Creators

Painter, master glassworker, creator of light fittings.

He studied drawing, engraving and tapestry at the École des Arts décoratifs in Paris. After the First World War, he entered the workshop of the master glassworker, Louis Barillet. With Barillet and Théodore Hanssen, he took part regularly in architectural productions of the great modern architects of the time, notably Robert Mallet- Stevens. Their collaboration lasted until the death of Louis Barillet in 1948. He joined the UAM in 1930 and, at the group’s first exhibition, presented a stained-glass project created in collaboration with Barillet and Hanssen.

It is, above all, for his little lamps conceived in the years 1925–1932, part-constructions, part-sculptures inspired by the cubist aesthetic that Jacques Le Chevallier has remained famous, even though, throughout his life, he had carried out his researches in fields as varied as painting, engraving and tapestry. These “lighting devices” in folded or hammered sheet aluminium mounted on bases of ebonite – a material with insulating properties – were often made in collaboration with René Kœchlin (1888-1972); they were initially produced by the Atelier Barillet and then by DIM, Décoration Intérieure Moderne. In 1932, Robert Mallet-Stevens entrusted him with designing light fittings for the entrance hall of the Villa Cavrois. In 1938 he worked with René Herbst, Jean Puiforcat and the Atelier Barillet on the decor of the Chapelle des Capucins de Blois. After the Second World War, his name remained above all associated with the art of glassworking: in 1948, he founded the Centre d’art sacré and participated in the reconstruction of the cathedrals of Angers, Besançon and Toulouse and to the restoration of certain stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris. In 1952, he was placed in charge of stained-glass lessons at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

He died on 23^rd April 1987 in Fontenay-aux-Roses.