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‘The Legacy and Heritage of Art Deco’

Deadline for submission of proposed contributions: 15 May 2023

Scientific coordination

Jérémie Cerman, HDR (‘Accreditation to Supervise Research’), Associate Professor in contemporary art history at Sorbonne University, specialist in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods

Jean-Baptiste Minnaert, professor in contemporary art history, specialist in twentieth-century architecture, Sorbonne University, Director of the Centre André-Chastel (UMR 8150: Research Laboratory in History of Art, Sorbonne University, CNRS, French Ministry of Culture)

Call for contributions

Rationale

The forthcoming centenary of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts) in Paris provides an opportunity to review this major event in terms of its influence on art and culture in the twentieth century. Although the event appears, ostensibly, to have been widely studied, it is clear that many unexplored dimensions still beg attention: the organisational, economic, technical, and urbanistic aspects; the art of gardening, and, above all, the Exposition’s material legacy, whether or not it falls within the scope of cultural heritage. The remnants of the Exposition - the edifices, archive material, publications, related products, and, of course, works and objets d’art, which were presented in the Exposition or are documented in public or private collections, or which are circulating in the art market - have not always been sufficiently identified and highlighted.

Geographical and thematic expansion

  • 1 See in particular BRUNHAMMER, Yvonne (ed.), Les Années 25. Art déco, Bauhaus, Stijl, Esprit nouveau(...)

Following the interest demonstrated for more than half century by heritage curators, museum curators, researchers, architects, designers, artists, and art market professionals in Art Deco artefacts,1 the issue of In Situ. Revue des Patrimoines will primarily focus on what remains here and there of the ephemeral aspects of the 1925 Exposition and the objects and works of art held in public and private collections, and which circulate in the art market. It will cover the technical aspects of crafts and industrialisation. It will focus on the conservation and restoration of the objects and edifices. The issue will highlight, in particular, the innovative approaches.

Nevertheless, the diverse sources of inspiration reflected in the Exposition (antiquity, Palladian architecture, Baroque art and architecture, neoclassicism, the Viennese Secession, the Ballets Russes, African arts, cubism, expressionism, De Stijl, and many others) serve as a basis for broadening and clarifying their geography and scale. Born out of multiple influences in France, Art Deco immediately spread in Europe, in the Americas, Asia, in large cities and in holiday resorts, and, of course, in countries under colonial administration. The phenomenon extended from the monumental to the mundane, and from the lavish to the unrefined, and affected the art of gardening, religious and industrial heritage, as well as urban planning, particularly in the framework of the rebuilding work following the two world wars. What is commonly called Art Deco appears to have been the art of combining formal and cultural influences, as well as the art of combining scales, ranging from the objet d’art to urban layouts, and invariably embracing the concept of the total work of art.

Chronological expansion

It should be remembered that the term ‘Art Deco’ came into general use only after a 1966 retrospective. The historiography invites us to consider the importance of the 1925 Exposition itself, but the aim of this issue of In Situ is to extend the corpus to include initial studies, as well as focus on them and even epiphenomena, and review the artefacts that preceded and followed the Exposition, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of the second third of the century. Art Deco can subsequently be considered an international style that preceded - but was also concurrent with - the International Style established by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1932. Earlier, it followed and incorporated the Beaux-Arts aesthetics that held sway before - and even after - the First World War. Art Deco was both concurrent and hybridised with these two prevailing movements, like the other two no less significant movements in architecture and art: Art Nouveau and Regionalism. This issue of In Situ will, for example, review the distinction between Art Deco and the avant-garde movements, which is now obsolete, but which for a long time structured the historiography and the process of integrating Art Deco into the cultural heritage.

After this initial attempt at chronological expansion, we could venture another attempt. Indeed, ‘Neo-Art Deco’ (this is not a standard term) could constitute a possible subject of study; the style emerged in the 1960s together with postmodernism, and, above all, with neo-traditional architecture. Neo-Art Deco developed before our eyes, all over the world, and in the fields of both architecture and furniture, and extended to the kitsch and the mundane.

Based on the material legacy and heritage of the 1925 Exposition in Paris, as well as the artefacts that preceded and followed the exposition, this thematic issue of In Situ will aim not only to renew the historiography, but also to better examine the historical and contemporary issues relating to a re-examination of this event.

Key themes of the call for papers

Authors are invited to submit proposed contributions that address one of the following themes. Submissions that take into consideration problematised perspectives rather than highly restricted case studies will be prioritised.

I – The Exposition’s material legacy vis-à-vis the historiography

  • The Gesamtkunstwerk (‘total artwork’) works by interior designers, architects, and artists, through the prisms of literature and art criticism, ideas and organisations, and the political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual, technical, and industrial context;

  • The various countries that participated in the exposition, and the organisation of the categories of works: the little-known consequences of the organisation and presentation of the Exposition on the history of the works produced and presented;

  • The elusive Art Deco theory and its patrimonial consequences.

II – Legacy and heritage of the Exposition

  • Remains and vestiges of the temporary pavilions;

  • Objects in public and private collections, on the art market;

  • New archive material and documentation, from and about the Exposition;

  • Publications from and about the Exposition: catalogues, reports, guidebooks, journals, portfolios, related products;

  • The contribution of photography and the cinema.

III – Art Deco: a century-old phenomenon

  • Chronological expansion: from the 1900s to the ‘Glorious Thirty’;

  • Geographical reach: Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia; large cities and countries under colonial administration; monuments and housing, and holiday and seaside resorts;

  • Architecture, the art of gardening, and urban planning;

  • The first and second reconstruction;

  • Towards a democratisation of ‘total artwork’. Commercial Art Deco during the first two thirds of the 20th century;

  • Museums, exhibitions, and the art market.

  • The challenges of conservation and restoration

  • ‘Neo-Art Deco’ in the last third of the 20th century and in the 21st century

Proposed contributions

The articles submitted must contain some original experience, research, hypotheses, or updated information; they should not contain a copy of a previously published text. They should be amply illustrated, including with sound and/or audiovisual examples. Hence, they may contain video interviews or take the form of interviews.

If you wish to contribute to this issue, please send an abstract of your proposed article (2,000 characters maximum) together with a short CV before 15 May 2023.

Ministère de la Culture
Direction Générale des Patrimoines et de l’Architecture
Revue In Situ
À l’attention de Nathalie Meyer
6, rue des Pyramides
75001 Paris, FRANCE

Please send a copy of the abstract of your proposed article to the scientific coordinators: Jérémie Cerman and Jean-Baptiste Minnaert at:

jeremie.cerman@gmail.com

jean-baptiste.minnaert@sorbonne-universite.fr

The length of the articles is between 20,000 and 35,000 characters, including spaces and notes. The articles must be accompanied by an abstract, a list of key words, around fifteen illustrations with captions and precise sources - copyright-free illustrations or for which you have obtained reproduction rights -, as well as the titles of works by and status of the author. The deadline for receipt of articles is 1 December 2023. The issue will be published in April 2025, to coincide with the centenary of the opening of the Exposition.

You can write your article in French or in your native language. The articles will be published in their original version with a French translation.

Author guidelines, containing information about the number of pages and images, iconographic rights, the insertion of notes and links, etc. are available on the journal’s website: https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/32424

Notes

1 See in particular BRUNHAMMER, Yvonne (ed.), Les Années 25. Art déco, Bauhaus, Stijl, Esprit nouveau, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 3 March16 May 1966; Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (UCAD), Paris, 1966; HILLIER, Bevis, Art Deco of the 20s and 30s, Studio Vista, Dutton Pictureback, London, New York, 1968; BOUILLON, Jean-Paul, Journal de l’Art déco. 1903-1940, Skira, Geneva, 1988; BENTON, Charlotte, and BENTON, Tim & WOOD, Ghislaine (ed.), Art deco 1910-1939, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A Publications, London, 2003.

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