe-maker and owner of the Raoul shoe shops.
He was a regular customer at the Closerie des Lilas, where he met his friends Claude Debussy, André Gide, Charles Guérin, Pierre Louÿs, André Mare, Jean Moréas and Jean de Tinan and the painters Pierre Bonnard, André Derain, André Dunoyer de Segonzac and Roger de La Fresnaye.
Many painters, including Dunoyer de Segonzac, Charles Dufresne and Véra joined this group, which asserted itself at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts of 1925. André Mare and Louis Süe created the pavilion of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Louis Süe was entrusted with decorating the theatre foyer at the palais de Chaillot and Paul Géraldy commissioned the two partners to create the decors for his play Robert et Marianne at the Comédie-Française in 1925.
He designed perfume bottles for the Jean Patou company and was the architect of the building at 24, quai de Béthune on the île Saint-Louis in Paris. He became partners with his nephew Gilbert Olivier Süe and they set up business at 122 rue de Grenelle from 1952 until his death in 1968. Louis Süe was a great sportsman who practiced running, tennis, rowing, sailing, the high jump and swimming. He was the friend and lover of the American dancer Isadora Duncan – whose children he tried in vain to save from drowning when their car fell into the river Seine.
After his secondary school studies in Bordeaux, Louis Süe enrolled at Sainte-Barbe College in Paris. He prepared for the École Polytechnique but left in 1893 to become a student under Victor Laloux at Paris School of Fine Arts. He presented a project for a gymnasium in the first class competition and obtained his first bronze medal. His professor of theory was Georges Gromort. He qualified as a DPLG architect in June 1901 and began to build in 1903. In collaboration with the architect Paul Huillard, from 1903 onwards he created artists’ studios and investment properties in rue Cassini, boulevard Raspail and boulevard du Montparnasse. They set up business at 17 rue Boissonade in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. In 1906, they opened an agency at 81 rue Madame and then, in 1912, another agency at 27 quai Voltaire.
He joined up with André Groult and Paul Poiret before the outbreak of the First World War. He was involved in decorating Paul Poiret’s house – this was used to host the fashion parades of the famous couturier. In 1914 he was living at 124 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris. He was mobilized in the French Oriental Army.
He married his first wife, Hélène Marie Aline Macqueron, in 1916 and she bore him a son. He divorced her in 1919 and married his second wife, Suzanne Julia Béringuet, a painter and the sister of François Berouard.
He broke away from Art Nouveau and founded the Atelier français in the rue de Courcelles with Drésa, Roger de La Fresnaye and André Mare (1885-1932) who, in 1912, exhibited his cubist house. He then founded the Compagnie des Arts français in 1919 with André Mare with whom, after the war, he created the festival décor for the Victoire in Paris – in collaboration with the painter Gustave Jaulmes. Following the manufacture of mass-produced furniture, the Compagnie des arts français experienced financial difficulties and was bought out in 1922 by Gaston Monteux – an industrialist, shoe-maker and owner of the Raoul shoe shops.
He was a regular customer at the Closerie des Lilas, where he met his friends Claude Debussy, André Gide, Charles Guérin, Pierre Louÿs, André Mare, Jean Moréas and Jean de Tinan and the painters Pierre Bonnard, André Derain, André Dunoyer de Segonzac and Roger de La Fresnaye.
Many painters, including Dunoyer de Segonzac, Charles Dufresne and Véra joined this group, which asserted itself at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts of 1925. André Mare and Louis Süe created the pavilion of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Louis Süe was entrusted with decorating the theatre foyer at the palais de Chaillot and Paul Géraldy commissioned the two partners to create the decors for his play Robert et Marianne at the Comédie-Française in 1925.
He designed perfume bottles for the Jean Patou company and was the architect of the building at 24, quai de Béthune on the île Saint-Louis in Paris. He became partners with his nephew Gilbert Olivier Süe and they set up business at 122 rue de Grenelle from 1952 until his death in 1968. Louis Süe was a great sportsman who practiced running, tennis, rowing, sailing, the high jump and swimming. He was the friend and lover of the American dancer Isadora Duncan – whose children he tried in vain to save from drowning when their car fell into the river Seine.