Celebratory exhibitions, fairs and events around the world are giving the Modernist style fresh momentu.
For Art Deco, the French-led Modernist style that flourished between the world wars, this autumn is a peak 100 years in the making. The centenary exhibition at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1925-2025: One Hundred Years of Art Deco (until 26 April 2026) leads the institutional charge, with smaller programmes at the city’s Musée Zadkine and Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. A poster-centred survey at the London Transport Museum complements them from across the Channel.
But Deco has also been reverberating across the international art fair circuit all season. Eileen Gray’s celebrated Dragon armchair (1917-19)—sold in 2009 for $28m at Christie’s from the collection of designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé—was redisplayed at the FAB Paris fair in September. At PAD London last month, Galerie Jacques Lacoste showcased a dedicated Deco stand underpinned by pieces by Diego Giacometti, and focused Deco presentations are planned at Salon Art + Design fair at the Park Avenue Armory, New York (6-10 November). So much activity demonstrates that this historic movement never quite left the stage...