From France to the States. Art Déco at the Cité de l'Architecture

From France to the States. Art Déco at the Cité de l'Architecture
#Exhibitions

With its triumph of lines, ornaments and floral motifs, Art Déco journeyed from France to North America, influencing architecture, furnishings, lifestyles and tastes across the ocean. In the last two decades of the XIX Century, the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris educated around one-hundred American and Canadian architects who came to France looking for the perfect composition and ornamentation, returning to North America with Art Déco to apply to the construction of American buildings and cities. The ties between France and America culminated in 1925 with the International Expo of Decorative and Industrial Arts when an American delegation of 104 members were sent by the State Department of Commerce to observe this decidedly modern “new style”. At the same time, France entrusted Art Déco with a diplomatic mission, claiming its paternity and guaranteeing its spread. A swarm of French architects, such as Paul Cret, Jacques Greber and Jacques Carlu, committed to building the American continent, left their mark on the 1920s. The exhibition Art Déco France-North America, underway until the 6th of March at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, shows how architecture was the key to transforming all the arts, creating stylistic developments in many professions. Painters, sculptors, interior designers and metalworkers accompanied this really new architecture, integrating it into their work. On the same wake came fashion, jewellery and housewares inspired by this new style with its simple and fluid lines in contrast to the preceding period of Art Nouveau. This extraordinary blossoming, the result of mutual exchanges, came to an end in 1929 when the French architects were forced to return home to France. With an original itinerary focused on architecture, but which also embraces the cultural and artistic life of this frenetic period, the exhibition reflects the incessant dialogue between France and America revolving around Art Déco.

Samantha De Martin - © 2022 ARTE.it for Bulgari Hotel Paris