L’Art déco à Tianjin (Chine)
The influence of the West in Asia gave rise to the creation of a number of Art Deco buildings, in particular in China under the Republic, from 1912 to 1949. These elegant buildings which stand out in urban centres are well studied where Shanghai is concerned. The ones to be found in Tianjin are less...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
| Published: |
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
2025-04-01
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| Series: | In Situ |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/45141 |
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| Summary: | The influence of the West in Asia gave rise to the creation of a number of Art Deco buildings, in particular in China under the Republic, from 1912 to 1949. These elegant buildings which stand out in urban centres are well studied where Shanghai is concerned. The ones to be found in Tianjin are less well known. This is the port of Peking where the unequal treaties of 1858 were signed and where foreign occupation took the form of nine concessions, one of them French, from 1861. This article focusses on two buildings erected at the initiative of the local authorities, the municipal hotel of 1931 and the Cercle Français of 1932. Both these buildings were showcase structures for France in the cosmopolitan city. The exterior of the municipal hotel tries to impose an image of a certain French classicism, but the interior decoration is more modern and adopts the forms and the furniture of Art Deco, well preserved today. In the case of the Cercle Français, a building designed for social and sports activities, the Art Deco style is more radical. The plans for both buildings were the work of Leo Mendelssohn (1894-1985), a former student of the Paris school of Beaux-Arts, sent to China by a bank, the Crédit foncier d’Extrême-Orient. Through its study of the two buildings, this article addresses the question of how Art Deco was spread in China and the ambiguity of its reception as a form between imperialism and cosmopolitan modernity, in a context marked by colonialism. |
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| ISSN: | 1630-7305 |