Roaring: Art, Fashion, and the Automobile in France, 1918-1939
Auteur(s) : Genevieve Cortinovis (dir.)
Exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum, 12 April - 27 July 2025
France in the early 20th century attracted visionaries from around the world, offering them creative and economic opportunities. Fusing craft and technology, automobiles absorbed and influenced facets of modern art, design, fashion and architecture. After the First World War, cars - long the domain of engineers - met the minds and hands of French designers, artists and craftsmen. Materials and techniques flowed seamlessly from sumptuous Art Deco interiors to luxury automobiles.
Artists discovered new perspectives, new subjects and even new canvases in cars. As driving became more comfortable, car fashion evolved and became an essential part of the wardrobe. Magazines depict liberated women in knitted sportswear behind the wheel of convertibles.
With an open, interdisciplinary approach, this exhibition catalogue highlights the rich ecosystems that nurtured this golden age of French automotive design. Through paintings, photographs, sculpture, furniture, film, fashion, textiles and 12 historic automobiles, the book examines the transformative role of the automobile in pre-World War II France and highlights the innovations in art and industry of those who embraced it as a provocative expression of the modern age.
