From April to October 1925, Paris hosted an international exhibition that, more than any other similar initiative, would mark the course of taste: the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, which gave rise to the term Art Déco. Today, the centenary is being celebrated with a major exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan: Art Déco. The Triumph of Modernity (through June 29), curated by Valerio Terraroli.
The Paris exhibition not only codified a new international aesthetic taste that spread rapidly in Europe after the First World War, but also highlighted the success of Italian decorative arts in particular. This is the dimension between high artistic craftsmanship and industrial production in which the ‘Made in Italy‘ phenomenon would later emerge.
The project, promoted by the Municipality of Milan-Cultura and produced by Palazzo Reale and 24 ORE Cultura-Gruppo 24 ORE, has as its partner institution the Fondazione Museo Archivio Richard Ginori of the Doccia factory – Richard Ginori was the manufacturer of numerous objects signed by Gio Ponti that are worth seeing – and is also made possible thanks to the collaboration with Iris Ceramica Group, the exhibition’s main sponsor, and the other sponsor BPER Banca Private Cesare Ponti.
Art Déco. The Triumph of Modernity proposes not only a specific focus on the products that defined the ‘modern’ style in the 1920s, especially in France and Italy, but also opens a wider window on this historical period, evoking in the background the characteristics of European society: the places and ways of living, fashion, architecture, technological progress and proto-design, without forgetting the uncertainties and the constant economic and social tensions that characterized this fragile decade after the end of the First World War.
Some 250 works are on display: glassware, porcelain, paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, even haute couture dresses, accessories, fine jewelry, as well as stained glass windows and mosaics that recall the luxurious settings of hotels, train stations and luxury means of transport such as airplanes and ocean liners.
The layout, enriched with film clips, reproductions of posters and magazines, historical photographs and multimedia installations, also recreates the climate and atmosphere of an unrepeatable and fascinating era, that of Europe in the 1920s: a world suspended between two wars, full of creative novelties and the cult of luxury, but also of unsettling uncertainty, where art, design, history and technology came together in a profound way.
