ART DECO DESIGN

Art Deco Design, which originated in France, was a major decorative style in the United States during the 1920s. The style was first exhibited by a collective of French artists in Paris at the 1925 Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Many art movements are based on philosophical or political ideologies, but Art Deco was strictly decorative. The term Art Deco was not coined until the late sixties by art historian Bevis Hillier. Art Deco Design was an antitraditional, modern style which celebrated the Machine Age in its simplicity, symmetry, planarity, and elemental repetition.

Art Deco was immensely popular in the Roaring Twenties, shaping all areas of design: architecture, interior, furniture, textile, crystal and glass, silver and metal, industrial, painting, sculpture, graphic art, film, fashion, and jewelry. The most recognizable forms of Art Deco Design are architecture and sculpture since they were the most in demand and had the greatest longevity. Materials used in Art Deco Design included man-made substances such as stainless steel, aluminum, ferroconcrete, vitaglass, lacquer, and plastic (particularly Bakelite). Natural substances utilized included silver, chrome, inlaid wood, sharkskin, zebra skin, rock crystal, jade, obsidian, and ivory.

Art Deco Plant Motif

 

Art Deco Design was in part a modernist reaction against sensuous Art Nouveau style that was at its apex at the turn of the Twentieth Century. The angular, symmetrical lines and sweeping curves of Art Deco were juxtaposed to the flowing, asymmetrical lines and sinuous, natural curves of Art Nouveau. Plant and floral motifs characterized both Art Deco Design and Art Nouveau, but contrasting stylization was used.

Geometric Clock

 

Art Deco Design evolved from multiple artistic styles. The vivid palette used by French Fauvist painters between 1905 and 1908 was the source of intense colors which drew the eye in Art Deco. Cubism, an avant-garde art movement in Paris between 1907 and 1914, fragmented and redefined three-dimensional subjects into abstract, often geometric forms. Cubist effect on Art Deco Design was seen in the employment of geometric patterning. Futurism, an art movement originating in Italy in 1908 and lasting through the twenties, expressed the dynamics of modern life. Just as Futurists repudiated past artistic traditions and embraced Modernism, so did adherents of Art Deco Design.

Constructivism, a Russian movement in art and architecture commencing in 1914, also influenced Art Deco Design. Sculptural works by Constructivists had an architectonic feel. Industrial materials and geometric constructions paying homage to technology and the machine marked both Constructivism and Art Deco Design. Several Constructivists lectured or taught at Bauhaus. The German Bauhaus School of art and architecture had a profound impact on Art Deco architecture. Beginning in 1919, Bauhaus architects used principles of classical architecture in their purest form. Rejecting ornamentation of any kind, their structures had a severe geometry of form. Stripped-down forms, cubic shapes, and flat roofs of Bauhaus were reflected in the architecture of Art Deco Design.

Miami Art Deco Hotel

Art Deco Apartments

Palm Beach Art Deco House

Art Deco Teapot with Animal Motif

Decorative details of Art Deco Design were inspired by primitive arts, geometry, and nature. Among recurring themes were the primitive arts of Aztec and Mayan native Americans, and Egyptians. The discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 captivated the world; ornamentation on objects placed in the tomb to engage the slumbering King, such as brilliant colors, bold lines, and zigzags, were incorporated. Geometric ornamentation was ubiquitous and included cubes, trapezoids, lozenges, chevrons, and stepped forms. Motifs referencing nature such as sunbursts, stylized foliage and flowers, animals, and nude female figures, frequently graced Art Deco Design.

 

 

Bibliography

Art Deco Style, Bevis Hillier, Phaidon Press, 1997

Art Deco:  1910 - 1939, Charlotte Benton, Author, Tim Benton, Author, Ghislaine Wood, Author, Bulfinch, 1st North edition, 2003

Art Deco (DK Collector's Guides), Judith Miller, DK Adult, 2005