The beginnings
“My work is the consequence of the sculptor that I almost am, of the architect that I would have liked to have been and of the designer that I am not quite.”
Eric Schmitt began by forging his own pieces at the frontiers of sculpture. Fabulous totems, tables decorated with motifs evoking witchcraft, tall candlestick with cabalistic ornaments, reflect an incandescent imagination and express an unbridled and assumed fantasy.
He worked, blowtorch in hand, on the walls of the first showroom of the Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, in the rue du Faubourg Montmartre, which he “peels” and scarifies as he pleases.
Then a meeting with Pierre Basse, the official iron-smith of the gallery, and ex-iron-smith of Diego Giacometti, will allow him to devote all his time to creation, and to produce only the prototypes, faithfully reproduced by this exceptional craftsman.
Over time, he embarked on a brilliant career, punctuated by numerous exhibitions, in France, as well as in the United States, in Germany, and in England.
Prestigious decorators such as Christian Liaigre and Jacques Grange call on him for their projects.
However, during these decades, he continued to be faithful to the galerie En Attendant les Barbares.
In 2015, his creation “La Souche” was presented at the French Embassy in Rome, as part of the exhibition.
The same year, Norma editions published his monograph.
Always working with noble materials, such as wrought-iron and bronze, gold and marble, Eric Schmitt today considers himself a designer-sculptor.
Exhibitions
2020: “Diego Giacometti Forever”, Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
2020: “HomeMade”, Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
2019: “Family Affair”, Galerie Ibu, Paris
2019: Galerie Dutko, Paris
2017: Galerie Ralph Pucci, New York
2016: “Filiations”, Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
2016: Design @ Farnese, French Embassy, Palazzo Farnese, Rome
2015: “Masculin pluriels”, Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
2015: “AD Collections”, Quai d´Orsay, Paris
2013: Ibu Gallery, Paris
2013: Galerie Dutko, Paris
2013: Galerie Ralph Pucci
2012: Ralph Pucci, Los Angeles
2011: “On the Rocks”, Galerie Ralph Pucci, New York
2011: Ibu Gallery, Paris
2011: “Or (s)”, Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
2010: Valérie Goodman Gallery, New York
2010: “En Attendant 25 ans”, Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
2006: Personal exhibition at the Galerie Ralph Pucci, New-York
2005: “Artist’s Furniture” exhibition at the Chateauroux Museum
2004: Saint Pères Gallery, Paris
1996: Peter Goebbel Gallery, Stuttgart
1992: Galerie Neotu, Paris
1991: “The European Capitals”, Center Pompidou, Paris
1990: Galerie En Attendant les Barbares, Paris
1990: “The Via Years”, Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris
1987: Via Gallery, Paris
1986: First pieces exhibited at the En Attendant les Barbares showroom
