The Automobile and Aviation Exhibitions 1900-1960: Ephemeral decorations by André Granet

For nearly sixty years, from 1909 to 1968, the architect André Granet (1881-1974), son-in-law of Gustave Eiffel, conceived the decorations for the automobile and aviation exhibitions held at the Grand Palais, then the Porte de Versailles. These Salons were a Parisian event awaited by millions of visitors dazzled by the gleaming mechanics as well as the surprising displays and the magic of the illuminations, designed by André Granet. A follower of a certain eclecticism, then a fervent supporter of Art Deco, André Granet renewed the general appearance of the decorative ensemble each year through increasingly sophisticated uses of light. When he installed a two-hundred-meter-long ceiling light, lit by seven kilometers of fluorescent tubes, he declared: “Paris cannot tolerate mediocrity!” Presenting the ephemeral decorations of the interwar period, this book is produced from a collection of period photos, posters, and original unpublished drawings preserved in the 20^th century architecture archives of the French Institute of Architecture.

23 x 28.5 cm

192 pages

180 black and white and color illustrations

ISBN: 978-2-9092-8309-8

Text in French only