IPOTESI, Jean Deprès and art Déco

Art Dèco (Synthesis of "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes", an exhibition which took place 1925 in Paris) is phenomenon for a renewal that took place and strongly marked the 2nd and 3rd decade of 20th century.
It influenced decorative arts, architecture, fashion and visual arts.
Deriving from Art Nouveau yet refusing naturalistic shapes, be they sinuous or linear,
Art Dèco instead preferred geometrism and essential shapes.

Art Dèco distinguished itself by concentrated use of zigzag or chequered, also of wide curves, patterns shaped like a "V"and like sun rays.

Jean Després (1889-1980) a French goldsmith and jeweller, belongs to a species of authentic creators who are capable of extraordinary innovations; he can rightly be considered the key person both in the history of goldsmiths' art, and the Art Deco movement.

Després debuted in the Twenties in Paris, cultural crossroad to the world in a time of extraordinary cultural revolutions : influences of contemporary art, such as futurism and cubism, but also of purism according to Le Corbusier, or functionalism of Bauhaus by Gropius, had their repercussions on the esthetical expression of that period.

Després has been deeply influenced by these experiences of art: they lead him to create a style Art Deco of primary importance. He pushes innovation to the extreme limit, never hesitating to use items of avant-garde technology, without however forgetting the nobleness of manual work.

He lives intensely the achievements and appearance of machine age which influence considerably his creative universe, and the future life of humankind.

In some of his jewels, we find faithfully reproduced parts of engines (e.g. a piston rod, a piston or a propeller shaft).

His name and oeuvre becomes well-known in and outside France, and virtually crosses the Ocean.

Cheered by critics, he sees his oeuvres exposed in the most important museums of Decorative Art.

Després is rather an "artisan" than an "artist" as he strongly consider the rigorous parameters as to "wearability" which tie an object to his function.