Radically Modern Art Deco

A necklace by Jean Fouquet gave Violaine d’Astorg a sleepless night, as the Christie’s France head of jewelry recalls. “It was 2021, the night before the online sale, and not a single bid had been placed. I had doubts running through my mind. We’d put an estimate of €350,000 on the piece but was that too high for a necklace with no precious stones? Just silver and gold, lacquer and a rectangular aquamarine on a striated circle that could have been radio waves emitted from the Eiffel Tower or Fernand Léger’s Two Discs in the City. But when bidding started, I knew straight away I needn’t have worried. The necklace, which Fouquet designed between 1925 and 1930, hammered at just under a million euros.” What did d’Astorg take away from the experience? “Of all the artistic movements in the history of jewelry, Art Deco is still the star.” In 1966 an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris – Les Années 25, Art Déco/Bauhaus/Stijl/Esprit Nouveau – marked what would have been (give or take a few months) the 50th anniversary of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Initially scheduled for 1915 and postponed due to the First World War, it left a global linguistic legacy in the name Art Deco. “We associate Art Deco with the 1925 exhibition because of the name coined by Yvonne Brunhammer, curator at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs who in turn drew on the work of art historian Bevis Hillier, but the movement originated well before that, in the 1900s-1910s,” says Paul Paradis, an art historian and academic who teaches at École des Arts Joailliers, which is supported by Van Cleef & Arpels. “We emphasize this in our classes.” Curiosity for the wider world Between April and November, from its campus in Paris, the school is presenting a rich program of courses, talks and exhibitions in honor of this major artistic movement of the 20th century. It’s no coincidence that the dates correspond to those of an event which stretched from the Esplanade des Invalides as far as the Grand Palais, and drew millions of people to the French capital a century ago. “It’s hard to properly explain Art Deco in just a few words, because it wasn’t a complete break with the past. The theorician and landscape designer André Vera, the de facto leader of the ensembliers [interior decorators] of that period, stated that new forms should look to, but not imitate, the classicism of 18th-century French art. In my view, the movement’s emergence and its success reflect French decorators’ determination to reinstate Paris as a pre-eminent influence at a time when the Vienna Secession was the center of attention. The ensembliers had nothing but admiration for the work of the Wiener Werkstätte, and for the revolutionary geometric forms which Josef Hoffmann had imagined for the Stoclet Palace in Brussels.” How long did the movement last? “I don’t think it ever completely went away,” Paradis answers, “in part thanks to individuals such as Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé who, in the 1960s, rekindled interest.” /public-objects/c8d2c299-d77e-4ba2-8457-44250be0f94b-d96c147c-7253-4094-b708-df229a420406-Messika%20Paris%20-%20Haute%20Joaillerie%20-%20BO%20Disco%20Pulsation%20Perles%20Champagne%2014285%20W.webp Image sélectionnée From echoes of classicism to an embracing of the fast-moving machine age, sketching a definition of Art Deco is effectively no easy task. Cartier’s image, style and heritage director, Pierre Rainero, is first to acknowledge that “defining Art Deco isn’t as straightforward as it may seem. It covers a multitude of sometimes opposing creative expressions and philosophies, from the functionalist point of view, with its emphasis on large-scale industrial production and its egalitarian perspective, to the decorative point of view which emphasized French craftsmanship and luxurious materials, which certain observers saw as a means to revive an 18th century aesthetic. Put simply, René Herbst on the one hand, Josef Hoffmann on the other. One thing all these movements did have in common was to explore new forms. This corresponds well to Cartier, as does the fact this was one of the rare periods when jewelry was considered a decorative art in its own right, equal to the other decorative arts. These disciplines were instilled with a curiosity for the wider world, seeking ideas in other cultures, no doubt helped by more affordable travel and communication. You can see all of this in our current production, not to mention color combinations, and an aptitude for proposing novel ways of wearing jewelry and employing new techniques.” /public-objects/b9a71cbd-5c7a-405b-9b30-a69a5f7ff5a5-06d0a51f-b912-402f-9a29-5bbf14e39802-Vintage%2098.c%20-%20250-250-2266%203.webp Image sélectionnée Art Deco returns Like Cartier — which for Chapter III of its Nature Sauvage high jewelry collection presented a necklace, worn by Zoe Saldaña at the 2025 Oscars, whose transformable structure, colors and shape recall the shoulder jewel created for the 1925 Exposition —, Place Vendôme’s jewelry houses are applying the lessons of Art Deco to their current creations. All mention the shift towards simplicity of form and volumes, particularly evident between the two world wars, together with the use of calibrated stones. “This is when baguette diamonds appeared. This cut lends itself to a multitude of themes, from stylized nature to more modernist geometric shapes, while emphasizing strength of line thanks to the natural radiance of the precious stone. Diamond becomes an expression of modernity,” observes Mina El Hadraoui, who is director of the Natural Diamond Council in France. /public-objects/6f22c86d-0765-4944-9b5b-721d5ebed9b4-0fe4201b-8942-4b63-a036-d91c95401d53-Vintage%2098.b%20-%20250-250-2266%202.webp Image sélectionnée “This movement laid the foundations for a highly structured but always bold aesthetic language that I can see in my designs. Cubism made a particularly strong impression on me. I like this idea of deconstruction, playing with angles, volumes and facets. It’s a language that engages naturally with jewelry, especially diamonds,” Valérie Messika, founder and artistic director of Messika, confirms. This inventiveness in diamond cuts is a hallmark of Louis Vuitton’s diamond jewelry collections, with successive artistic directors working references to the V monogram into the three-dimensional structures. The monogram was designed in the 1920s by Gaston-Louis Vuitton, a fervent admirer of Art Deco who, incidentally, was vice-president of the 1925 Exposition. The curves and horizontal lines that Streamline Moderne introduced to the world of travel, then at the forefront of science and progress, from airplanes to the hulls of transatlantic liners, illuminate this aesthetic of abstraction. /public-objects/099c1ce5-e0bf-4e40-8721-ce24160c2b29-7a21dc0c-358b-4b65-aaa7-40695cd774ac-Boucles-drsquo%3Boreilles---Or-Blanc-et-Diamants---Collection-Pure-V---Louis-Vuitton-Haute-Joaillerie.webp Image sélectionnée Jewelers embraced the refinement of lacquer, blending traditional craftsmanship with the resources of innovation. Paul Paradis explains how “after the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the Tokyo school of fine arts encouraged its students to visit the ‘capital of the arts’.” Seizo Sugawara taught Jean Dunand how to lacquer metal; in return, Dunand showed the Japanese master the dinanderie metalworking technique. Vietnamese artisans lacquered the propellors of First World War military planes. “A wonderful example of cultural exchanges, mutual curiosity and technical progress, all in the name of Art Deco!” says Paradis. One of these lacquer artists was Phuong Dinh Van, whose studio worked for Cartier. Three decades later his son, Jean, collaborated with the French jeweler’s New York subsidiary, before founding his namesake brand. “The main message was that out of industry, and the progress that went with it, would come the decorative arts.” Precision and functionality “Elements I’ve taken from this glittering era are a couture spirit and oppositions of masculinefeminine, the opulence of pure lines and the radicality of black and white lifted by a precious color, resplendent on tie necklaces, ribbon bracelets and tasseled sautoirs. This movement advocated elegance rooted in precision and functionality, skillfully concealed to instead focus on ease of wear. In a similar vein, most of our recent pieces, many of which are transformable, are designed to be worn in different ways, in keeping with today’s lifestyles,” declares Claire Choisne, creative director at Boucheron. In Rome, Bulgari’s creative director Lucia Silvestri reminds us that Art Deco spread from Paris to inspire the creativity of artists and designers the world over. “We regularly include references to this movement in jewelry whose design develops themes of stylized nature or geometric shapes, but also, from a technical perspective, through the use of the color white and platinum, which is the Art Deco metal par excellence, by inserting onyx for bold contrasts, or using buff top precious gems and hard stones to form clean, strong lines. It’s this combination of wanting to create something entirely modern on the one hand and to respect tradition on the other that is still so very relevant today.” Modern: a word that may seem out of character with heritage brands and their legacy-laden communication. “There’s a tendency to forget that the full name of the 1925 exhibition was Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Every word has its importance,” concludes Olga Corsini, Chaumet’s creative studio director. “The world had just emerged from a global conflict and a pandemic. But the main message was that out of industry, and the progress that went with it, would come the decorative arts. It was a movement shaped by multiple influences, fauvism, cubism and neoclassicism – influences you will find in our jewelry, sometimes suggested, sometimes literal –, but the dominant force was a belief in the future and in science. One poster for the Exposition shows swirls of smoke rising out of factory chimneys to form the petals of a stylized rose. The first thing that struck me about the Bamboo collection – in particular the tiara which, along with the bandeau, is a hallmark of Chaumet – were the dynamic lines of the columns, which have an almost skyscraper feel and radiate a floral energy. This enthusiasm hasn’t disappeared. Why else would every jewelry house have a research department employing engineers? These departments didn’t exist when I was starting my career. They are the proof that the appetite for innovation is stronger than ever.”