Magen H Gallery is pleased to present Alain Gaubert: A Retrospective, bringing together a significant body of work by the French designer and craftsman.
Born in Paris in 1938, Gaubert settled in Mondoubleau in the Loir-et-Cher in the early 1960s, where he learned woodworking directly from local craftsmen. His encounter with Jean Touret, a central figure of the Artisans de Marolles, encouraged him to develop his own practice and participate in the movement’s exhibition at the Château de Blois in 1964.
Working largely with ordinary, overlooked woods, Gaubert sought to give value to materials that others had dismissed. “I have always avoided fashion,” he once remarked.
In 1969, a car accident left Gaubert without the use of his right arm and brought his work as a sculptor to an abrupt end. He subsequently turned to furniture, developing a practice guided less by theory than by instinct, material, and the physical realities of the human body.
“I began designing furniture, following my instinct, as simply as possible, respecting gravity and the constraints imposed on me by my body.”
Gaubert’s furniture is characterized by a quiet sense of restraint. Its simplicity is grounded in use and construction, while details such as the meeting of materials, the rhythm of a joint, and the irregularity of the handmade give each piece its individual character. His approach reflects a broader understanding of culture in which music, literature, art, and everyday experience are inseparable from the act of making.
Alain Gaubert: A Retrospective considers his furniture as a cohesive body of work, revealing a singular and deeply personal approach to making.
