File:Muse With Violin screen detail 03 - Paul Fehér (27823046209).jpg

"Muse With Violin", a screen on display as part of the "Jazz Age" exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

Paul Fehér (1898-1990) was born in Budapest, Hungary. He received his art training at the Industrial Arts Academy before moving to Paris in 1923. He was employed in the metalworks of Paul Kiss, second only to Edgar Brandt as France's finest decorative arts metalworks designer. Fehér designed most of the work coming out of Kiss’s shop -- including the famous "Bird of Paradise" radiator grille that won first prize at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs and Industriels Modernes. Kiss refused to acknowledge Fehér's contributions, and in 1929 he emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio. Stephen Rose, owner of the Rose Iron Works, had offered him a job two years earlier, and now Fehér sought employment with him. Nearly all American metalworkers still utilized old-fashioned styles such as Gothic, Renaissance, and French Empire. Fehér introduced both Art Moderne and Art Deco to America, revolutionizing metal decorative arts.

Fehér's masterwork is this 1929 ornamental screen made of aluminum, brass, and iron with silver and gold plating. It was made at the Rose Iron Works in Cleveland. Jazz singer Josephine Baker was the inspiration for the figure. It is generally regarded as the finest piece of Art Deco metalwork of the 1930s.

The Great Depression destroyed the market for luxury metalwork, and Fehér returned to Hungary. He returned to the U.S. after three years, where he found irregular work painting murals in middle-class homes before moving to Hollywood -- where he became a successful interior designer to movie stars.

1. CMAJazzAge