Louis Cane, patinated bronze and oak bureau plat, c. 2001, France. The walnut parquet top over three frieze drawers, cast bronze frame and pulls, from the “Caillebotis” series, brass stamped “Cane”, dated, numbered 2/8, and “CISELURE D’ART ILE DE FRANCE CAI”. Provenance: Contents from the home of a recording industry insider. Known primarily as a painter, Louis Cane turned his attention to furniture design in the 1990s. In the tradition of Diego Giacometti, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, and Garouste & Bonetti, his work blurs the boundaries of fine art and design, with each piece produced in a very limited signed edition. Born in 1943, Cane studied interior design and both fine and decorative arts before embarking on a career in painting and sculpture. He belonged to a generation of artists who reached maturity in the revolutionary atmosphere of May 1968 and later formed the Supports/Surfaces movement — a short-lived but influential group that rejected the second School of Paris, pursuing a theoretical approach to painting. Louis Cane, furniture designer. In bringing together historical forms and techniques, Cane has always been alert to the use of figuration and color, and he has a deep admiration for the work of master craftsmen. He set up his furniture workshops to employ the top practitioners in their fields: bronze workers, marquetry experts and cabinetmakers — and the sale celebrates them, too.
