History, art and transatlantic design

90 years ago, the Normandy, The world’s largest linen, left Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) to rally New York. The seaway was then the only way to connect Europe to the new world, and the Norman port city was a privileged starting point, first for migrants fleeing misery and persecution. In the second half of the 19th century, there were several tens of millions to win America aboard gigantic ships moved by the recently invented steam engine.

From the 1920s, they gradually gave way to a more wealthy clientele appreciating the pleasure of the crossing. To seduce these passengers, the shipowners have built ever larger, more powerful and more beautiful buildings. THE Normandy, already quoted, but also the France or the Île-de-France Thus, Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) sites come out. It is the golden age of liners, honored in a large exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne André-Malraux (Muma) in Le Havre, entitled “Pacquebots, 1913-1942. A transatlantic aesthetic ” .

Technological feat

Upon entry, an imposing model of Normandy, Commissioned in the spring of 1935, testified to the splendor and the technological prowess carried out at the time. “It is really the emblematic liner of this story,” emphasizes Clémence Poivet-Ducroix, one of the commissioners of the event, conservation attaché at Muma. In terms of technical performance but also sets, crossing speed and passenger services, it embodies a form of peak. »»

We thus find at each stage of the route a small end of the floating palace. Here, a famous poster of Jules Lefranc offers contemplation its imposing and glowing prow. Near her, another, signed by Cassandre, represents the ship in a counter-angry, highlighting the geometry of its propellers, its bridges and its bow as well as their highly graphic character. Elsewhere, clichés enter fragments – bows, porthole, ropes, chains, anchor and of course the emblematic fireplaces – of the boat, as if to magnify its tapered silhouette, its volumes and its clean lines. Sometimes until abstraction!

Inspirant elegance and splendor

If photographers are fascinated by these aerodynamic curves, architects, designers or designers are not to be outdone. And we see the birth of what is called “liner style”. While the deckchair democratizes, Coco Chanel, Paul Poiret or Elsa Schiaparelli invent clothes – swimsuits, pajamas, shorts, marine style costumes – adapted to cruise. On board too, the splendor reigns supreme as evidenced by the exhibition devoted to life at sea, the sumptuous engraved glass panels that once were once adorned with the large living room of Normandy And the lacquers decorating the first class smoker, made by Jean Dunand, a great figure of Art Deco.

It is in the field of cinema and literature that the flagship artists of the Roaring Twenties will abundantly transcribe the experience of the crossing. In a small black room, visitors are invited to discover extracts from Charlie Chaplin films ( The Immigrant, 1917), Buster Keaton ( The Navigator 1924) or Man Ray ( The starfish, 1928) as well as quotes and extracts from texts from Colette, Claude Lévi-Strauss or Blaise Cendrars.

The path ends with the presentation of the famous Valley box by Marcel Duchamp. Created in 1941, this true portable museum brings together reproductions of the most important works of the iconoclastic plastic artist which produced no less than 19 transatlantic crossings. Curling the loop, the press images of the fire of the Normandy In 1942 symbolized the end of an era. After the war, the planes will replace legendary liners. There remain the works they have inspired.