Editor’s Note
This exhibition marks the centenary of the 1925 Paris Art Deco Exposition, showcasing how the era’s design principles continue to inspire high jewelry.
The exhibition “Eternal Moment: Van Cleef & Arpels — High Jewelry Narrates Art Deco” opens on September 27 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The exhibition period runs until January 18, 2026.
This special exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary of the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” (commonly known as the Art Deco Exposition) held in Paris in 1925, which significantly influenced the design and decoration of the former Asaka Palace Residence (now the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum). The exhibition brings together approximately 250 meticulously selected pieces of jewelry, watches, and objets d’art from the “Patrimony Collection” of the renowned French high jewelry maison, Van Cleef & Arpels, as well as from private collections, along with about 60 archival materials from the maison’s archives. The curator for this exhibition is Ryo Hamami of the museum.
Van Cleef & Arpels was founded following the marriage of Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels in 1895. Since opening its first boutique at 22 Place Vendôme in Paris in 1906, it has earned high acclaim for its poetic designs and innovative craftsmanship.
At the jewelry section of the aforementioned Art Deco Exposition, the maison exhibited several pieces and was awarded the Grand Prix. One of these works, the “Intertwined Flowers, Red and White Rose Bracelet” (1924), will be featured in this exhibition.
The term “Art Deco” itself originates from the abbreviation of the Art Deco Exposition — “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels modernes.” It is a collective term for the decorative style that swept across Europe, centered in France, from the 1910s to the 1930s, influencing all fields including crafts, architecture, painting, and fashion. In contrast to the organic curves of the previously popular Art Nouveau, Art Deco is characterized by an intellectual composition of straight lines and three-dimensional forms, reflecting the industrial development of the era, along with decorative geometric patterns. Art Deco, which combines elegant ornamentation with functionality, strongly appealed to the desires and aesthetic sensibilities of people of that time regarding adornment and was profoundly reflected in the cutting-edge jewelry of the era.