Art Deco: the 1925 Paris Exhibition

Many international exhibitions helped promote Art Deco, but none was more important than the Paris Exhibition of 1925. Officially entitled the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, it was dedicated to the display of modern decorative arts. The exhibition brought together thousands of designs from all over Europe and beyond. With over 16 million visitors, it marked the high point of the first phase of Art Deco.

The exhibition was shaped by France's ambitions in the years immediately after World War I (1914–18). Its aim was to establish the pre-eminence of French taste and luxury goods. French displays dominated the exhibition and Paris itself was put on show as the most fashionable of cities.

The pavilions of major manufacturers, department stores and designers, together with avenues of boutiques, enticed visitors to the fairground by day. By night, its monumental gates, bridges and fountains, as well as major landmarks in the surrounding city, were a blaze of light. The Eiffel Tower bore the Citroën logo. A triumph of 19th-century engineering, the tower was transformed into a giant advertisement for 20th-century consumerism.

The exhibition regulations stressed the need for 'modern' inspiration. There were many novel designs, but designers and manufacturers were reluctant to abandon tradition altogether. Nevertheless, whether the exhibits were 'modernised traditional' or 'modernistic' in character, they helped establish the themes and formal repertoire of Art Deco. The exhibition had an immediate and worldwide impact.

The Hôtel d'un Collectionneur

The Hôtel d'un Collectionneur was the most ambitious project by an individual designer and the most acclaimed display in the exhibition. It housed a suite of elegant rooms conceived by the leading French furniture maker (ébéniste) Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann. Pierre Patout designed the pavilion, with a vast oval room, the Grand Salon, as its focal point. Ruhlmann brought together many leading artists and designers to decorate the Salon, including Jean Dunand, Jean Dupas, Antoine Bourdelle and Edgar Brandt.

Its sumptuous decoration, rich use of colour and elegant modernisation of traditional forms and techniques have led many critics to consider the Grand Salon the greatest achievement of French Art Deco. Several works from the interior, notably the 'Donkey and Hedgehog' cabinet and Jean Dupas' painting Les Perruches, have become Art Deco icons.