The Normandie’s magnificent glass mural graces the Met

Objects from ocean liners are seldom found in art museums. Furniture and fittings from passenger ships are more often seen decorating hotels and restaurants, or on show in maritime museums. The interiors of liners are not valued, and by the time of the ship’s disposal they are usually faded and out of date. A highly significant exception to this is “The History of Navigation” (1934), the magnificent glass mural from the Normandie on show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in its “Masterpieces of Modern Design” exhibition, which runs through October.

The mural is an important example of French Art Deco by one of its key artists, Jean Dupas (1882-1964). This luxury style is characterized by expensive finishes, exclusive production techniques and bold patterning. At its height in 1920s and ’30s, Art Deco was used by the French to re-establish Paris as the world capital of high fashion after World War I.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jean Dupas’s French Art Deco ‘The History of Navigation’ (1934).

The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), or French Line, capitalized on haut décor for its finest ship ever, the Normandie, introduced in 1935 for the Le Havre to New York route. CGT employed the best possible range of French designers and decorators, who had been officially supported at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industrielles Modernes to reinforce French national identity. The contract between the French government and the French Line stipulated that the new ship “had to be not less than equal to the best foreign ship in commission or under construction.” The government’s construction subsidy for the Normandie was more than $60 million.

The ship was designed to carry 750 first-class, 625 tourist-class and 340 third-class passengers — the configuration reflecting the ship’s luxury status. This was a party ship, with the emphasis on artificial rather than natural light, dinner rather than petit dejeuner, lounging and people watching rather than healthy, outdoor pursuits. Even the garden was glamorous; it was inside the ship and included caged, exotic birds.

Masterpieces of Modern Design
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Through October

The most striking feature of the ship’s interior layout was the massive public spaces. The dining room on C Deck, images of which have become emblematic of the Normandie, was a breathtaking 305 feet long, 46 feet wide, 25 feet high and could seat 750 people at once. And while smoking rooms on ships were traditionally the place for the male passengers to retire after dinner, while the women would gather elsewhere, the one on the Normandie’s Promenade Deck was another daring use of space: First-class passengers — men and women alike — had to walk through the Smoking Room to reach the Grand Salon beyond. And it was in the Grand Salon that the shimmering beauty of the Jean Dupas mural could be seen.

It was Dupas who selected the history of navigation as the theme for his masterpiece. The work is enormous and can be seen at the Met in its entirety for the first time in more than six decades. It is more than 20 feet in height and consists of 56 glass panels, each measuring just over 4 by 2½ feet. The shimmering effect was achieved by the artist, with the assistance of Charles Champignelle, by painting the back of the glass and then finishing the process off with a layer of silver and gold.

Corbis

Grand Salon of the ocean liner SS Normandie

The technique, known as églomisé, is complex and time-consuming. It involves the artist beginning with the highlights and working in reverse to add the fine outlines with a needle at the very end. But the results are luscious. The style of the mural is typical Art Deco, with heavily outlined, muscular figures of Greek and Roman gods entwined with elaborate serpents and heavily stylized waves. This is not a chronological narrative of seafaring, but a fantasy image that combines shipping through the ages with classical mythology. Soaring seagulls fly by the billowing sails and rigging of 16th-century galleons. A 19th-century paddle steamer churns through the angular waves. In the foreground are the chariots of Thetis and Poseidon, alongside the birth of Aphrodite. The effect is somewhat marred by the addition of mirrored, Art Deco wall lights. But the mural is still a perfect backdrop for glamorous cocktail parties and dancing.

We are lucky that the screen did not meet the fate of much maritime interior décor. The Normandie was seized by the American Navy in 1941 and converted into the USS Lafayette. But it was destroyed by fire in New York Harbor the following year and eventually scuttled, the shortness of the ship’s life only adding to its glamorous allure. Fortunately, most of the extravagant interior furnishings had been removed, and so the mural, along with many other items, survived.

The Normandie was the apogee of French haut décor, the emphasis in the ship’s interiors was on glamour and comfort. First-class passengers could escape the outdoors and remain cosseted in the air-conditioned restaurant with no view of the Atlantic Ocean. As with the majority of ocean liners and cruise ships today, the emphasis was on protecting the passenger from the dangers of the sea and from the outside world in general.

By ANNE WEALLEANS

Dr. Wealleans, a professor of design history at the Modern Interiors Research Centre of Britain’s Kingston University, is the author of “Designing Liners: Interior Design Afloat” (Routledge, 2006).

Wall Street Journal