Curatorial Narrative Mathis. La voiture du progrs, 4 vitesses et 4 cylindres is a seminal work from the early 1930s, exemplifying the Art Deco style’s triumphant ascendance in France during that period. The artist’s deliberate choice to remain anonymous underscores the era’s preoccupation with design as a force for modernity, unencumbered by individual creative ego. This lithograph, created through the latest printing technologies of the time, is a masterful exemplar of Art Deco’s visual vocabulary: its palette, comprising deep blues, bright yellows, and snowy whites, establishes an unmistakable chromatic structure that imbues the composition with an almost palpable sense of dynamism. At 57×44 inches, Mathis unfolds as a sprawling diorama of automotive modernity. The palette’s previously disparate elements now coalesce into a harmonious spatial rhythm that subtly shifts in response to changing viewing angles. As one approaches the