Pierre Schlumberger
Born1914
DiedFebruary 18, 1986 (aged 71–72)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusinessman
TitlePresident and CEO, Schlumberger
Term1956–1965
SuccessorJean Riboud
Spouse(s)Claire Simone Schwob d'Héricourt (died 1959)
​
​
(m. 1961)​
Children7
Parent(s)Marcel Schlumberger
Jeanne Laurans

Pierre Schlumberger (1914 – February 18, 1986) was an American businessman. He was the chief executive of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services company.

Early life

Pierre Schlumberger was born in 1914, the son of Marcel Schlumberger, a mechanical engineer, and his wife Jeanne Laurans.[1] Marcel co-founded Schlumberger in the 1920s with his brother, Conrad, a physicist.[1] Pierre was the brothers' only male heir.

Career

Schlumberger worked for Schlumberger for 25 years, rising to president and CEO in 1956 (Henri George Doll, Conrad Schlumberger's son-in-law, was the chairman), until he retired in 1965 and was succeeded by Jean Riboud.[1][2] Under Pierre, the company ceased to be a family business, expanded into electronics, centralized its operations in Houston, Texas, and became a publicly traded company.[2]

Art collector

Schlumberger acquired a "superlative collection of modern art", including works by Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and Piet Mondrian; then with his second wife, São, they expanded to include contemporary artists, adding works by artists including Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Andy Warhol, and Robert Rauschenberg.[3] Their collection was auctioned by Sotheby's over four days in November 2014, who called them "two of the most visionary collectors of the Twentieth Century."[3]

Schlumberger co-founded the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.[1]

Personal life

Quinta do Vinagre

Schlumberger's first wife, Claire Simone Schwob d'Héricourt (1917–1959), was a French aristocrat, the daughter of film producer Jacques Schwob d'Héricourt [fr]; they were married for two decades and had five children before she died from a stroke in 1959.[4]

In 1961, he married Maria "São" da Conceição Diniz (1929–2007), who had been married to Pedro Bessone Basto, a Portuguese "boulevardier", for less than a year.[4] He was 47, she was 32.[4] They lived in Houston until he was ousted as CEO in "a family coup" in 1965 and moved to New York City and then Paris.[4] His house in Lazy Lane in Houston was designed by the family's French architect Pierre Barbe.[5] Barbe also restored a holiday home for them on the Normandy coast and designed a new house at Tourrettes-sur-Loup on the Riviera.[5]

They lived in an 18th-century hôtel particulier in the Rue Férou, next door to Man Ray, restored by Barbe, with interior design by Valerian Rybar in "a provocative mix of classic and modern styles".[4][5] They were prominent in New York and Paris society and hosted guests including Yves Saint Laurent, Andy Warhol, Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Rauschenberg, Christo, Man Ray, Salvador Dalí, and Roy Lichtenstein.[3]

In 1964, he bought Quinta do Vinagre [pt], a 16th-century manor with 103 acres (42 ha) near Sintra, Portugal, built for the local bishop.[6] From 1965 to 1975, Barbe restored and updated the 18-bedroom property.[5] In 1968, Schlumberger and Antenor Patiño both held parties at their Portuguese estates with over 1,000 guests including Gina Lollobrigida, Audrey Hepburn, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Henry Ford II.[6][7] The singer Madonna was thought to have bought it for €18 million in 2017, but instead chose a smaller more "manageable" house nearby.[8]

They had two children, Paul-Albert in 1962 and Victoire in 1968.[4] Schlumberger, an invalid from an earlier stroke, died in Paris in 1986.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Industrialist Pierre Schlumberger, 71". The Associated Press. February 19, 1986. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Schlumberger (September 1, 2017). This Is Schlumberger: 90 Years of Technical Innovation. Schlumberger. pp. 84–85. GGKEY:9EB2W5988TQ.
  3. ^ a b c "The Schlumberger Collection At Sotheby's New York". Sotheby's. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Colacello, Bob (October 2010). "The Wow of São". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d William Middleton (March 27, 2018). Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 201–202. ISBN 978-1-5247-3294-3. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Bird, Alyssa (August 2, 2015). "Homes for Sale Around the World". Architectural Digest. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  7. ^ Barry Hatton (January 6, 2016). The Portuguese: A Portrait of a People. Andrews UK Limited. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-908493-38-5. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  8. ^ "Madonna buys 18th century Sintra palacete". Algarve Resident. June 10, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
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