Inlaid bench seat

This inlaid bench seat was made by Charles Spindler in 1902. In its structure and the decorative elements carved on the uprights, it can be compared to the dining room proposed by the artist for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin, where it may have been exhibited.
From 1902, Spindler's furniture production gradually moved away from Art Nouveau towards Arts & Crafts and Jugendstil, their firm and more and refined shapes better answering the artist's search for authenticity. They also corresponded to a taste for marquetry depicting regionalist scenes and landscapes. The back of the bench seat depicts in the foreground a village (perhaps Bergheim) standing out from a Vosges landscape of wine-growing foothills, above which three ruined castles can be made out.
This beautiful work reflects Spindler's search, in common with other Alsatian artists of the time, for a revival of regional craftsmanship combining modernity and a spirit of place.