Support our restorations

The Historical Collection of the Grantil Wallpaper Factory

Located in eastern France, the Grantil factory produced wallpaper for more than a century and a half using traditional woodblock printing techniques that were later modernised by the use of cylinders. It won numerous awards at the World Fairs and its creations were a tremendous success with French customers whose homes they decorated. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs holds a set of sample books and six albums gathering 2,600 samples made in the 1920’s and 1930’s which bear witness to the Art Déco style. They constitute an exceptionally rich repertoire of motifs. The aim of this project is to have the works inventoried by a young researcher, and then digitized with the help of a specialized conservator . This project will be promoted on the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ website through the publication of detailed and illustrated wallpaper sheets, accompanied by a thematic dossier.

Estimated budget: € 37,000

The Pompeian House of Prince Napoléon

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs holds over 450 drawings and two photographic albums relating to the Pompeian House, built on the Avenue Montaigne between 1856 and 1860 for Prince Jérôme Napoléon, the Emperor’s first cousin, and torn down in 1891.

As part of the architect Alfred Normand’s collection, these drawings are preparatory to the architecture but also the interior decoration and furniture of this antique dream inspired by Diomedes’ villa and created for the Prince’s mistress, the actress Rachel.

The aim is to restore these 450 drawings and to publish a complete study on the Pompeian House, including a catalogue of the drawings.

Estimated budget: € 85,000
Including € 26,000 for restoration and € 59,000 for publication

The Martin and Bolotte Collection Botany to Inspire Decorators

Arthur Martin and Arthur Bolotte were two wallpaper and textile designers in the second half of the 19^th century. Their photographs were shown in the first industrial arts exhibitions organised by the Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts Appliqués à l’Industrie, the forebear of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

The 189 aristotypes in the collection reveal the artists’ working process of tracing and copying – the traces of these practices are visible – either in the studio that Martin opened to train students, or in the Arts Décoratifs library after the collection was acquired in 1903. Their prints, which are rare in French public collections, show a careful and detailed study of the species that are reproduced on a large scale and which lend them an astonishing expressive power.

The aim is to inventory, number, restore, re-wrap and digitize these 189 photographs.

Estimated budget: € 9,000