Antique Hammered Mixed-Metal Bookend Paul Beau & Co Montreal Art Deco - LOOK

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Antique Hammered Mixed-Metal Bookend Paul Beau & Co Montreal Art Deco - LOOK:
$77.50

Antique Hammered Mixed-Metal Bookend Paul Beau & Co Montreal Art Deco - LOOK
This is a true diamond in the ruff. Paul Beau is a Canadian artist from 1871 to 1949 and has done wonderful work in brass, hammered brass and copper etc. This work is one of his more sought after and marked at the bottom. Some of the more desirable items are the ones were he used mixed metals. This bookend was done in 2 different metals and is hand hammered and punched. Measures 5.5\" tall and 4.5\" wide. Signed as pictured. No damage, just the usual wear and tear due to age.
I have included the history of this man. His things are sold at high end galleries and very sought after. Many of his works are in Beginning his career in 1897 as a watchmaker and antiques dealer, Beau became interested in metal work through the restoration and repair of old objects.He first exhibited his own work as a metal craftsman at the Royal Canadian Academy in 1902 at the Montreal Art Association.By 1903 he had begun to fabricate objects designed by Montreal architects William and Edward Maxwell for the Provincial Legislature in Regina.Following the fire which destroyed the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament in 1916, Beau moved to Ottawa on a part-time basis where he set up and directed a workshop which supplied a broad range of decorative metal work for the new building. Boxes, coffers, desk sets, vases, jardinières, trays, umbrella stands, and irons and fireplace implements by Beau, often executed in combinations of copper, brass, and wrought iron were popular gifts in the inter-war era.He exhibited in the Guild\'s 1907 and 1927 exhibitions. Paul Beau:One of the few Canadians who was able to devote his career to the execution of his own hand work was Paul Beau, a metal craftsman from Montreal.Paul Beau was born in Montreal, November 1, 1871.He began his career as a dealer in antiques and watches. After 1906, Paul Beau & Co. refer to themselves as Artistic Metal Workers offering Antique Art Goods, Old Clocks, Ancient Arms, Brass and Copper Jardinieres.He maintained a shop and residence from 1915 - 1922 at 291 Mountain Street in Montreal Paul Beau was part of the Arts and Crafts movement in Canada. With the onset of cheap and rapid methods of machine manufacture in the applied arts, quick profits quickly outweighed the respect and demand for the craftsman-artist.Beau refused to rely on machines and worked in the tradition of the early European metalsmiths. A characteristic feature of Beau\'s works is the combination of metals of contrasting colours, such as employing brass for the body of an object and trimming it with decorative bands of red copper. The style of Beau\'s works would vary from jardiniere of Gothic inspired motifs, or an urn of classical shape ornamented with Greek geometric patterns, to a letter box with embossed naturalistic leaves after British arts and crafts design.Beau was fond of adding ornate, cast brass plaques or handles and feet to his pieces, while keeping the main body of the piece as simple as possible. Often, Beau would treat the brass with chemicals to produce a dark brown shiny patina which was intended to give the piece an antique look. This antique or bronzed appearance was admired by Beau\'s clients and often preferred to the bright lustre of new brass. To identify his work, Paul Beau usually, but not always, stamped the metal with his mark: PAUL BEAU & Co/MONTREAL within a circle. This is the most common form of his mark but some pieces (late 1920\'s to the 1940\'s when Beau no longer ran his shop) are known to simply bear the name, PAUL BEAU. Paul Beau received some recognition for his first architectural commissions from the Montreal firm of Edward and William S. Maxwell. According to the architects\' record books, Paul Beau executed on a regular basis from 1903 to 1916, creating electric fixtures, fireplace accessories, door hardware, wrought-iron grilles, lanterns and even weather vanes for the Maxwells\' buildings. As a result of his reputation as a metalsmith, Paul Beau was commissioned to undertake the ornamental hand-wrought ironwork in the Centre Block of the Federal Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. For Paul Beau, this Ottawa commission was the high point in his career. In the 1940\'s, Beau was in his seventies and found little demand for his work. Metal was scarce due to the war when copper and brass were needed for bombs and ammunitions rather than decorative metal artwares. In his seventy-eighth year, a forgotten artist and in a difficult financial position, Paul Beau took his own life under the large cross atop Mount Royal overlooking Montreal.