Paris in the '20s, a journey on the Orient Express: "Art Deco and the Orient," now at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, conjures up the Jazz Age, when everything from ocean liners to coffee cups was touched by the glamour of Art Deco.
The Teien Art Museum building was originally the residence of Prince and Princess Asaka, and was completed in 1933. While visiting Paris, the young couple had been so impressed with the new designs that they decided to build an ultramodern home in Tokyo.
The designer was Henri Rapin, who worked with both Japanese and French artists to produce the harmonious interior, one of the great triumphs of Art Deco design. A great painting appears around the bend of a '30s staircase, a sleek jaguar stalks along a library shelf, a flapper preens by a mirror in the hall. Rene Lalique designed the angels that hover in the vestibule. (Since Rapin did not travel to Japan, Princess Asaka corresponded with him in French. How everyone would have loved a fax machine!)