Rago Auctions

A self-taught cabinetmaker and designer, Eugene Printz absorbed his craft from a young age, beginning in his father’s workshop where he assisted in the copying of antique furniture. He familiarized himself with other masterpieces via regular museum visits in his hometown of Paris and, following his father’s death, took over the family workshop. Like so many of his contemporaries, Printz became enamored with modernism in the 1920s and began exploring what would become his signature style. Using only the rarest exotic woods accented by gilt bronze or precious enamels, he created exquisite, deceivingly simple furniture that became the favorite of high society. He was hired by Jeanne Lanvin to design his offices and the Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne for her private apartments at the Château de Gros-Bois. Printz maintained a global clientele and exhibited his work in the most prestigious Parisian shows and salons of the age, including the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Art, the Salon des artistes décorateurs, Salon d'Automne, and the Salon des Tuileries, the International Colonial Exhibition of 1931, and the 1937 Universal Exhibition.