Vintage Shell Box style of Alexandre Noll, France 1960s

Gorgeous Abolone and wood box in manner of Alexandre Noll, 1950s, France.

5.5” x 6” x 1.75” h

Alexandre Noll was an enigmatic French artist active in the postwar period who made sculptures, furniture, and decorative objects, primarily out of wood. Noll favored the softness, the variability, and the uniqueness of natural wood, generally teak, mahogany, sycamore, but most of all ebony, at a time when designers were reaching increasingly for machined and new materials.

Each piece was carved by hand and due to the nature of organic materials, no two pieces were identical. Although he was not an extensive world traveler, his work exhibits a global influence, with his totems in particular continuing the tradition of French artists drawing inspiration from Polynesian art practices.