About Edgar Brandt

He was born in Paris on December 24, 1880. His family moved to Orleans when Brandt was 4 years old. At age 18, he graduated the Brevet Technicien Superieur and did two years military service with the 153rd infantry in Nancy. Brandt was awarded a gold medal 1st class, at the Salon des Artistes Francais, and became a member of the vetting team of the organization. In 1904, he was ordered to go to Toul near Nancy for military service. There it became apparent to him that the French Infantry had no light versatile weapon with a long target-range. At the end of the year he returned to Paris with the order to design and make a 60mm mortar and the required ammunition. Trained in the Ecole Professionnelle de Vierzon, he set up an ironmongery in Paris. There he created gates, balustrades, floor lamps and chandeliers in bronze, hammered wrought iron and steel for grand houses and ocean liners. His style was typical for the period with cone-fires, branches, fruits, and even birds and human faces. After the WWI, he created the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Paris Arc de Triomphe. He participated in the famous Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs de 1925 in Paris, making the monumental gate of the exposition and participating in the Hotel du Collectionneur of Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann. Then his style changed a little, including more geometric forms and purer patterns. He opened a gallery in New York and another one at the Boulevard Malesherbes in Paris. He created for embassies, hotels and liners. All the rich and famous wanted and paid for his works. He was awarded the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor, and received the Medal of Honor for Applied Art by the Societe des Artistes Francais In 1939, he moved to Switzerland and died in Geneva in 1960.