As part of the “a summer in Le Havre” demonstration, the André Malraux modern art museum presents a dense and instructive set on the giants of the seas, whose Normandie.
Cap in 1935, there are ninety years ago. France is entering the era of modernity. The liner Normandie The brilliant symbol is. The name of the engineer Vladimir Yourkevitch is on everyone’s lips. An innovative spirit, he designed a revolutionary shell. His choices are paid. The boat, which displays a majestic silhouette during its inaugural trip on the Le Havre-New York line, won the blue ribbon two years later by spraying the crossing record of the Atlantic.
Nothing will be as before. Including in the field of art. Painters and writers take up the phenomenon. Then the architects. In turn, filmmakers surf the wave. A style was born, an art of living too. A fashion far from falling. This is evidenced by the wonder of visitors in front of the varied pieces (canvases, posters, drawings, photographs, table accessories …) gathered by the curators of the exhibition “ocean liners, a transatlantic aesthetic” *, organized by the Museum of Modern Art André Malraux in co -production with the Museum of Arts in Nantes.
Collection French Lines & Compagnies
Pass advertising
Connection with the sea takes place quite naturally. Through the light windows of the Norman institution, the sea appears in all its splendor. The feeling of boarding a singular environment is indeed real. The crossing begins under the best auspices. Confirmation in theaters with a first series of colorful posters. We discover all the creativity of the illustrators chosen by advertising agencies or publishing houses that run at full speed at this period.
Like architects, designers, filmmakers or writers, famous painters like Fernand Léger and Raoul Dufy succumbed to the sirens of “Monsters of the Seas”
« What is interesting is to see how this maritime story is the mirror of society ”, Note Clémence Poivet-Ducroix, co-commissioner of the course. Everything, except a coincidence if Le Figaro was at the forefront during the first trip of Normandie, Through its editor -in -chief Pierre Brisson, who was dismented to get out of exclusive information before his competitors of the Temps or from Paris-Soir in a good -natured atmosphere.
Large names of the time were honored. Paul Colin (1892-1935), who helped launch the career of young Joséphine Baker, was one of them. We admire a superb lithography signed by him, which presents the conquering profile of the ship splitting the waves in a blue, white, red sky. Other representations, faithful to the splendid geometric shapes of the boat, constitute works of art in its own right. First visual shock. The black and white photographs, in the heart of which are passengers of rare elegance, blow the same wind of freshness and freedom in the rooms of Muma. Fashion on board? A whole subject …
Strasbourg museums, A. Plisson
Curiosities
Same effect felt in front of the canvases. Let us quote first Fatering Parisan iconic oil of the American Charles Demuth (1883-1935), which immortalized with simple-but sumptuous-lines of the ship. Requested to make the sets of the swimming pool of Normandie -Project finally aborted-, Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) entered the scene. Her Souvenir of Le Havre, Where appear in the foreground of imposing shells and where the massive structure of the vessel is essential in the second, constitutes a real curiosity.
Without forgetting the work of Marcelle Cahn (1895-1981), Fernand Léger (1881-1955), Jules Lefranc (1887-1972) or Jean Émile Laboureur (1877-1943), who wonderfully crunched the pitch of a liner in The transatlantic roll. A perfect section, giving pride of place to all genres. Nothing seems to be missing, despite the complexity of the exercise. « Such a course was not easy to achieve since it was necessary to bring together a corpus never gathered before », says the commissioner.
French know-how
Adopting a cruise rate is an ideal rate to discover the rest. We linger in front of the sets imagined by the most famous architects of the 1930s. The Art Deco style is at its peak. The palaces become floating. Jean Dunand’s lacquer panels (1877-1942), The conquest of the horse. Two riders catching with wild lasso, give a perfect overview of French know-how. Even excellence.
« These are, in my opinion, the last great achievements that have succeeded the land palaces ”, underlines Adrien Motel, who signed the fascinating work “Normandy”, a French dream (Place des Victoires editions). The description of the dining room of the first class, by Paul Iribe, gives us the opportunity to project ourselves at the golden age of mythical crossings with their share of well -watered festines and dancing evenings until dawn.
Feeling of nostalgia
“Life on board said a lot about national characters, specifies the author. The Americans were playing in a climate of large overexcitation, unlike the English or the Germans. Guaranteed atmosphere if the rest of the passengers were French, despite the commissioners responsible for ensuring the preservation of a certain standing. »» Archidesign armchairs and carafons marrying the bow of a ship still recall how inexhaustible the interiors have been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for creators.
A feeling of nostalgia (very pleasant) floats in the air. Reconnect with these glorious decades – in these gloomy and agitated times – is surely no stranger to the vogue of objects related to the ocean liners and the ever -increasing craze of cruises. « Companies are trying to perpetuate tradition by organizing large gala evenings, imposing compulsory outfits ”, concludes Clémence Poivet-Ducroix.
Are competitions organized there? Historians of Figaro have not forgotten that our newspaper had launched a game of guessing average speed (29.98 knots) and the duration (about 4 days and 3 hours) of the first crossing of Normandie. A reader had seen right. Its price? Sports equipment or a cruise in the Mediterranean. She had chosen the first option. People are bizarre.