André Groult (Paris, 1884–1966) was a French “ensemblier-décorateur” who moved among avant-garde artists and couturiers — helped by his wife, the fashion designer Nicole Groult (née Poiret) — and exhibited from the 1910s onward. A key figure in the post-Art Nouveau, early Art Deco generation, he befriended and collaborated with Jacques Doucet, to name but one. His best-known public commission came at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, where he installed a celebrated “Chambre de Madame” in pink and grey tones. Groult’s language blends voluptuous, rounded silhouettes with an almost couture-like “surface dress”: precious leathers (especially shagreen/galuchat), lacquer, exotic veneers, and refined metal or ivory mounts. He often softened modern volumes with historical allusions (Rococo and Louis-Philippe curves, Empire sobriety) while keeping lines uncluttered and exquisitely proportioned.
