art deco

Home > Literature and the Arts > Art and Architecture > Art: General

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 Fashionable style of European and American design and interior decoration (also known as the Style Moderne) that superseded Art Nouveau in the period immediately before and after the 1914–18 war.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);

Art Deco. The most fashionable style of design and decoration in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe and the USA, characterized by sleek geometrical or stylized forms and bright, sometimes garish colours. The name comes from the ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes’ held in Paris in 1925—the first major international exhibition of decorative art since the end of the First World War (it was originally planned for 1915). The emphasis of the exhibition was on individuality and fine craftsmanship (at the opposite extreme from the contemporary doctrines of the Bauhaus), and Art Deco was originally a luxury style, with costly materials such as ivory, jade, and lacquer much in evidence. However, when the exhibition ‘Machine Art'—another great showcase of the style—was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1934, the emphasis was on the general style and impression of an interior rather than upon the individual craft object. Perhaps partly because of the effects of the Depression, materials that could be easily mass-produced—such as plastics—were adapted to the style.

Art Deco may have owed something to several of the major art movements of the early 20th century—the geometry of Cubism (it has been described as ‘Cubism tamed'), the bold colours of Fauvism, and the machine forms of Constructivism and Futurism. Similarly, although the term is not often applied to painting or sculpture, the Art Deco style is clearly reflected in the streamlined forms of certain artists of the period, for example the painter Tamara de Lempicka and the sculptor Paul Manship. There was a revival of interest in Art Deco during the 1960s (it was then that the name was coined) and its bold, bright forms have a kinship with Pop art.

Art Deco. The most fashionable style of design and interior decoration in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe and the USA, characterized by sleek geometrical or stylized forms and bright, sometimes garish colours. The style takes its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925. The emphasis of the exhibition was on individuality and fine craftsmanship (at the opposite extreme from the contemporary doctrines of the Bauhaus), and Art Deco was originally a luxury style, with costly materials such as ivory, jade, and lacquer much in evidence. However, when the exhibition ‘Machine Art’—another great showcase of the style—was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1934, the emphasis was on the general style and impression of an interior rather than upon the individual craft object. Perhaps partly because of the effects of the Depression, materials that could be easily mass produced (such as plastics) were adapted to the style. Art Deco may have owed something to several of the major art movements of the early 20th century—the geometry of Cubism (it has been described as ‘Cubism tamed’), the bold colours of Fauvism, and the machine forms of Constructivism and Futurism. Similarly, although the term is not often applied to painting or sculpture, the Art Deco style is clearly reflected in the streamlined forms of certain artists of the period, for example the painter Tamara de Lempicka and the sculptor Paul Manship. There was a revival of interest in Art Deco during the 1960s (it was then that the name was coined) and its bold, bright forms have a kinship with Pop art.

art deco or art moderne , term that designates a style of design that originated in French luxury goods shortly before World War I and became ubiquitously and internationally popular during the 1920s and 30s. Coined in the 1960s, the name derives from the 1925 Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts, where the style reached its apex. Art deco is characterized by long, thin forms, curving surfaces, and geometric patterning. The practitioners of the style attempted to describe the sleekness they thought expressive of the machine age. The style influenced all aspects of the era's art and architecture, as well as the decorative, graphic, and industrial arts. Works executed in the art deco style range from skyscrapers and ocean liners to toasters, furniture by designers such as France's Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879-1933), and accessories such as the elegant glass works of René Lalique . Since the 1960s and 70s the style has undergone a resurgence of popularity. Napier, New Zealand, which was rebuilt after a 1931 earthquake, has the largest unmixed concentration of art deco architecture in the world. Noted U.S. monuments to the style include New York's Rockefeller Center and Chrysler Building , the South Beach section of Miami Beach, Fla., and Fair Park, in Dallas, Tex.

Bibliography: See B. Hillier, Art Deco (1968), Y. Brunhammer, Art Deco Style (1984); V. Arwas, Art Deco (1985); A. Duncan, ed., Encyclopedia of Art Deco (1988); P. Bayer, Art Deco Architecture (1999); T. and C. Benton and G. Wood, ed., Art Deco: 1910-1939 (2003); C. Breeze, American Art Deco (2003); B. Hillier and S. Escritt, Art Deco Style (2003); G. Wood, Essential Art Deco (2003).

Art Deco The most fashionable style of design and interior decoration in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe and the USA, characterized by sleek geometrical or stylized forms and bright, sometimes garish colours. The style takes its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925. Initially it was a luxury style, with costly materials such as ivory, jade, and lacquer much in evidence, but partly because of the effects of the Depression it also found expression in materials that could be easily and economically mass produced. Art Deco may have owed something to several of the major art movements of the early 20th century—the geometry of Cubism (it has been described as ‘Cubism tamed’), the bold colours of Fauvism, and the machine forms of Constructivism and Futurism. Similarly, although the term is not often applied to painting or sculpture, the Art Deco style is clearly reflected in the streamlined forms of certain artists of the period, for example the painter Tamara de Lempicka and the sculptor Paul Manship. There was a revival of interest in Art Deco during the 1960s (it was then that the name was coined) and its bold, bright forms have a kinship with Pop art.

art deco Fashionable style of design and interior decoration in the 1920s and 1930s. It took its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. The art deco style is characterized by sleek forms, simplified lines, and geometric patterns. It began as a luxury style, an example of modern design fashioned from expensive, hand-crafted materials. After the Depression, art deco shifted towards mass production and low-cost materials.

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Art/deco.shtml

art dec·o • n. the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colors, and used most notably in household objects and in architecture.

art deco the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colours.

art deco •tacho, taco, tobacco, wacko •blanco, Franco •churrasco, fiasco, Tabasco •Arco, Gran Chaco, mako •art deco, dekko, echo, Eco, El Greco, gecko, secco •flamenco, Lysenko, Yevtushenko •alfresco, fresco, Ionesco •Draco, shako •Biko, Gromyko, pekoe, picot, Puerto Rico, Tampico •sicko, thicko, tricot, Vico •ginkgo, pinko, stinko •cisco, disco, Disko, Morisco, pisco, San Francisco •zydeco • magnifico • calico • Jellicoe •haricot • Jericho • Mexico • simpatico •politico • portico •psycho, Tycho •Morocco, Rocco, sirocco, socko •bronco •Moscow, roscoe •Rothko •coco, cocoa, loco, moko, Orinoco, poco, rococo •osso buco • Acapulco •Cuzco, Lambrusco •bucko, stucco •bunco, junco, unco •guanaco • Monaco • turaco • Turco