“Vase,” Jean Dunand, c. 1924, enameled copper.
Detroit Institute of Arts
Jazz and the Art Deco style profoundly changed American taste following the tour of 400 objects from a Paris exhibition to eight American museums, including the DIA, in 1926.
Swiss sculptor and interior designer Jean Dunand was one of the great craftsmen of the Art Deco movement. A sculptor by trade, Dunand began experimenting with copper in the early 1900s.
Using virtually all the materials and processes available to him at the time, he created both natural and manmade forms to form variously hammered, encrusted, inlaid, and etched vessels. His copperwork soon led him to work with lacquer, which he then began famously applying to different surfaces such as vases, furniture, panels, screens, portraits, and jewelry. These compositions varied from his copper furnishings in scope and design, becoming more geometric and angular, reflective of African Art and Cubism.

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