The Geometry of Modernity
May 6th - June 6th 2025
Opening Reception: Tuesday, May 6th, 6-8pm
54 East 11th St
New York, NY 10003
Magen H Gallery is proud to present The Geometry of Modernity, an exhibition that uncovers the sensual clarity and radical restraint of modernist design in France between the wars. Featuring works by Djo Bourgeois, René Herbst, Le Corbusier, Louis Sognot, Jacques Adnet, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Jean Burkhalter, Maison Dominique, Wilfried Buquet, and Francis Jourdain, the show invites visitors into a world where rigor met refinement—and where geometry became a language of elegance.
Set within a series of immersive vignettes featuring luxurious wall finishes, lacquered boiserie, velvet carpets, and a warm wooden chimney, the exhibition evokes the intimate sophistication of 1930s Parisian interiors. These were spaces where tubular steel met exotic woods, where rattan and nickel-plated brass stood alongside marquetry and glass—each material chosen for both its integrity and its quiet sensuality.
This was not design for the sake of spectacle—it was design in service of a new way of living. The designers featured in The Geometry of Modernity—some aligned with the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM), others working independently—rejected excess but embraced refinement. They brought architecture, furniture, and interior design into conversation, stripping away ornament while preserving atmosphere, beauty, and emotion.
From the precise metal constructions of René Herbst to the sculptural simplicity of Le Corbusier and the tactile elegance of Francis Jourdain and Jacques Adnet, this exhibition offers a rare glimpse into a moment when the avant-garde was not only functional—it was unapologetically chic.
The Geometry of Modernity is a celebration of quiet innovation, of domestic modernism at its most intentional and elevated. It invites us to reconsider how we define elegance—and how, in the hands of a few visionary designers, geometry itself became timeless.
