Fireplace Surround

Gustave Serrurier-Bovy was one of Belgium’s leading Art Nouveau designers. After his studies in Liège, attracted by the art works and writing of British craftsman William Morris, he moved to London, where he worked as a designer of interior furnishing in the Modern Style. In 1884, he opened his own interior decoration and furniture shop in Liège. Until about 1901 his designs were based in the asymmetrical and curvilinear forms of the European Art Nouveau style of the time. This fireplace surround, with its simple horizontal lines, suggests a return of his interests in the British Arts and Crafts movement. The plain tiles and clock face act as the only decoration, stripping back to a “wholesome” vernacular design.