Billed as the biggest jewelry exhibition ever held, “Cartier: Style and History” opened December 4 at the Grand Palais in Paris to convey an art historian’s perspective on the evolution of Cartier’s creations — with a focus on the role of women within historical and social contexts from 1847, when the house was founded, to the 1970s.
The show pays tribute to how the jeweler had the vision from very early on to work with a specific style, while celebrating the generations of strong women linked to the house, including Princess Mathilde, one of Cartier’s first clients, and Daisy Fellowes, a key figure in the so-called Café Society, who boasted one of the most important collections of jewelry in the interwar period.
“At Cartier, we have two missions: one is to create, and the other is to share. I think people will understand what are the secrets of the history of Maison Cartier and what are the secrets of the [house’s] style,” said Stanislas de Quercize, the house’s chief executive officer, in an interview with Blouin ARTINFO France.
On the subject of the house's legacy, he cited a famous quote by King Edward VII of England: “King of jewelers and jeweler to the king. It means a lot. How is it that a member of royalty says that you’re the king of jewelers? And how come after him 26 royal houses in Europe gave authorization of official supplier to Cartier? No other maison has this fame or recognition.”
Organized by the Réunion des musées nationaux, and co-curated by Laurent Salomé and Laure Dalon, the show opens with a collection of archive drawings and creations representing Cartier’s signature neo-classical “garland style” from the late 19th century, during which Louis Cartier created the first jewelry pieces made from platinum, opening up radical new possibilities for jewelry design.
Intermingling with antique props linked to their era, such as elaborate evening gowns, oil paintings, sketches, and magazines, a total of 630 pieces are on display, of which 530 come from the house’s own collection of antique Cartier pieces amassed since the late 1970s. The rest are made up of private and official loans, including from the principality of Monaco.
The creations are presented in windows set in a network of dark gray walls within the cavernous hall of the site’s Salon d’Honneur, whose own walls are enlivened with kaleidoscopic living digital frescos comprised of colored Cartier motifs and textures.
The event’s venue is particularly symbolic for Cartier, which presented its first-ever exhibition of archive pieces in the museum of its sister venue, Le Petit Palais, in 1989. Since then, Cartier has staged over 25 exhibitions in major institutions around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, and the Kremlin in Moscow.
Also apparent in the new Paris exhibition is Cartier’s pivotal role in the history of the decorative arts, from a group of early 20th century tiaras presented on a rotating pillar at the start of the show, to the house’s visionary designs from the so-called “style moderne” era, which saw the introduction of abstract, geometrical designs in contrasting colors, starting with black and white and later folding in green then red. “The evolution of that style makes Cartier the pioneer of what later will be called Art Deco — 20 years before [the movement],” noted Pierre Rainero, the house’s image and heritage director. “That is why Cartier is considered the jeweler of modernity.”
Time was also of the essence at the turn of the 20th century, with a push into wristwatches by the house, known for its Tank watches. One delightful window showcases boxes of antique desk clocks and wristwatches, including the “Borne Desk Clock with Strut” (1924) and the Tortue wristwatch (1913).
A section dedicated to the 1920s, the house’s richest period, shows the convergence of diverse sources of inspiration, from literature to architecture, from across an exotic range of cultures, including India, China, the Far East, and ancient Egypt. Highlights include a series of bold turquoise scarab brooches, their bejeweled wings spread wide, and a restored version of the breathtaking 1928 necklace commissioned by the Maharaja of Patiala, replete with a replica of the original 234.65-carat De Beers diamond at the piece’s heart. Accessories are also prominent, from jeweled purses to a striking cigarette packet-shaped vanity case in carved emerald edged with coral and black enamel.
Among the countless rare highlights of the show, Rainero pointed to the show’s central podium of 16 mystery clocks — so called because their hands look like they are floating in rock crystal — saying, “Once in a lifetime you will be able to see such a collection presented together.” The event also proved the specialist’s first encounter with two creations on loan from the personal collection of Queen Elizabeth II: the 1936 Halo Tiara worn by Duchess of Cambridge for her wedding in 2011, as well as a flower brooch that Cartier made for the Queen in 1953 using a 23,60-carat Williamson diamond gifted to her by Dr. Williamson, a Canadian geologist, for her wedding in 1947.
One could pore over a culminating series of windows dedicated to celebrity Cartier clients for hours, be it the simple gold “Coffee Bean” necklace of Grace Kelly or the supersize 1968 serpent necklace and two bejeweled 1975 crocodile bracelets that can also join to form a necklace of María Félix (the extravagant actress is said to have taken a live baby crocodile to Cartier’s flagship on Rue de la Paix for the latter order).
Also showcased is Cartier’s visionary legacy for figurative jewelry, notably flora and fauna and animals. The show ends with a section dedicated to the jeweler’s strongest symbol: the panther. There, iconic creations such as a 1949 panther clip created for the Duchess of Windsor, are presented among works of art, including a bronze panther sculpture by Paul Jouve and a 1925 panther tapestry.
The legendary Jeanne Toussaint, who served as the house’s director of fine jewelry from 1933 to 1970, sparked the vogue for figurative jewelry in the late 1930s, according to Rainero, going on to create the house’s first panther — a 3D yellow gold cat with black spots on top of an incredible cabochon emerald — for the Duchess of Windsor in 1948. “It was very new as the reproduction of animals in jewelry, especially, was not admitted in society. In general, ladies wearing figurative animals were actresses or courtesans,” explained Rainero. “Jeanne Toussaint was at the origin of a new freedom for women to wear [such designs].”
