The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes opened in Paris in April 1925 and ran through October of that year. It occupied the banks of the Seine between the Pont Alexandre III and the Esplanade des Invalides, with pavilions constructed by participating nations and industrial sectors across a large area of central Paris. The exhibition attracted millions of visitors and became the defining showcase for the decorative arts direction that would later be named after it: Art Deco, a compression of Arts Décoratifs.
The name itself came later. Those working within the movement in 1925 would not have used the term Art Deco; that label was a retrospective coinage that gained general currency from the 1960s onwards. In 1925, what was on display was described as the modern style, the contemporary style, or simply as the new decorative arts. The word Deco came, eventually, from Décoratifs.
What the Exhibition Represented
The 1925 Exposition was a statement about the direction of French decorative arts after the First World War. The Organisers specified that only work of a modern character would be admitted: no historical pastiche, no revival styles. The geometric, the stylised, the bold and flat were favoured over the curvilinear and ornamental associations of Art Nouveau. In practice, the line was not always drawn clearly, but the intention was to position France as the world leader in contemporary design.
Cartier participated alongside other leading jewellery and luxury firms; Van Cleef and Arpels won the Grand Prix with a bracelet of ruby and diamond roses. The pieces the firm showed reflected the direction Louis Cartier, Charles Jacqueau, and Jeanne Toussaint had been developing since the early 1920s: strong geometric structures, high-contrast colour combinations using black and white with accents of coral or jade, and the bold polychrome aesthetic informed by Egyptian, Persian, and Indian visual sources.
The Indian Connection
The 1925 Exposition drew prominent Indian patrons to Paris at a moment when Cartier's relationships with the maharajas were becoming increasingly productive. The Maharaja of Kapurthala was present; other Indian visitors arrived for the Exposition and used the opportunity to visit the rue de la Paix. The proximity of major Indian clients and Cartier's workshop capabilities during this period is part of what produced the extraordinary Indo-European commissions of the late 1920s.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 5 (“Stones Paris: Early 1920s”) and ch. 6 (“Cartier New York: Mid-1920s”)
- Wikipedia: Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, 1925
