In the years between the twentieth century’s two world wars, even as cities were swiftly taking on a modern visage, many were developing a new interest in classicism based on Greek and Roman traditions.
It was not accidental that leading artists such as Picasso and Maurice Denis discovered new possibilities in classicism immediately after World War I. The architects, painters, sculptors, and decorative artists involved in monumental public structures such as the Palais de Chaillot, built for the International Exposition of 1937, and luxurious passenger liners such as the Île de France (1927) and the Normandie (1937), exploring Neo-Classical styles to suit their times, designed a world of the imagination. This exhibition will present about 80 works, principally from the collections of French museums, to introduce the little-known Art Deco world created by artists who include Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (furniture design), Jean Dupas (painting), and Eugène-Robert Pougheon (painting).