A century after the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts opened in Paris, heralding what is now known as the Art Deco movement, Van Cleef Arpels has opened a broad exhibition of their pieces from the mid 1920s to 1930s at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The museum was initially built as a residence for Prince Asaka. Its impressive Art Deco interiors were designed on the heels of his 1925 trip to Paris, where he saw the exhibition. He and his wife were so impressed they hired the same man who created the interiors for the Paris exhibition itself, Henri Rapin.
The Tokyo exhibition begins by showing the difference between Art Deco design and Art Nouveau: “It’s a period about breaking from the past,” says Van Cleef Arpels director of patrimony and exhibitions, Alexandrine Maviel-Sonet, “Art Nouveau was about the round shape, and they wanted to change everything as well as the form and the colors… [Deco] is about the contrast in colors, but there is no more round: it’s straight lines, geometric.” Perhaps one of the most symbolic pieces displayed is the entwined flowers bracelet and the prize that Van Cleef Arpels won for its design in the original 1925 exhibition. The wide diamond bracelet exhibits many of the hallmarks of the Art Deco style: bold color and contrast with ground breaking innovation such as the mystery setting of stones (a house hallmark patented around the same time of the exhibition).
More designs with patents are included in the exhibition, such as minaudière bags, and the versatile circle brooch that was designed to adorn lapels, hats, scarves, and purses. There are rooms dedicated to jewelry and timepieces made with white diamonds, and others that show the era’s gradual embrace of precious and semi-precious stones increasing in size (including a statement necklace of diamonds and 165 carats of emeralds, a clip of jasper and onyx). The adaptability now so favored in high jewelry began around that time, seen most clearly in the diamond tie necklace designed to be worn front-ways, sideways, and down the back. “The tie necklace was very exciting to include because this is a recent acquisition and it’s the first time we’re exhibiting it,” says Maviel-Sonet. “The suppleness of the necklace is really like having a ribbon around the neck, it’s hard to believe it’s made of 958 diamonds; it’s so easy to wear.”
The combination of the jewelry on display and the Art Deco interiors of the museum create a deep dive into the movement and show just how influenced Prince Asaka and his wife were by their trip to Paris in 1925. The museum will house 250 high jewelry creations from both the Van Cleef Arpels archive and private collections. “Pieces from that period are generally very difficult to find because usually, when they were in the family, people would take the diamonds and make them into something else,” says Maviel-Sonet. “In the ’40s and the ’50s it was very popular to transform things, so being able to find a 1929 piece is very rare.”
Maviel-Sonet hopes those visiting the exhibition will understand how integral to decorative arts jewelry has been: “It’s very important we see jewelry as part of the decorative arts,” she says, “and we understand that this [Art Deco] movement was overall: architecture, jewelry, and beyond.” The exhibition will run until mid-January, 2026.