Volume 39, Number 04
Diversions
By Owen Schaefer
Making sense of scents
Brides have been using perfumes and other ritual scents from as far back as history's texts reach. Whether it is rosewater from the Ottoman Empire, India's incenses, or the scent of thyme and rosemary in Elizabethan England, scent has played an important role in marriage and other rites for thousands of years. Cleopatra, it is said, was an accomplished perfumer, and the tale of how she scented her barge's sails with incense and perfume, and subsequently captured the heart of Mark Anthony, is one of the many stories that have forever linked romance and perfume.
And if the scent of romance is still lingering past Valentine's Day, House of Shiseido's current exhibit, “Romance and Perfume—Art Deco Illustrations and Perfume Bottles,” has its timing right. While the literature for the show outlines connections between scent and personal memory, there is fairly little here to tantalize the nose. But the gallery does its best to make up for any olfactory absences with a whiff of whimsy.
The first floor of this two-part show is mainly devoted to art deco prints by French illustrator George Barbier. Barbier's work between 1911 and 1932 lives and breathes with the very spirit of the age, and was sought after by costume designers, fashion designers, and magazines across Europe. Barbier combined the current style of illustration with interpretations of Chinese and Japanese themes, and the results were iconic.
The show features two main series of fashion plates: “Falbalas et Fanfreluches,” many of which take an art deco approach to modern, and sometimes idyllic, scenes of romance; and “Le Bonheur du Jour,” prints that are both whimsical and romantic, going from flirtation to father's blessing.
Barbier's connection to perfume is largely an atmospheric one, and the perfume bottles themselves are the real focus of this glass-heavy show. Works from the glass and crystal designers at France's Baccarat, and many more from Rene Lalique—who, like Barbier, was renowned for his work in the art deco style—all come from Shiseido's own collection. The sculpted bottles and atomisers run from the simple to the ornate, and many of the designs on display are forerunners of the concept of linking a bottle design to its scent.
The presentation of these bottles, grouped together in hermetic glass boxes, is more boutique than gallery in approach. But some of the most interesting items have been put into three separate displays—one for the mythical “fragrant concubine” Xian Fei, one for Marie Antoinette, and one for the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. Each of these sections features anecdotes relating to fragrance, along with early vessels used for scents. The display for Marie Antoinette features several pendant perfume containers and an amusing “spyglass bottle,” while the display for Cleopatra contains a number of multicolored scented-oil vials as well as pottery dating back as far as the sixth century B.C.
“Romance and Perfume” successfully awakens a curiosity for these antique and ancient fragrances. But perhaps an exhibition of colliding scents would have been a bit overwhelming. After all, a room full of open perfume bottles would be as headache inducing as any department store perfume counter. There is, however, one opportunity to experience a new scent: Shiseido has recreated a lost Taisho-period perfume in honor of the event, and you can smell this bit of recreated history for yourself on the second floor.
Romance and Perfume—Art Deco Illustrations and Perfume Bottles (to Mar. 22) Art deco prints from George Barbier set off Shiseido's collection of antique perfume bottles. House of Shiseido. Ginza Station (Metro, JR). Admission free. 11am–7pm. Tel. 03-3571-0401.
www.shiseido.co.jp/house-of-shiseido/