I was fortunate enough to go to Beijing on a spontaneous trip to catch the exhibition. I had just been to the fabulous Art Deco exhibition at Hong Kong City U celebrating the France- China connection. There were plenty of overlaps as many pieces of jewellery, accessories by Cartier from the belle époque of the roaring 1920s and 1930s were featured in both exhibitions.
Art Deco is my favourite era of design. The term originated after the 1925 World Expo in Paris and I looked up what happened to the first Chinese Art Deco architect Liu Jipiao, who spent the later years of his life in the US running a laundromat and chicken farm, leaving China during the turbulent years.
So, more about Cartier: Beyond Boundaries at the Forbidden City. (photos below) We were so lucky with the beautiful weather in Beijing, sunny blue skies and with the crowd control and tickets I purchased in advance. At the Beyond Boundaries exhibition, tribute was paid to the in-house creative director Jeanne Toussaint, also the lady who inspired Cartier’s iconic panther collection.
Check out this Russian ballerina dress in the early 1900s and all the beautiful Chinese motifs that inspired Cartier’s jewellery and accessories.
