Curator Q&A: Roaring: Art, Fashion, and the Automobile in France, 1918–1939

Roaring: Art, Fashion, and the Automobile in France, 1918–1939 explores the transformative role of the automobile in pre–World War II France and highlights innovations across art and industry by those who embraced it as a provocative expression of the modern age. This expansive exhibition features paintings, photographs, sculpture, furniture, films, fashion, textiles, and 12 historic automobiles.

Genevieve Cortinovis, SLAM’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, answered a few questions about the exhibition in advance of its April 12 opening.

During the interwar period, what role did the automobile have on society?

The automobile encapsulated the ambitions and anxieties of a society struggling to reconcile tradition with modernity in the face of powerful technological and social change. In concrete terms, it generated personal mobility for the wealthy and, in time, the middle class. For designers and craftspeople, the car showcased the adaptability of both historic craft traditions and new materials and technologies. Even for those who never owned or drove them, cars’ presence was inescapable. Cars clogged Paris’s medieval streets, while France’s expanding network of highways brought increasing numbers of tourists to its villages and seaside resorts.

How are cars and visual arts from this period related?

For many artists, driving—the blurred and fragmented landscape and the intoxicating synthesis of technology and the body—defined the experience of modern life. For others, the hard beauty of the car itself—from its complex engine to its sleek, efficient body—encapsulated modern beauty.  As artist and designer Sonia Delaunay declared, “The car, it was modernity.” At the 1925 Paris Exhibition, she and the couturier Jacques Heim dressed two models in her fashions and placed them in front of a coordinating car for a photograph that circulated worldwide. Her inventive paint treatment showed the flexibility of the simultaneous color theory that she developed with her husband, artist Robert Delaunay. Roaring features rare examples of Sonia’s textile samples and fashion illustrations alongside a Citroën B14, custom painted in her geometric color patterns, and Robert’s vivid painting of the Eiffel Tower, Paris’s enduring symbol of technological progress.

What role did gender play in approaches to car design, and how is that connected to changes in fashion of the period?

Coachbuilder Jean Henri-Labourdette suggested that the doors of automobiles were widened to accommodate the large hats women wore before World War I, initiating a cascade of changes to the modern car body. Gradual improvements like electric starters and adjustable seats and armrests, although appealing to all drivers, were especially advertised to women. With the introduction of the more comfortable closed-body car, sleek coats and cloche hats replaced bulky motoring furs, veils, and goggles. Designers responded to women’s new active, independent lifestyles, typified by driving, with sportswear—short skirts and tops as well as dresses in lightweight fabrics and knits—appropriate for the court and the road. Fashion magazines reported on motoring trends and events, marketing automobiles as an extension of a fashionable ensemble.

What impact did the 1925 decorative arts exhibition in Paris have on this area of art history?

The term Art Deco—one of the most widely recognized and beloved design styles—came from the French title of the 1925 exhibition, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Aiming to re-center Paris as a global leader in taste and fashion, contributors embraced avant-garde art movements and reimagined historical craft and decoration, simplifying forms, abstracting patterns, and flattening ornaments. Some presented radical visions of the modern home and city. Most devised pavilions filled with refined furnishings, elegant fashion, and opulent transportation. Roaring features standout works by the fair’s contributors: ebony and ivory furniture from Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, eggshell-inlaid lacquer from Jean Dunand, couture from Paul Poiret and Callot Soeurs, textiles from Maurice Dufrêne, glass by René Lalique; the list goes on and on.

Are there any key figures from the period that embody the interconnectedness of cars and fashion? How are they showcased in the exhibition?

Hermès is a fascinating example of the synchronicity of automobiles and fashion. Begun as a horse-harness and bridle maker in 1837, Hermès adapted its leatherwork expertise to the demands of modern transport, especially automobiles, in the 1920s. Roaring features an Hermès lambskin and cashmere automobile blanket with zippered pockets, essential for brisk drives in open-top cars. Hermès held the first French patent for the zipper. Head Émile-Maurice Hermès encountered the metal-toothed fastener securing canvas automobile roofs on a trip to North America during World War I. Before long, the company incorporated zippers into golf bags and, shortly after, handbags and travel accessories.