Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer

Born Lucien Lévy in Algiers, the artist Lucien moved to Paris in 1879. He was initially drawn to ceramics and experimented with metallic glazes and North African Islamic designs. Over time, Lévy was drawn toward painting, adopting the name Dhurmer from his mother’s family and moving away from his symbolist origins toward Raphaelite classicism and the bright hues of Impressionism, as represented in his Silence (1895) and Eve (1896). Lévy-Dhurmer turned also to landscape arts and interior decorating, designing the complete art nouveau Wisteria Room (1910–1914), the dining room in the Paris apartment of the engineer Auguste Rateau. In addition to these projects, Lévy-Dhurmer painted pastels and other works inspired by the music of Fauré, Debussy, and Beethoven. His wife, Emmy “Perla” Fournier, was the editor of La Fronde, a feminist newspaper.