Paris, 3 February 2012, Art Media Agency (AMA).
The piano given to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1938 by Rupert Carabin, who created it in 1900, will be exhibited for the first time.
In an Art Nouveau style, the instrument was created for Alexandre Honoré Ernest in 1900, then sold to film director Germaine Dulac. It was her daughter, Odette Dulac, who donated the piano to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1938. Left at the École Boulle, it was not until 1974 that the piece was noticed as missing.
The piano reappeared in 1981 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. The auction house discovered, after thorough research, the origin of the piano and immediately contacted the Museum of Decorative Arts. The owner, having obtained the work through inheritance, was open to a possible restoration of the piece, despite the legal differences between French and American laws. Discussions were carried out until 1992, the date that the museum lost trace of the owner, who most likely died. Cecile Verdier, Director of Decorative Arts at Sotheby’s France, declared “The piano has been preserved in our collection for 20 years. It was time it returned to its place of origin.”
All’s well that ends well for this masterpiece, a typical piece of art of this sculptor. An extremely rare piece considering the artist’s list of twenty works.
Art Nouveau artist, Rupert Caraban (1862-1932) was a French sculptor, engraver, goldsmith and cabinet-maker. Artist of quality, he had only accomplished a few creations in his time. Occasionally exhibited in French museums such as Orsay or Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in Strasbourg, one can find the works of this artist in Germany and the United States.