Rating and value of sculptures and furniture by Odile Noll

The life of Odile Noll

Odile Noll (1921 - 2014) is a French artist specializing in woodwork. Born in France, she is the only daughter of sculptor Alexandre Noll (1890 - 1970), and grew up in an artistic environment imbued with a passion for wood.

So, from an early age, she was introduced to the subtleties of woodworking in her father's workshop, where she learned to handle tools and understand the living material that is wood.

Her artistic career is a continuation of her father's work: she continues his work by creating small decorative objects, thus passing on heritage, technique as well as a passion for wood.

Her works, often carved bowls, cubbyholes or boxes, are characterized by free forms, mixing polished and rough parts, playing on the aesthetic dichotomy between rusticity and abstraction.

Although influenced by her father, she develops her own, more sober and uncluttered sensibility, bringing a feminine and contemporary touch to wood craftsmanship.

Working with solid wood and noble species such as ebony, walnut or rosewood, she enhances art craftsmanship through her handcrafted sculptures in supple, abstract forms.

The finishing of the pieces is meticulous, each piece is sanded at length, polished with wax or oil, and allows the wood grain to be revealed as a plastic pattern in its own right.

His creations navigate between the decorative object and pure sculpture, blurring the boundaries between art and craft.

After her father's death in 1970, she became the principal expert to authenticate his works and played a crucial role in preserving his artistic heritage. Less publicized than her father, she embodies an intimate and radical approach to creation, close to certain Japanese or Scandinavian artists of the same period.

Today, the artist's works are attracting a great deal of interest at auction.

Odile Noll's imprint on her period

Odile Noll embodied a singular path in the revival of arts and crafts in the 1950s - 1970s. At a time marked by the rise of industrial design, Odile Noll championed slow, material-centric handwork that was directly linked to the heritage of the atelier.

She remained faithful to noble materials. Like Pierre Chapo or Charlotte Perriand, she values solid wood, but in a more sculptural and organic approach, which is less linked to structural furniture.

She also establishes herself as an aesthetic relative of the wabi-sabi current, thanks to her refined forms, particularly raw surfaces and respect for materials, she evokes certain contemporary Japanese designers such as George Nakashima.

Her career path goes against the grain : she rejects industrial design, unlike certain artists such as Jean Prouvé, she eschews the logic of series and function, preferring the unique, handcrafted object.

The dimension of her work is artistic rather than functional : her work is more akin to that of Joseph Savina or Henri Navarre, who explore the border between sculpture and applied arts.

Her sculptures also strike a balance between form and silence : she inscribes her work in a tradition of gesture, essence and the unspoken, thus placing herself at the opposite end of the spectrum from the spectacular or gratuitously decorative.

She thus places herself in the continuity of Alexandre Noll's work, extending it without limiting its universe, and inscribing her own signature in the history of French sculpture and furniture.

Her impact is discreet but real. Although she did not seek the visibility of the great figures of modernism, her work is today being rediscovered for its formal coherence, tactile force and timelessness.

She is thus a referent in the redefinition of the object. Like Andrée Putman in a different register, she has contributed to renewing the look of twentieth-century decorative arts, pulling them towards the realm of sculpture.

Recognizing the signature of Odile Noll

Not all objects produced by Odile Noll are signed. What's more, copies may exist, which is why it's important to appraise your work.

Knowing the value of a work

If you happen to own a work by or after Odile Noll, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal using our form on our website.

A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you promptly to provide you with an estimate of the market value of your work, as well as ad hoc information about it.

If you are considering selling your work, you will also be accompanied by our specialists in order to benefit from alternatives for selling it at the best possible price, taking into account the inclinations of the market.