South Street Seaport Museum - DECODENCE

The S.S. Normandie was the epitome of Art Deco-era style and sophistication – the largest, fastest and most glamorous of the so-called “floating palaces” of the early and mid-20th century. Normandie was an ocean-going ambassador of French culture, design and stylistic prowess. Upon her maiden Voyage in 1935, she was heralded as a triumph of the modern age and inevitably became the pride of the French Line as an estimated 100,000 spectators lined New York Harbor for her triumphant arrival. Her innovative, award-winning hull design was rivaled only by her unprecedented interior luxuries. Normandie’s legendary three-deck-high First Class dining room, a marvel of the Art Deco era, was perhaps the most awe-inspiring feature of her interior design. At three hundred five feet long, it was longer than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The room, which could accommodate 700 diners, boasted twelve tall illuminated pillars of original Lalique glass flanked by thirty-eight matching columns along the walls, and 20-foot tall entrance doors adorned with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. Other standouts included a winter garden replete with exotic birds and plants, an 80-foot-long indoor swimming pool, and the first theatre at sea. The interiors spaces were filled with grand perspectives, spectacular entryways, and stunning long, wide staircases. The finest First Class suites featured dining rooms, baby grand pianos, multiple bedrooms, and private decks. A defining roster of Art Deco masters that worked on her fittings, furnishings, and accoutrements includes René Lalique, Hermés, Jean Dupas, Jean Patou, and Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

The exhibition at New York’s South Street Seaport museum will feature original interior works by the famous Deco artists that beautified her decks, showing visitors just why Normandie captured the imagination of the world before her tragic end in 1942. The displays will also showcase original furnishings, rare passenger photographs, video footage, voyage logs, uniforms, fashion accessories, and commemorative items from Normandie’s maiden voyage.