Art Deco

Art Deco. Fashionable style of European and American design and interior decoration (also known as the Style Moderne) that superseded Art Nouveau in the period immediately before and after the 1914–18 war. In the 1920s and 1930s it evolved further, and took its name from the Exposition International des Arts-Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1924–5: the official publication of the Exposition, Encyclopédie des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes au XX^ième siècle, in 12 volumes with many illustrations, disseminated the elements of a style derived from the more severe geometrical patterns evolved as a reaction to Art Nouveau. Archaeological aspects also influenced the style: the discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 led to a new enthusiasm for Ancient Egyptian motifs and themes such as strong colouring, pyramidal compositions, and stepped forms. However, the canted arch, chevron, stepped corbelled arch, and stepped gable (themselves pyramidal compositions) owed more to what C18 designers imagined was Egyptian, derived from publications such as Piranesi's Diverse maniere d'adornare i cammini (Different Ways of Decorating Fireplaces–1769) and from exotic Egyptian Revival stage-sets. Investigations of Aztec and other Meso-American architecture with its stepped forms were also influential. Late Art Deco designs were often concerned with aerodynamics, speed, and streamlining to emphasize the style's Modernist pretensions. Robert Mallet-Stevens was the most important of the French architects working with Art Deco elements, but the style also flourished in the USA, where William van Alen's Chrysler Building, NYC (1928–30), is its most celebrated architectural example. Simplified and vulgarized elements of Art Deco entered Post-Modern designs from the 1960s.

Bibliography

Bayer (1992);
C. Benton et al. (eds.) (2003);
Bletter & and Robinson (1975);
Brunhammer (1984);
J. Curl (2005);
Hillier (1985);
Hillier & and Escritt (1997);