r - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

his Art D6co mural of 1934 was one
of four covering the corners of the
largest public room ever constructed on a
ship, the Grand Salon of the liner
Normandie. Jean Dupas (1882-1964), an
illustrator and fashionable muralist, chose
the history of navigation as his nominal
subject, but the profusion of quasi-historical
vessels and miscellaneous mythical
creatures was clearly not meant to tell a
story but to create an overwhelming
effect. Passengers on the Normandie
paid not so much for transportation as for
atmosphere, and the first-class lounge
was a temple of glamour
The mirrorlike brilliance of the mural
was achieved by an unusual technique of
glass decoration. Segments of the scene
were painted on the reverse of panels of
plate glass. Gold and silver leaf were then
laid on and a canvas backing affixed.
Only lighting fixtures interrupted the vast
expanse of the juxtaposed glass panels
(the top rank of which could not be
accommodated in the Museum gallery
where the mural has been installed since
1978). Each panel measures approximately
four by two and one-half feet and
weighs between fifty-five and fifty-seven
pounds.
Gift of Dr and Mrs. Irwin R. Berman,
1976.414.3