Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco

	1. Tripod Table

The first North American retrospective of the work of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann.

Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco consists of two hundred works, including thirty pieces of furniture and a selection of drawings, watercolours, sketchbooks and archival photos, as well as textiles, rugs and lamps created by the Ruhlmann firm. Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in co-operation with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Musée des Années 30 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, the exhibition will first be shown at the Metropolitan Museum from June 8 to September 5, 2004.

2. Vase no. 2

Among the greatest of the French designers who contributed to the Art Deco style, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann (1879-1933) ran one of the most prestigious cabinetmaking and decorating firms of the 1920s. His clients included entrepreneurs, politicians and leading figures from the world of fashion and entertainment. His refined furniture, crafted of precious exotic woods often decorated with shagreen, snake skin and ivory inlay, hark back to the grand classical tradition of eighteenth-century French cabinetmakers. To create complete interior ensembles, the Ruhlmann firm also designed draperies, wallpaper, textiles, lamps and rugs. The dramatic character of Rhulmann’s interiors was particularly suited to his clients’ large formal rooms. The sensation created by his Hôtel du Collectionneur at the Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris in 1925 brought him fame, and his designs greatly contributed to the popularity of the French Art Deco style in Europe and North America.

Ruhlmann worked closely with architects, sculptors and craftsmen in carrying out his commissions. The exhibition will explore this facet of his art by presenting sculptures and paintings by artists like Joseph Bernard, Alfred Janniot, Jean Dupas and Paul Jouve.

	3. État Rectangle Cabinet

The exhibition will follow Ruhlmann’s career as a designer from his first presentation at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1913 to the triumph of his pavillon at the famed Paris exhibition of 1925 and the major commission for the office of the Colonial Minister at the Exposition coloniale in Paris in 1931. It will also examine the scope of the Ruhlmann firm, which at its height employed as many as a hundred draftsmen, architects and craftsmen, who were responsible for producing not only the most expensive furniture that money could (or can) buy, but also all the interior furnishings for a residence, from lighting to carpets.

4. Défenses Chair

Among Ruhlmann’s illustrious clients was Lord Rothermere, publisher of the Daily Mail, whose Champs-Élysées apartment Ruhlmann decorated. He also redesigned the interior of Citroën director Georges-Marie Haardt’s apartment, which was filled with artifacts and souvenirs collected while leading the great French car rally of 1924-1925 through Africa. The exhibition will take a look at several of these luxurious interiors through period photos and watercolour renderings.

A fully illustrated 328-page catalogue has been published in separate French and English editions by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Éditions D’Art Somogy, Paris, in co-operation with the Musée des Années 30.

	5. Triplan Cabinet

The North American presentation of Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco was organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in co-operation with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée des Années 30. In Montreal, the exhibition is being presented with the assistance of the Institute of Design Montréal and the Volunteer Association of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts wishes to thank Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et des Communications for its ongoing support, as well as its media partners La Presse, The Gazette, Société Radio-Canada and 105.7 RYTHME FM. The Museum’s international exhibition programme receives financial support from the Exhibition Fund of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Foundation and the Paul G. Desmarais Fund.

Rosalind Pepall, Curator of Decorative Art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and one of the exhibition’s curators, is co-ordinating the North American presentation of the exhibition.