Souvenance, 1980

Paul-Etienne SAIN  

A student at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paul-Etienne Saïn entered Landowski's studio as a statuary sculptor. It was by chance that he began his career in lacquerware, which would occupy the next sixty years of his life.

From the 1925s, extraordinarily rich in terms of creation, he collaborated with the greatest decorators and creators of the time: Paul Follot, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, Eugène Printz, Jacques Adnet, Jules Leleu, mixing in his creations, lacquer, gold and silver leaf, palladium. This is the era of the ocean liner "Normandie", masterpiece of Art Deco to which he will contribute by providing a wall decoration for 24 cabins, a luxury apartment, as well as a set of lacquer panels. This project will be followed by about twenty other prestigious ships and seaplanes. His last important work is the lacquer decoration of the dining room of the "France", scenes on the "Joies of life" in a monumental format of 2.80 m x 100 m.