Maquette for "Arbre Cubiste (Cubist Tree)"

Jan Martel|Joël Martel

1925 · Painted wood · Modern and Contemporary Art

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.

Artist

Jan Martel|Joël Martel

Date

1925

Medium

Painted wood

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Purchase, Gifts of Himan Brown and Adele Simpson, by exchange, 1997