references to the eighteenth century with exotic materials acquired from
France’s imperial pursuits, sumptuous patterns, rich colours and modern,
often geometric, forms. The result was an aesthetic of refinement that
spoke of modern luxury, glamour and opulence.
The interiors of the buildings constructed for the 1925 event
were inward-looking and unresponsive to the spaces outside them.
They evoked fantasy lifestyles and a world towards which most visitors
could only aspire. The bedroom in Ruhlmann’s magnificent Hôtel du
Collectionneur, for example, which also contained a grand salon, a dining
room, a boudoir and an office, brought together the grand proportions
and wood panelling of an eighteenth-century space with a soft colour
scheme, ivory damask wallpaper, an elegant, tapered-legged dressing
table veneered in amboyna and inlaid with shagreen and ivory, and a wall
lamp with an alabaster shade. A classical simplicity pervaded the room
aided by the simple, geometric lines of its low wooden bed. The seamless-
ness and level of craftsmanship in the interior added a level of fantasy102 and a luxurious sense of comfort. With its crystal chandelier and wall
Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, the living room in the Pavillon du Collectionneur, shown at
the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris, 1925.