From October 21, 2021 to February 20, 2022, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de la ville de Paris will host the exhibition “Cartier and the Arts of Islam” co-organized by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and the Dallas Museum of Art, with the exceptional collaboration of the Musée du Louvre and the support of Cartier.
This major exhibition traces Islamic art’s influence on the objects created by Louis Cartier and the designers of the great French jewelry Maison from the early 20th century to today. The exhibition explores how Cartier’s designers adapted forms and techniques from Islamic art, architecture, and jewelry, as well as materials from India, Iran and the Arab lands, synthesizing them into a modern stylistic language unique to the house of Cartier.
More than 500 pieces including jewellery and objects from the Cartier Collection, private and public loans, masterpieces of Islamic art, drawings, books, photographs and archival documents, trace the origins of the jeweller’s interest in Oriental motifs.
Born in 1819, Louis-François Cartier founded the house of Cartier in 1847 at the age of 28. His son, Alfred, took over the management of the business in 1874, and his eldest son, Louis, later joined him in 1898. By that time, Cartier was designing its own jewellery, while continuing to resell antique pieces.
Thanks to this exhibition, discover for the first time the creative process of a major jewelry house. The great richness of archives, the many drawings and the photographic funds that enabled to draw the original source of many Cartier creations and understand the major impact of the Islamic art on the house in the beginning of the 20th century. Discover Opulent Club on Apple News.