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Article: What a swell party it was; Art Deco.(Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 22, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Wonders from the land of Egypt
A new exhibition shows off the exuberance of Art Deco
COLE PORTER'S 1934 musical, "Anything Goes", could be the motto for Art Deco, a style that revelled in glamour until the second world war brought the party to an end. In the musical, a New York showgirl marries an English lord. In real life, Josephine Baker, a black dancer, became the queen of Paris chic and an Indian maharaja built a pink Deco palace, reinventing himself as the apogee of top-hat-and-tails urbanity. But then the truth is often unusual, as can be seen in a new travelling exhibition that opens at London's Victoria and Albert Museum this month.
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