UPCOMING EXHIBITION: "Paris, City of Pearls" at L'ECOLE, School of Jewelry Arts

Van Cleef & Arpels, Gladiator brooch, 1956, yellow gold, emeralds, rubies, turquoise, pearls, baroque pearl, diamonds.
Collection Van Cleef & Arpels.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION: "Paris, City of Pearls" at L'ECOLE, School of Jewelry Arts - We are all familiar with pearls. Sought-after since ancient times, they still inspire the great modern jewelers. But how many people know that they were at the heart of an intense trade between the Gulf and France from the late 19th to the mid-20th century? How many remember that they were at the center of the luxury industry and Parisian culture for decades?

Organized by L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, the exhibition Paris, City of Pearls, from  November 21st, 2024 until June 1st, 2025, recounts the forgotten history of this amazing artistic, commercial, and human adventure.

From the late 1860s to the late 1930s – a period corresponding to France’s Third Republic – a majority of the pearls fished in the Gulf were gradually brought to France, sold in Paris, and mounted by the top jewelers of the Place  Vendôme. Account books, telegrams, archive documents, and period photographs testify to the scale of this trade. Routes across land, sea, and then sky were opened,  major figures emerged in both the Gulf and France,  fortunes were made, and the pearl trade sparked an unprecedented economic boom. As new trade routes were developed, links were forged between people and cultures – from the French of the first third of the 20th century to the Gulf countries, referred to by the French at the time as the “Pearl Coast.”

As well as celebrating almost a century of shared history, this exhibition shows the extent to which natural pearls and the cultured pearls that arrived in France in the 1920s inspired not only Parisian jewelers but also artists in the broader sense. They all seem to have been driven by the same passion for pearls, whatever their means of artistic expression – opera, painting, photography, poster design, illustration, or cinema – to the point that the pearl became one of the symbolic forms of the Roaring Twenties.

Henri Vever, bodice front, 1905.
Collection Faerber © Faerber

JAR, Sheep’s head brooch, 2006, natural pearls, cabochon star sapphires, aluminum, silver, gold. Private collection.

René Boivin, half set, bracelet, and clip, inspired by the “Barbare” series, 1935–1937, granulated gold, natural pearls.
La Galerie parisienne.

Seeking to penetrate the final mysteries of these biomi- nerals, the exhibition embraces a crossover of history, art, and science. This wide-ranging vision of knowledge is at the heart of L’ÉCOLE’s mission. Founded in 2012 with support from Van Cleef & Arpels, L’ÉCOLE invites the public to learn about the history of jewelry and the skills involved, and about gems, through classes, talks,  publications, and exhibitions, in Paris and elsewhere in the world.

Through supporting research and enabling the re-discovery of this extraordinary Parisian pearl saga, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts confirms its determination to contribute not only to an awareness of the culture of jewelry but also to deepening knowledge.

The exhibition “Paris, City of Pearls” presents a hundred pieces from about twenty of the most prestigious lenders, such as the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts (Musée des Arts Décoratifs de  Paris), the Petit Palais - Fine Arts Museum of Paris, heritage collections of the Maisons  Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, and Fred, or the exceptional Albion Art private collection.

Dusausoy, brooch, c. 1930, natural pearls, diamonds, platinum.
Londres, Symbolic & Chase.

Frédéric Boucheron, necklace and earrings of Edith Amelia Glyn, Lady Wolverton, 1896–1902, natural pearls,
diamonds, gold, silver.
Private Collection, courtesy of Albion Art Institute.
© Albion Art Jewellery Institute.

After a gemological introduction on the origins of pearls, the exhibition traces the history of  jewelers’ passion for pearls from the late nineteenth century to the present day through 6 parts: 

I.                    The pearl and its secrets

II.                 Pearls and the East

III.               Conquering the market circa 1900

IV.              The pearl as a symbol of modernity: the 1910s

V.                 1925: Pearl mania in Paris 

VI.         The Parisian pearl: past & present

The exhibition’s scenography, designed with a sensory approach, awakens visitors’ senses – sight, hearing, and touch. In addition, a visual guide giving access to an additional iconography of about 80 drawings, illustrations, and other visuals extends the visitors’ immersion in the world of pearls and his discovery of the imagination around the pearl from the Belle Époque until today.

Practical information

From November 21st, 2024 until June 1st,  2025 Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm. Late night on Thursdays until 9pm.

Free admission, by reservation Free guided tours

• For adults:   On Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 3:15 pm and 4:15 pm and on Thursdays at 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm

• For children (7-11 years old): On Wednesdays at 3:15 pm and 4:15 pm and during school holidays (visit our website for more information)

L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau 16 bis boulevard Montmartre, Paris 9

Frank Eugene 1865–1936), The Pearl, 1900–1909. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

George Barbier, “The Fountain of Shells. Paquin Evening Gown,”
Gazette du bon ton, no. 3, plate 27, 1914.

“In its new Parisian address on the Grands Boulevards, very close to rue Lafayette, which once grouped traders of fine pearls, and on the occasion of this exhibition dedicated to the pearl, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts offers to the public a range of learning paths to discover this fascinating gem. Around the exhibition are proposed a book, talks, a 4h-course at the crossroads of gemology and the history of jewelry punctuated by many experiments around this captivating material, and a selection of reference publications to consult at the library, also available at the bookshop L’Escarboucle – which have both just opened their doors. Finally, a whole season of 4 episodes of our podcast Voice of Jewels counts the secrets of pearls. We are very excited to be able to share this rich content with the public during the four months of the exhibition!”

Élise Gonnet-Pon, Managing Director of L’ÉCOLE France & Europe