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Object Timeline

1910

  • Work on this object began.

1913

  • Work on this object ended.

1948

  • We acquired this object.

2007

2008

2015

2019

2022

2024

  • You found it!

Doorbell Pull, from the Hôtel Guimard, Paris, France Doorbell Pull

This is a doorbell pull. It was designed by Hector Guimard. It is dated 1910–1913 and we acquired it in 1948. Its medium is bronze, gold. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Architect-designer Hector Guimard strove to create Gesamkunstwerks—buildings whose exterior and interior architectural finishings, furnishings, and decorative arts all work together to produce a total work of art in the Art Nouveau style. This door pull signifies Guimard’s interest in focusing on what may seem like even the minutest details. Although this interest in coordinated environments was typical of French Art Nouveau designers, Guimard’s skilled craftsmanship in a wide variety of media helped him to remove boundaries between “fine” and “decorative” arts. Typical of the Art Nouveau style and growing trend toward the turn of the 20th century, this door pull also represents the architect’s aesthetic, with sinuous, asymmetric curves. His interest in nature’s transformative processes can be seen in the abstracted floral motifs on the edges. It has been noted that Guimard has the ability to treat any medium as if it were clay—malleable, stretchable, lifelike—a skill epitomized in this doorpull.

This object was donated by Madame Hector Guimard. It is credited Gift of Mme. Hector Guimard.

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  • Purchase in memory of Mildred Rosenberg, Gift of her Family..
  • 1992-33-1-a,b
  • Lock (France)
  • cast and gilt bronze .
  • Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
  • 1909-25-80

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 19.7 × 12 × 12 cm (7 3/4 × 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 in.)

It has the following markings

Reverse of gilt bronze housing: center, stamped D(?--mark partially obscured by back of pull lever); bottom center stamped "1530"; reverse of pull, right side center, stamped "1" (upside down)

Cite this object as

Doorbell Pull, from the Hôtel Guimard, Paris, France Doorbell Pull; Designed by Hector Guimard ((French, 1867–1942)); France; bronze, gold; H x W x D: 19.7 × 12 × 12 cm (7 3/4 × 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 in.); Gift of Mme. Hector Guimard; 1948-114-5

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Hector Guimard and Rococo: The Continuing Curve 1730-2008.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18607591/ |title=Doorbell Pull, from the Hôtel Guimard, Paris, France Doorbell Pull |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=16 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>