CARTIER AND THE ARTS OF ISLAM IN MAD

The Museum of Decorative Arts presenting the superb exhibition
Cartier and the arts of Islam: at the origins of modernity until February 20, 2022.

Co-produced with the Dallas Museum of Art, the Louvre Museum and supported by the House Cartier . Thus, this exhibition showcases the influences of the arts of Islam on the production of jewelry and precious objects by the jeweler. Cartier from the early 20th century to the present day.

Here is an overview of this exhibition, which, as emphasized by Evelyne Possémé, Chief Curator of the Department of Ancient and Modern Jewelry at the Museum of Decorative Arts, is «a dive into the heart of a creative story, where the arts of Islam evoke modernity».

It must be said that Louis Cartier, at the beginning of the 20th century, was looking for new sources of inspiration. So Paris was the center of the trade in Islamic art. In this context, it is certainly through the major exhibitions organized in Paris, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 1903 and then in Munich in 1910, that Louis discovered these new forms with passion. Thus, they gradually imbued French society.

In the first part of the exhibition Cartier and the arts of Islam: at the origins of modernity traces the origins of this interest in the arts and architecture of Islam through the cultural context of early 20th-century Paris. By exploring the creative climate around the artists and their workshops, seeking their sources of inspiration. Furthermore, the second part illustrates the repertoire of forms inspired by the arts of Islam since the early 20th century to the present day.

These are more than 500 pieces, jewels and objects from the Maison Cartier,
masterpieces of Islamic art, drawings, books… that illustrate the interest in oriental motifs.
A beautiful creative story of House Cartier to be discovered at MAD.

Exhibition Cartier and the Arts of Islam. The sources of modernity

Until February 20, 2022

MAD Paris
107 rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris

madparis.fr