Celebrating The 1925 Paris Exposition’s Centennial

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An Exposition Influencing Local & International Art Deco

By Michael Perlman | mperlman@queensledger.com

The centennial of Art Deco was launched on Saturday with a one-hour hour illustrated Zoom presentation, “1925 Paris Expo – The World Made Modern,” and will pave the way to a year’s worth of special events to commemorate a style that influenced not only Forest Hills and Rego Park, but American and international architecture to paintings to radios, and furnishings to clothing and dishes.

The inaugural event was coordinated by the Art Deco Society of New York (ADSNY), where President Roberta Nusim provided an introduction and an overview. “This is a first of a series of extraordinary events that we planned throughout the year, both virtual and in person, to spotlight the new approach to architecture and design that came from the famed Paris Exposition,” she said. All aspects of this significant style will be explored and celebrated. The immersive “Springtime in New York Art Deco Centennial Weekend” will be scheduled for April 25 through April 28, culminating on that date with the exposition’s 100^th anniversary opening.

ADSNY, an acclaimed volunteer-driven non-profit, was founded in 1982 and has a mission to advocate for the appreciation, understanding, celebration, documentation, and preservation of Art Deco architecture, design, and culture in New York and around the world. ADSNY is a member of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies, which hosts the World Congress on Art Deco every two years in a significant Art Deco city internationally. The 17^th World Congress on Art Deco will most suitably be held in Paris this October.

Architectural Historian Kathleen Murphy Skolnik made participants feel as if they attended the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, which took the stage on 55 acres in the heart of Paris from April 28 to October 25, 1925. This was the first modern international exhibition in its entirety, which attracted over 16 million visitors. She also shared examples of American Art Deco buildings. Skolnik is an author who teaches art and architectural history at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and has also been an anchor at seminars at Chicago’s Newberry Library. She is also a member of the ADSNY distinguished advisory board.

For the 1925 Paris Exposition, prospective visitors picked up the May 10, 1925 edition of The New York Times Magazine, which read, “Housed in Le Grand Palais and the surrounding area on both sides of the Seine, there are to be four groups: Architectural work, interior furnishings, personal adornment and theatres, streets and gardens. French costumers and millinery houses have planned remarkable displays to attract women. Jewelry, dress goods and fabrics, perfumery, toilet articles and artificial flowers take place with stone, metal and glass work, fancy leather, household goods, glassware, bookbinding, musical instruments and automobiles.”

Noteworthy Art Deco buildings of Forest Hills, including those that were inspired by the movement are the unfortunately demolished 1939 World’s Fair-inspired Trylon Theatre, M&T Bank at 101-25 Queens Boulevard, Martel Manor, The Traymore, Forest Hills Jewish Center, Midway Theatre, Ridgewood Savings Bank, Carlton Terrace entertainment venue/now Key Food, commercial buildings centered around Austin Street and Ascan Avenue (partially concealed), former Metropolitan Industrial Bank Building at 99-01 Queens Blvd with former Hollywood Lanes bowling alley (deemed National Register-Eligible), Holland House, Forest Hills Post Office (on National Register of Historic Places and New Deal Art Registry), the twin Carolina and Virginia Apartments, and apartment buildings with Georgian Colonial meets Art Moderne influences along 99th Street, 108th Street, Yellowstone Boulevard (where architect Philip Birnbaum and builder Alfred Kaskel were integral).

Rego Park’s Art Deco buildings and influenced buildings include Rego Park Jewish Center (National Register of Historic Places), Art Deco commercial facades centered around 63rd Drive and Queens Boulevard (where Morris Lapidus played a role), the unnamed Art Deco apartment buildings at 63-45 Wetherole Street and 84-53 Dana Court, Saunders Gardens apartments with its private park, the demolished Drake Theatre, Lost Battalion Hall with its two WPA murals, The Oxford and The Cambridge apartments bearing the Georgian Colonial meets Art Moderne style, Blair Hall, and Walden Terrace.

Skolnik explained that despite some sources referencing Art Deco’s birth at the 1925 Exposition, it was a defining moment in its evolution. “It introduced this approach to design to a worldwide audience, and resulted in its international dissemination. Features that we now call Art Deco appeared years before the exposition’s opening.” She pinpointed the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, considered to be the Paris’ first Art Deco building as of 1913, as well as designer Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann’s “David-Weill” Desk prior to 1920.

Skolnik established the 1925 Paris Exposition’s context within history. Other notable early expositions include the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations with revolutionary Crystal Palace in London in 1851, followed by the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations at the New York Crystal Palace and Latting Observatory in 1853, which would occupy what New Yorkers know as Bryant Park. Then came the Centennial International Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, the Universal Exposition in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in 1889, the World’s Columbian Exposition, where the Ferris wheel debuted in Chicago in 1893, the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900 featuring Le Grand Palais, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. In addition to distinctive architecture, she said, “These exhibitions focus primarily on raw materials, manufactured goods, and advances in science and industry. They generally also included art displays.” WWI placed a halt to large international expositions, but after the war, they resumed.

“The idea of a decorative arts exposition was originally proposed by the Society of Decorative Artists, founded in the early 1900s. Members were opposed to the traditional hierarchic distinction between the fine arts and sculpture and the decorative or applied arts,” explained Skolnik. A member wrote, “We consequently resolved to return Decorative Art, inconsiderably treated as a Cinderella or poor relation allowed to eat with the servants, to the important, almost preponderant place it occupied in the past, of all times and in all of the countries of the globe.”

National pride and economic considerations contributed to the decision of this decorative arts exposition. She explained, “For centuries, France was the unquestioned leader in the production of luxury goods – Furniture, porcelain, carpets, and the authority in matters of taste. By the mid-19^th century, France started to lose its edge in the field of luxury goods. By the early 20^th century, it was facing serious competition. Some designers found ways of developing high quality copies of French designs more efficiently, meaning they can sell them at lower costs. Designers especially in Austria and Germany, developed new forms that could be mass produced in high quality.” Germany’s success in this field was evident at several early 20^th century expositions, and most noteworthy at the new exposition type, the First International Exposition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin, Italy in 1902. It was dedicated exclusively to the decorative arts, and especially modern decorative arts.

France would rise up and develop strategies to counteract the competitors. She explained, “Schools of applied design began offering instruction in modern design, and Paris department stores began operating design studios offering modern furnishings and decorative objects at reasonable costs. A committee was formed to evaluate this idea proposed by the Society of Decorative Artists for an International Exposition of Decorative Arts. In 1912, the committee concluded that there was an urgent need for such an exposition.” The Paris Exposition was slated for 1915, but in early 1914, it was postponed, since it was thought that the French designers would need more time to prepare. Plans were revived after WWI and then scheduled for 1923, followed by 1925.

Participants of the 1925 Paris Exposition were Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Greece, Turkey, China, Luxembourg, Latvia, Finland, Yugoslavia, France/French Possessions, Soviet Republic, Spain, Monaco, and Sweden. The U.S. received an invitation in May 1923, but eventually declined in May 1924. The U.S. Pavilion was estimated at $80,000 to erect, a potential obstacle. Skolnik also explained that a survey among 24 American manufacturers was conducted to spark their interests in participating, where eight responded positively, seven were disinterested, and others needed more information. “The types of surveyed manufacturers, which included shoe manufacturers, leather tanners, and button makers, were not likely to be interested in participating in a Decorative Arts Exposition. There may have been a lack of understanding on the part of the Americans about the meaning of modern design. Many displayed French designs represented a blend of the traditional and the modern, but Americans may have thought that modern meant the total elimination of historical references,” she said.

Skolnik pinpointed the exposition’s distinctive architecture, such as the Gate of Honor, the main entrance on the right bank, adjacent to Le Grand Palais. The rectangular pylons of the gate were topped with intended molded glass fountain-like motifs designed by René Lalique, a French jeweler. The main gate and grilles between the pylons were designed by Edgar Brandt, a renowned French ironworker. She said, “The main gate consisted of wrought iron and decorated with scrolls and a fan-like motif. The grilles were said to look like jets of water, and were supposed to be wrought iron, but because of the cost, they were replaced with staff, and it was painted to look like metal.”

No scientific and technological advances were highlighted at this exposition, but rather spotlighted decorative arts. Decorative objects on display were not isolated, but in room settings. “Many pavilions, and especially French pavilions, highlighted this design approach now called Art Deco, a term that was not used until the late 1960s,” said Skolnik.

Most French designers could be categorized as modernized classicists (modernized traditionalists) and decorative modernists. “Modernized classicists based their designs on 18^th and 19^th century French traditions, especially French cabinetry, but gave them a modern interpretation. Their works were elegant and refined,” she continued. It included designers, such as French furniture designer and interior decorator Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and artist and designer duo Louis Süe et André Mare. Decorative modernists experimented with new forms and materials, but did not reject ornamentation in comparison to the more orthodox modernists, such as French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

On the right bank stood Victor Horta’s very impressive Belgian Pavilion. Skolnik explained, “He was a pioneer of Art Nouveau, but placed it aside for a more traditional, symmetrical, stepped rectilinear design. Belgium had very little money after WWI, so it was built on a budget, using wood and plaster. The tower’s six statues were interpretations of the Decorative Arts through the ages,” she explained.

The Polish Pavilion was designed by Joseph Czajkowski. Skolnik said, “It was an Art Deco interpretation of Polish churches of the 17^th and 18^th century. The back of the pavilion had an entrance to a courtyard with a sculpture that is today in the Polish Embassy in Paris. The interior had an octagonal hall with a stained-glass Art Deco style.”

Herbert Hoover was America’s Secretary of Commerce, who assigned a delegation to attend the exposition and report their observations and the implication for American business. Skolnik explained, “In the summer of 1925, they spent two weeks in Paris. Their report, issued in 1926, they urged American manufacturers, designers, and educators to turn their attention towards modern design, in order to prevent American consumers, interested in modern trends, from turning to foreign sources.”

One must wonder how Americans became best acquainted with Art Deco. It is estimated that 50 exhibitions took place within three years after the Paris Exposition. Department stores were a major setting, in addition to museums and galleries, which was a most influential route. The Paris Exposition largely influenced the decorative arts and furnishings in America. The stepped back form of Art Deco skyscrapers, such as Raymond Hood’s Daily News Building (1930) and the Chicago Board of Trade (1930) by Holabird and Root, began dominating American cities of the late 1920s, and was not shaped by the exposition, but zoning ordinances. However, the Art Deco design features of facades in America was influenced by the exposition.

Skolnik cited commonalities between architecture at the exposition and motifs found in destinations across America. She shared a screen designed by Edgar Brandt with fountain-like and leafy motifs, as well as a glass fountain at the exposition’s Perfume Pavilion by René Lalique. She also shared the motif of the cast iron panels above the Chicago Motor Club’s entrance. The frozen fountain is depicted on dual sides of the entrance to the Congress Hotel (1935) in Miami Beach by Henry Hohauser. The exposition featured dramatic steps leading up to huge sunburst motif at the La Maitrise Pavilion, which was fluted by columns supporting sculptures. On a comparable note, the colorful Eastern Columbia Building (1930) by Claud Beelman features s huge sunburst motif intersected by Machine Age influenced pilasters. Accomplished with mosaic tiles within a pediment gracing the roof of the Los Angeles Public Library (1926) by Bertram Goodhue is an exuberant sunburst, with two sculptures facing one another below.

The closest exposition to the 1925 event locally was the patriotic and “World of Tomorrow” themed 1939 – 1940 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, which offered Art Deco through its architecture and technological innovations. Outstanding examples included the Administration Building, Ford Pavilion, The Italian Pavilion, Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Building, R.C.A. Exhibit Building, Hall of Marine Transportation, The National Cash Register Building, and the Liberty Lake Amphitheatre featuring the famed Billy Rose’s Aquacade. Another significant event was the 1964 – 1965 World’s Fair with its International style, fewer traditional replicas, and Space Age and “Peace Through Understanding” themes.

Stay tuned in the weeks that follow for an in-depth look at some local Art Deco buildings’ designs, history, and memories harbored within their walls.