Going Coastal

For nearly two decades some patrons of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s old first-floor restaurant liked to perch at the bar so they could take in the lustrous splendors of its big Art Deco mural.

The cognoscenti knew they were gazing upon “The History of Navigation,” the gilded-glass mural that once lined the walls of the first-class grand salon of the ocean liner the Normandie. Donated to the Met in 1976 by the New York collectors Irwin R. and Linda Berman, the work was so large that it was never shown in its entirety. The most anyone saw were 28 panels that hung over the bar before the restaurant closed in 2002 to make way for the expanded Greek and Roman galleries.

Beginning on May 16 all 56 panels will go on view at the Met as the centerpiece of “Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections From the Collection,” which runs until mid-October. It will be the first time all the panels will be seen since they graced the Normandie. (The liner sank in the Hudson River in 1942.)

Installing the mural was a challenge. Curators had to carve out part of the ceiling in a first-floor gallery so the 20-foot-high panels could be fully displayed.

Designed by Jean Dupas, a fashion illustrator and painter, and manufactured by Charles Champigneulle in 1934, the mural represents the height of Art Deco extravagance. Each 40-pound panel is fashioned from reverse-painted gilded glass through a technique called verre églomisé. The scenes were painted in black and varying pastel colors and applied to the back of plate-glass panels. Gold, silver and palladium leaf were then laid atop the paint and sealed into place with a canvas backing.

The stories depicted are detailed with serpents, mythical creatures, majestic ships and wavelike patterns.

The ocean liner sailed regularly between Le Havre, France, and New York from 1935 to 1939. The United States seized control of the ship after war broke out in Europe and in 1941 decided to transform it into a troop carrier. The decorations were being stripped when sparks from an acetylene torch ignited life preservers in the grand salon and fire spread through the ship on Feb. 9, 1942.

Tons of water pumped into the ship by fireboats caused it to list and then capsize. The Normandie lay at Pier 88 for 18 months until it was finally raised, towed away and sold for scrap.

Luckily, the panels had been removed before the fire. Though they survived the wear and tear of being at sea, time has taken its toll. “Some of the backing as well as metal leaf had lifted from the glass,” said Lisa Pilosi, a conservator at the Met. A restoration team has been working on the mural panel by panel.

The museum expects the mural to attract naval buffs as well as art and antiques lovers. “There are a lot of ocean-liner fanatics,” said Jared Goss, a curator in the museum’s 19th-century, modern and contemporary art department. “Since it was taken down from the restaurant in 2002, people keep calling and asking, ‘What happened to the Normandie panels?’ ”

By CAROL VOGEL

New York Times