26 June – 29 November 2026 | Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (MusBA) presents the first-ever retrospective devoted to Jean Dupas (1882–1964), one of the defining figures of the Art Deco movement in both France and the United States. A painter, decorator, poster designer, and illustrator, Dupas developed a strikingly original style born from the encounter between academic tradition and Cubist modernity. His timeless and dreamlike universe, populated by elegant female silhouettes, white doves, antelopes and exotic animals, graced the pavilions of major international exhibitions, the salons of transatlantic ocean liners, and the interiors of distinguished private collectors. As he himself declared: “The larger my work, the happier I am.”
A panoramic exhibition
Bringing together over a hundred works for the first time since Dupas’s death, the exhibition traces the full arc of his career, from his training in Bordeaux and Paris, to his formative years at the Villa Medici in Rome, through to the monumental decorative programs of the 1920s and 1930s. The retrospective is organized around key moments: his celebrated participation in the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, his collaborations with Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann and the Manufacture de Sèvres, his work as a poster artist and fashion illustrator for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and finally his iconic decorative schemes for the transatlantic ocean liners Île-de-France and Normandie. The exhibition also highlights his network of fellow artists and friends, including Alfred Janniot, Robert Pougheon, Jean Despujols, Raphaël Delorme, René Buthaud, Jean Dunand, and others.
The exhibition offers a rich, transdisciplinary panorama comprising paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, ceramics, lacquer work, and decorative objects. Throughout the galleries, an integrated mediation program, including participatory devices, a podcast, games, and a coloring fresco, invites visitors of all ages to engage with Dupas’s decorative vision. An interactive application developed with students from Université Bordeaux Montaigne offers an immersive journey through Dupas’ major decorative schemes around the world, including sites no longer accessible to the public. The exhibition is accompanied by a rich cultural season spanning architecture, literature, fashion, cinema, and music, as well as an international symposium co-organized with Université Bordeaux Montaigne and the Académie de France à Rome / Villa Médicis (November 5–6, 2026).
Research supported by FRAME
This retrospective was made possible in part by the support of the FRAME network, of which MusBA has been a founding member since 1999. A FRAME research grant funded dedicated research travel to the United States, enabling the curatorial team to locate and examine works by Dupas held in major American public and private collections, and to document the lasting imprint he left on the American art world.
The exhibition is curated by Sophie Barthélémy, Margaux Wymbs and Louis Deltour
Press Kit in French is available by clicking here.
