L'Art Déco à Saint-Quentin

At the end of the First World War, almost 70% of the city, occupied by the German army from August 1914 to September 1918 and located on the Hindenburg Line, was destroyed.

During the 1920s, the city was rebuilt. Alongside the restorations and identical reconstructions, and the neo-classical, neo-gothic or regionalist achievements, the Art Deco style emerged from 192-1924, applied mainly to the homes of wealthy customers, shops and some public buildings.

In 1925, the organisation in Paris of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts marked a real turning point. The city's "most classical" architects changed their practice, won over by the new art of living of the Roaring Twenties, while the new style was popularised by exhibitions, advertising, architectural reviews, etc.

Breaking with Art Nouveau, this artistic current advocates a return to the classical tradition, mixed with influences as varied as Cubism, Antiquity, African and Oriental arts.
The baskets and basins, the stylized rose of Paul Iribe or the Oasis motif of the ironworker Edgar Brandt served as models for many architects and craftsmen of the inter-war period.

From mosaics to artistic ironwork, from stone sculptures to concrete casts, via stained glass and cabinet making, Art Deco elements are omnipresent, more or less assertive, depending on the audacity of the architects and their clients.