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Maquette for "Arbre Cubiste (Cubist Tree)"

Designer Jan Martel French
Designer Joël Martel French
1925
Not on view
Twins Jan and Joël Martel are best known for the four concrete Cubist "trees" they designed for a garden at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, a maquette of which is shown here. More than fifteen feet high, each tree had a cruciform trunk supporting quadrangular planes attached vertically and at angles, suggesting foliage. Like other examples of cutting-edge design at the fair, the Martel trees were derided in the popular press.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Maquette for "Arbre Cubiste (Cubist Tree)"
  • Designer: Jan Martel (French, Nantes 1896–1966 Paris)
  • Designer: Joël Martel (French, Nantes 1896–1966 Paris)
  • Date: 1925
  • Medium: Painted wood
  • Dimensions: 31 1/2 in. × 15 1/8 in. × 15 in. (80 × 38.4 × 38.1 cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gifts of Himan Brown and Adele Simpson, by exchange, 1997
  • Object Number: 1997.110
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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