A.E. Cremer Paris Theater Spotlight Floor Lamp | 1950s Barndoor Projector on Bundeswehr Survey Tripod

A 1950s French theater spotlight by A.E. Cremer of Paris, mounted on a genuine Bundeswehr wooden survey tripod and rebuilt as a one of a kind floor lamp, complete with its rare original barndoors.

At a glance

- Manufacturer: A.E. Cremer, Paris, France, one of the leading names in French theatrical and cinema lighting from the 1920s to the 1970s

- Produced: 1950s

- Original barndoors present, a rare feature to survive intact on a piece this age

- Original convex glass lens present

- Satin black finish with visible signs of wear and use

- Rewired with a new E27 fitting, switch, plug, and approximately 3 metres of cable, compatible with any standard LED or incandescent bulb

- Bulb shown in the listing photos is included

- Beam adjustable from spot to flood using the original focus knobs

- Housing adjustable in multiple directions

- Original rear access door was missing and has been custom 3D-printed to match the original design, shown in the photos

- Mounted on a genuine Bundeswehr wooden survey tripod, type 3, olive green, height-adjustable

- Spotlight head: 50 x 46 x 35 cm (19.7" x 18.1" x 13.8")

- Total height, spotlight and tripod, adjustable: 155 – 210 cm (61" x 82.7")

- Large-scale floor lamp, a genuine statement piece

- One of one. Once sold, this exact piece will not be available again.

The story

A.E. Cremer was founded in Paris around 1920 by André Cremer, and later passed to his son William, who carried the business through its strongest years. Through the 1950s, Cremer spotlights lit the great Parisian revues, along with film and television productions, at a time when Paris stood at the centre of European stage and screen lighting. The Fresnel lens design at the heart of these fixtures, adjustable by sliding the bulb closer to or further from the lens, let a single spotlight throw either a tight, focused beam or a soft, wide flood, a level of control that made Cremer a trusted name behind the scenes for decades. The company held on until 1977, unable to keep pace once quartz-halogen "torch" projectors began to replace the older Fresnel-lens designs across the industry, but the fixtures it left behind are still sought after by collectors, set designers, and lighting professionals today.

This particular example carries its original barndoors, the hinged metal flaps once used to shape and control the spread of the beam on stage, a detail that has often gone missing over the decades and makes this a genuinely uncommon find. The original convex glass lens survives too, along with the satin black finish, worn honestly rather than restored to a false shine.

We mounted this spotlight on a genuine Bundeswehr wooden survey tripod, olive green and built to fold down for transport in the field. Tripods of this kind were issued for use with precision equipment that needed a stable, adjustable platform in open terrain, sometimes paired with instruments as advanced as Carl Zeiss's RWDF periscope binoculars used along the Cold War's most closely watched borders. Pairing a Parisian stage light with a piece of German field equipment was not a combination either object was built for, but the proportions and the contrast in character work together far better than expected.

The spotlight has been fully rewired for safe home or studio use, fitted with a new E27 fitting, switch, plug, and roughly 3 metres of cable, so it accepts any standard LED or incandescent bulb. The one shown in the photographs is included. The original rear access door had been lost at some point before it reached us, so we had a replacement custom 3D-printed to match the look of the original, visible in the listing photos. Everything else, the housing, the lens, the focus mechanism, and the barndoors, is original.

Suited to collectors of theatrical and cinema lighting history, interior designers and set decorators looking for a genuine, working piece of French stage history, and anyone furnishing a loft, studio, or living space who wants a large-scale lamp with real presence and a story to match.

PLEASE NOTE: ANY CUSTOM DUTY WILL BE PAID BY THE BUYER IN THEIR COUNTRY.