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More Art Deco to see at the V&A

Twentieth Century Study Gallery
(Galleries 103-106)

A Day Bed by Süe et MareA range of furniture and small objects including several Art Deco items. Highlights include a writing table, veneered in macassar ebony, designed by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann in about 1925, and a large folding lacquered screen designed and made by Jean Dunand around 1920-1925. A Day Bed by Süe et Mare is notable for its Art Deco upholstery in a fabric called 'Sous Bois'.

The influence of French Art Deco on British design can be seen in several of the exhibits, for example in the dressing table, mirror and stool designed in the late 1920s by J E Johnson for Heal and Son. Johnson's use of exotic veneers was inspired by the work of Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

Twentieth Century Gallery (Gallery 74)
Including ceramics, graphic art, glass, silverware, sculpture, furniture, textiles, photography and radios.

There are further examples by French designer Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann including a round occasional table veneered in acacia wood, as well as some fine examples of British tubular steel furniture from Heal's.

Displays of textiles from the Art Deco period include work by Fortuny, Robert Bonfils and Betty Joel. There is also an armchair by French designer Andre Groult upholstered in fabric designed by Paul Follot in 1920.

Frank Lloyd Wright Gallery (Henry Cole Wing)
The complete office - desk, chairs, wall-panelling and lights - by America's greatest architect and designer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and made in 1935 for Edgar J. Kaufmann forms the centre piece of a display that also includes other major examples of his work in furniture, metalwork, ceramics, prints and stained-glass. This is the most important collection of his work on permanent display in Europe.

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Sculpture and Carvings (Gallery 64)
Including mainly small scale art deco ivories by British artists. A fine example of a larger piece is Primavera by Richard Garbe, 1926.

A selection of Art Deco bronze medals featuring figures are displayed with associated ceramics and glass.

Glass Gallery (Gallery 131)
Art Deco glass on display includes great examples by René Lalique and Maurice Marinot. Lalique is best known for his superb cast glass, with its opalescent and subtle coloured effects. Marinot handblown glass is rich with internal bubbles and spectacularly deep etching, making it almost sculptural.

French Art Deco is also represented by the sculptor Aristide Collotte, by Marcel Goupy, the Daum brothers and Decorchemont. From Sweden there are examples from the Orrefors factory, especially those designed by Simon Gate and Edward Hald and from the USA by the Steuben factory.

British Pottery (Gallery 137)
The work of Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and other British designers of the period can be seen in this gallery.

British Pottery - Clarice CliffBritish Pottery - Susie Cooper

The Whiteley Silver Galleries (Gallery 68)
Silver cocktail shakerThe gallery includes a case of Art Deco silverware including tea and coffee services designed by Jean Puiforcat. Two further cases explore modernism and silver between the wars and include cigarette cases and a cocktail shaker.


Textile Study Gallery (Gallery 100)
A selection of Art Deco textiles are framed and displayed in this gallery including:

Les Arums, a silk damask by Raoul Dufy for Bianchini-Ferier (Lyons, 1931), a Fortuny red velvet printed with metallic gold from 1929, as well designs by Minnie McLeish Frank Dobson and Rebecca Crompton.

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Art Deco 1910 - 1939

Art Deco around the museum