Christie’s Chief to Discuss “Floating Palaces” of Art Deco

For Immediate Release

Christie’s Chief to Discuss “Floating Palaces” of Art Deco

Newport News, Va. - (March 2011) - Normandie… Queen Mary… Ile de France... The names connote the romance of the high life at sea. The great ocean liners of the 1920s and ‘30s marked a unique window in travel when engineers and designers merged beauty with practicality. 

The liners’ Art Deco style epitomized a sense of youthful and lavish aspirations–opulent and glamorous. The style pushed the limits in its day as ultra modern—bold with a sense of sophisticated geometric order. Initially costly and for the very wealthy, acquaintance with the style reached a wider public as Art Deco came into use in the interiors of the great liners.

April 11 at 7 p.m., Stephen Lash, Chairman Emeritus of Christie’s Americas in New York, will visit to discuss the interior decoration of these grand passenger vessels—a place where pure design met the demands of mass production. The title of his lecture is The Floating Palaces of Art Deco: Great Ocean Liners of the 1920s and 1930s.

Public interest in all things connected to the great liners is surging. Posters, deck chairs, tableware and other ephemera are hotly collected.

During more than 30 years with Christie's, Lash has been involved with virtually every record-setting auction, including Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which sold for $82.5 million in 1990, and the Nicholas Brown desk, which sold for $12.1 million in 1989, still a record price for American furniture.

Lash is an avid collector of trans-Atlantic passenger steamship memorabilia and was the first president of the Ocean Liner Museum, now part of the South Street Seaport.

The event will be held in the Museum’s front lobby, and is free for Members, $5 for non-Members. For information, call (757) 591-7749, e-mail bhill@MarinersMuseum.org.

For more information:
Contact: John Warren
(757) 591-7746
E-mail: pr@MarinersMuseum.org 

The Mariners' Museum, an educational, non-profit institution accredited by the American Association of Museums, preserves and interprets maritime history through an international collection of ship models, figureheads, paintings and other maritime artifacts. The museum is open from 10 A.M. until 5 P.M. Wednesday through Saturday, and 12 to 5 P.M. Sunday. It will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. For information, visit www.MarinersMuseum.org, call (757) 596-2222 or (800) 581-7245, or write to The Mariners' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News, VA 23606.

The Mariners' Museum and The South Street Seaport Museum of New York City are partners in America's National Maritime Museum, an innovative alliance recognized by an act of Congress in June 1998 to share collections, exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and other endeavors.