Post-WWI until the Great Depression in 1929 was a period of fun and modernity after the horrors of the first world war and while the 1930s saw a more refined aesthetic from the previous decade’s exuberance, Art Deco was here to stay, with its themes of novelty, travel, speed and freedom.
A new exhibition at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs celebrates the movement’s centenary, while showcasing its continued relevance today. Spread across three floors, the more than 1,000 pieces on show span from the elaborate – think embroidered silk evening dresses by Madeleine Vionnet and Frantz Jouradin and glass and silver creations by René Lalique – to the everyday, such as cups and saucers, coffee pots, and even a toaster, a result of departments stores putting the Art Deco style into mass production.
This volume and variety of items show the richness of Art Deco – its design codes could be applied to nearly every area of life – although prices of even the smallest objects remained high. Despite the carefree, good time image of the Roaring Twenties, or Les Années folles in French, the reality is that post-war life was hard for many. Art Deco products were often also luxury products, crafted using sophisticated techniques from fine materials such as precious woods, ivory, leather and porcelain, which in part explains their timeless style.
Nowhere can this luxury be better appreciated than in the small room dedicated to Cartier, a pioneer of the Art Deco style. The 150 pieces that the maison presented at the 1925 fair, which included the now famous Tutti Frutti collection, were a result of 20 years of research and experimenting with a more geometric aesthetic.
The 80 objects on show here include pieces from the museum’s own 1,200-piece jewellery collection (which can be found in the darkened rooms of the Galerie des Bijoux, and is well worth a visit) and those being presented for the very first time. As you’d expect with Cartier, the dazzling designs are as covetable as ever. Whilst diadems might have fallen out of fashion for all but royalty, the sleek lines of the glittering necklaces, bracelets, jewellery sets and watches look as contemporary today as when they were presented as the new modern style 100 years ago.
Other key names of the time, the interior and furniture designers Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray and Jean-Michel Frank are also given their own spaces. Furnishings continue to weave in and out of the various themes, not to make a point about the evolution of the designer but the movement, such as a a coffee table by Eugène Gaillard and a chaise longue by Paul Frédéric Follot which illustrate the transformation from the sinuous curves of Art Nouveau to the clean lines of Art Deco.
The museum’s collaboration with interior designer and Art Deco enthusiast Jacques Grange, who has helped source Art Deco masterpieces for numerous high profile clients including fellow devotee Yves Saint Laurent, shows that when chosen carefully, Art Deco can still be seamlessly blended into the modern apartment.
The exhibition also expands the Art Deco universe beyond its notable black and white geometric design, and shows that color was an essential calling card of the movement. Witness a 1925 velvet silk cape by Marguerite Pangon, patterned with geometric rainbow-hued swirls – replacing the previous trend for florals – and lined in orange silk satin. Like the other clothing collectibles on show, including a heavily beaded silk gown by Jeanne Lanvin and a jacket by Sonia Delaunay, it demonstrates that if there is one aspect of Art Deco design which doesn’t feel as relevant today, it’s fashion.
Other exhibition pieces highlight the breadth of sources that inspired Art Deco designs, from the artistic movements Fauvism and Cubism, which informed these bright color palettes to Greek, Roman and Estrucan antiquities and French Louis-Philippe style. Although birthed in Deco, these movements went international with each country developing its own iterations. In the US, its influence is perhaps best felt architecturally, with New York littered with wonderful examples of which the Chrysler building is a totem. In Japan and Brazil the movement influenced the motifs and materials, whilst in Sweden, Svenst Tenn’s pewter designs aimed to make Art Deco more accessible.
The Art Deco boom coincided with the golden age of travel, a time when people were not only travelling more than ever, but doing it in style. Even the exhibition’s vintage Air France menu and advertising posters were done with elegance. The focus however is not on flying but cruising, specifically on the Normandie.
The famed transatlantic vessel brought together leading Art Deco designers such as sculptors Raymond Delamarre and Albert Pommier, who created the ship’s bas-reliefs; René Lalique, who designed two chandeliers, forty eight torchères (floor lamps) and twelve huge lighting columns for fountains known as fire pots; and Pierre Patout, who signed the ship’s furnishings. To see Art Deco brought to life outside of a museum case, head to Le Relais Plaza at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée post-exhibition, which opened in 1936 with interiors inspired not only by Art Deco but by the Normandie itself, and which are still preserved today.
Downstairs in the museum’s nave all focus is on another type of travel: train. Although the Orient Express launched its maiden voyage from Constantinople to Paris in 1883, the 1920s marked the company’s own golden age and the brand has become synonymous with Art Deco design and glamor. The Orient Express story is told through retro posters and souvenirs of the time including travel guides and black and white photos of old carriages. But the highlight is an exclusive look at Orient Express’ future train, imagined by artistic director Maxime d’Angeac and due to launch in 2027. To connect the past, present and future, a 1926 cabin from the museum’s collection is displayed with full-size models of d’Agneac’s vision of Art Deco today.
Individual design elements are also presented side by side with archive pieces, such as the painstakingly hand-embroidered wood panelling that replaces the glass and wood marquetry panels of the 1920s and ‘30s trains, and the rail motif pattern created by Suzanne Lalique-Haviland for the carpets and upholstery which has now been reimagined in a larger scale as textile bedroom partitions. The idea is not only to link together the 100 years of Art Deco design, but also show off the movement’s enduring appeal. Some movements define a moment in time but Art Deco has inspired a century – and counting.
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1925-2025. One Hundred Years of Art Deco runs until April 26, 2026, madparis.fr