Emmanuel Breon – författare

Nicolas Eekman (1889-1973) is the heir of the great creators of his native Flanders, from Jérôme Bosh to James Ensor, as well as one of the representatives of the School of Paris.Born in Brussels where he studied architecture, he turned to painting and exhibited for a few years in Holland before settling in Paris in 1921. Close to his compatriot Mondrian with whom he exhibited at the Jeanne Bucher gallery (1928), he is also closely linked to the artists Jean Lurçat, Marcoussis, Max Jacob, Lipchitz, and later with Moïse Kisling and Frans Masereel.Influenced by Cubism to which he devoted a few outstanding years, he gradually returned, in the 1930s, to realism and then from the 1950s turned to the fantastic, reviving the Flemish painting of the fifteenth and sixteenth century.Author of an abundant painted work, he is also a renowned draftsman, illustrator and engraver whose works have been collected by numerous print studios (Brussels, Hanover, Berlin, Hamburg, Basel, Budapest).Text in English and French.

With the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, Art Deco seduced the world. From New York to Paris, the press celebrated this event which permanently imposes this universal style.Crossing the Atlantic aboard sumptuous liners such as Île-de-France and Normandy, main French decorators such as Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Jean Dunand and Pierre Chareau exhibited in department stores, from New York to Philadelphia.From Mexico to Canada, this enthusiasm is driven by North American architects trained at the School National Museum of Fine Arts in Paris from the beginning of the 20th century, then at the Art Training Center in Meudon and at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, two art schools founded after the First World War world which strengthened the links between the two continents. This book reveals a reciprocal emulation which is illustrated in the architecture and ornamentation of skyscrapers as well as in cinema, fashion, press, sport... Thirty-seven texts and 350 illustrations make it possible to discover the unique links that unite France and America, from the Statue of Liberty by Bartholdi to the Streamline which succeeds Art Deco. Text in French.

Alfred Auguste Janniot (1889-1969), a renowned French sculptor of the inter-war period, left his mark on his contemporaries through his monumental work, which embraced and magnified architecture, both in France and other countries. His two main works, the spectacular bas-reliefs for the Musée permanent des colonies (1931) and the Palais de Tokyo (1937), still resonate in people's minds today. He also took part in the great adventure of the transatlantic liners, working on Île-de-France (1926) and Normandie (1935).Winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1919, Janniot worked alongside some of the greatest architects, collaborating with Roger Séassal, Michel Roux-Spitz, Albert Laprade, Jacques d'Welles, Wallace Harrison, Jean Niermans and Pierre Patout. Whether round-bosses or monumental "stone tapestries", his many works reveal the artist's classical training acquired at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, as well as an abundant creativity that can be seen at the town hall in Puteaux (1932-1934), the Chamber of Commerce in Châteauroux (1934), the Maison Française at Rockefeller Center in New York (1934), the Bourse du Travail in Bordeaux (1935-1938) and the Villa Greystones in Dinard (1938-1950).Text in French.