Modern ornament in fin de siecle Paris: Antonin Raguenet's Materiaux et documents d'architecture et de sculpture

摘要

An obituary for architect Antonin Raguenet was published in the eighth issue of the thirty-third volume of L'Architecture: Journal hebdomadaire de la Societe centrale des architectes francais (15 April 1920), the weekly journal of the Central Society of French Architects. It is a brief note, just over 150 words, occupying the lower right-hand corner of a page crowded with miscellaneous back matter: a notice for an inter-allied colonial exposition to be held in Paris in 1925, nominations for prominent positions in the Ordre national de la legion d'honneur, a list of current cabinet positions for the Union syndicale des architectes francais, etc. The obituary states that Raguenet, who was not a member of the professional organisation, nevertheless had a righteous heart (coeur droit) and a distinguished spirit (spirit distingue), and was a talented artist and draftsman who contributed greatly to the profession of architecture and achieved a well-earned celebrity (celebrite meritee). His work on architectural ornament and sculpture - the Materiaux et documents d'architecture - is known everywhere (connus partout); his oeuvre will endure. He died at the age of eighty-two on 28 January in Royan, a seaside resort town in the southwest of France. The obituary is signed simply, Roux.