Just
behind the early 18th century facade of one corner of Place Vendôme, at
no. 7, things have changed. The buildings were refashioned around 1930-31. The
premises were prepared for the opening of a bank office, “Banque de Suède et de
Paris”, created by a Swede, Ivar Krueger, born in 1880. The opening of the new bank
office was planned for March 13, 1932, but the day before, Ivar Krueger died,
most probably by suicide. Through the large windows, we can see some decorated walls...
Krueger's death
was considered as an enormous event – see the front page of The New York Times
the following day. He was then considered as maybe the third-richest man in
the world. Here we can see him travelling around and on his yacht in the
Stockholm archipelago together with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and
others.
Starting
in the building industry, Krueger had made his fortune by building up a world quasi- monopoly in safety match manufacturing, the still existing Swedish
Match Company. He was involved in a lot of other businesses, including phone
(Ericsson), ball bearings (SKF), mining, paper making…, but he got perhaps especially
known for having been one of the world’s greatest swindlers. He used the same
method as some other previous and later swindlers, paying dividends out of
capital rather than earnings.
Krueger’s
meeting with some creditors and experts the following day was cancelled, as was
the official opening of the bank office.
The
decoration of the bank office included some wall intarsia and paintings by the
Swedish artist Ewald Dahlskog (1894-1950).
These
decorations were forgotten until recently, but have now been renovated and the
new occupants of the premises, the catering company Potel & Chabot, are now
presenting Dahlskog’s works in their original splendour. A real presentation
will be made in a couple of weeks by a representative of the “Association Artistique Suédoise à Paris”. Here are in the meantime some photos … and we can
see how Ewald Dahlskog has illustrated Krueger’s worldwide interests. The
intarsia concentrates on Sweden…and France.