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Topic: Art Deco1. Fact SheetWhat exactly is Art Deco?

Art Deco is the name of a style of architecture and decoration that flourished all over the world, particularly in Europe and America, between the First and Second World Wars.

The style first appeared in France. It quickly came to represent the spirit, luxury and glamour of the modern age. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewellery, fashion, cars, movie

theatres, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners.

Style Art Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism; the bright colors of

Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes; the updated craftsmanship of the furniture of the eras of Louis Philippe and Louis XVI; and the exotic styles of China and Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya art.

It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship.

Key style points: o Zig-zagged geometric patterns and angular shapes o symmetry and repetitiono bright colourso chrome, glass, shiny fabrics, mirrors and mirror tileso stylised images of aeroplanes, cars, cruise liners, skyscrapers o nature motifs - shells, sunrises, flowers o theatrical contrasts - highly polished wood and glossy black lacquer mixed

with satin and furs

How did it all start? The clean lines of Art Deco were the perfect antidote and a natural progression from

the overtly ornate decoration of the Art Noveau movement. The phrase Art Deco was not coined until 1968, by the English art critic and

historian, Bevis Hillier.

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Before 1968 it had been referred to in various ways: Moderne, Jazz Moderne, Zig Zag Moderne.

The high point of the Art Deco movement was the Paris Exposition of 1925, Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes.

After this the style was emulated all over the world. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more

subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s; it

featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces.

Art Deco in America America embraced Art Deco and a unique style of American Art Deco emerged. Even in the uncertain economic times, the style survived Prohibition, the catastrophic

1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. It epitomised the age of the flapper, of jazz, Hollywood glamour and conspicuous

consumption. It was adopted as a thoroughly modern style for a thoroughly modern country. Deco became the style of the new pleasure palaces, cinemas, cruise ships,

restaurants, bars and garages. Art Deco's popularity waned in Europe in the Thirties, but it flourished in America

until well into the Forties. You can find examples of Art Deco in almost any city in America, from Detroit to

Denver and Cincinnati to Chicago. Many of the design motifs used in Art Deco could be easily adapted for mass-

production, which began in the Thirties. This meant Art Deco was made available to a completely new audience.

Another reason for its success was the way each culture could assimilate its own style and traditions into Art Deco's motifs and designs.

One of the major influences of American Art Deco was pre-Columbian, Aztec and Mayan cultures, and many buildings featured motifs and patterns borrowed from ancient sites such as Chichen Itza in Mexico.

Skyscrapers America marked the summit of the Art Deco style; they became the tallest and most

recognisable buildings in the world. They were designed to show the prestige of their builders through their height, their

shape, their color, and their dramatic illumination at night. New laws imposed in New York in the Twenties decreed that any new tall buildings

would have to decrease in width as they grew to allow light to permeate. This meant that the top of any tall building was required to be one quarter of the area of the base. The architects of the time rose to the challenge and skyscrapers became


almost like abstract sculptures, often reflecting something of the nature of the businesses they housed.

The wealthy business leaders of the time such as the Chanins, the Rockefellers and Chryslers began constructing their own skyscrapers and so a great period of construction commenced.

Noteworthy buildings: The Empire State Building The Chrysler Building-It was designed by architect William Van Alen in 1928 to

house the offices of the Chrysler Motor Company. Its bold geometric patterns, gleaming metal exterior and decoration echoing hubcaps and radiators play homage to the automobile.

The Chanin Building-Constructed between 1927 and 1929, it features a decorative plate on the first-floor level designed by celebrated Art Deco artist Renee Chamberlain.

The giant Rockefeller Centre between Fifth and Sixth Avenue and West 48th and West 51st Street was opened in 1931 close to the end of Prohibition and at the start of the Depression. Now the plaza is home to upmarket shops, designer boutiques, cafés and an ice rink, which has been open since 1936. Part of the interior was designed by Diego Rivera, who was taken off the job for his Communist-leaning murals for the entrance hall.

Source: www.independent.co.uk and bbc.co.uk


http://www.independent.co.uk/

2. An introduction to Art DecoArguably Art Deco – a term coined in the 1960s – isn't one style, but a pastiche of different styles, sources and influences. Art Deco designers borrowed from historic European movements, as well as contemporary Avant Garde art, the Russian ballets, folk art, exotic and ancient cultures, and the urban imagery of the machine age.

One of Art Deco's key sources was its forerunner, Art Nouveau, the fin de siècle style that fell out of fashion in the years before the First World War (1914 – 18). Key elements of Art Nouveau's visual language, such as plant and floral forms, were borrowed and adapted to create an updated vision, as seen in the stylised naturalistic fabric designs of the Atelier Martine.

The more linear, geometric variant of Art Nouveau, such as the work of Josef Hoffmann and Charles Rennie Mackintosh directly fed the Art Deco search for 'modern' forms and decorative motifs. Hofmann's two-handled bowl, a food vessel in gilt brass, with

elegant curvilinear handles, inspired many silver designers of the 1920s.

Meanwhile, the arts of Africa and East Asia provided rich sources of forms and materials. Archaeological discoveries in the early 1920s fuelled a romantic fascination with early Africa and Mesoamerica. The excavation of Tutenkhamun's tomb in 1922 triggered a proliferation of Egyptian imagery such as lotus flowers, scarabs, hieroglyphics, pylons and pyramids.

One of the most pivotal moments for Art Deco (known then as 'Style Moderne') was the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels

Modernes held in Paris in 1925.

The exhibition, dedicated to the display of modern decorative arts, brought together thousands of designers from all over Europe and beyond, including Emile Jacques Ruhlmann and Rene Lalique. Both designers were known for their exquisite detail and sense for quality. They became prominent promoters of the early Art Deco movement, putting their own modern spin on traditional craftsmanship.

As the 1920s advanced, many designers turned to the new visual language, colour and iconography of the Avant Garde. Movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, De Stijl, Suprematism and Constructivism – frequently bundled together under the label of 'Cubism' – were eagerly absorbed by designers seeking to capture the dynamism of the modern world. British and American critics often used the terms 'Moderne', 'Jazz Moderne' or 'Zigzag Moderne' to characterise such work. Geometric forms worked their way into all


Dress fabric, Atelier Martine, 1919, France

Two handled bowl, designed by Josef Hoffmann, 1925, Austria.

aspects of life, including everyday small items such as vanity boxes, cigarette cases, and tableware.

The stock market crash of 1929 saw the optimism of the 1920s gradually decline. By the mid 1930s, Art Deco was being derided as a gaudy, false image of luxury. By the outbreak of the Second World War, this hostility had become intense. Despite its demise, however, Art Deco made a fundamental impact on subsequent design. Its triumph is exemplified in Poul Henningse' PH lamp, manufactured by Louis Poulsen, which has been in continuous production with minor modifications ever since it was first introduced.

Art Deco's widespread application and enduring influence prove that its appeal is based on more than simple visual allure. Its strength comes from its willingness to embrace the duality of tradition and modernity, marrying luxury and function in a versatile way. These qualities and characteristics can be enjoyed, in their many guises, throughout our collections, from fashion to furniture.

(Source: vam.ac.uk/articles/an-introduction-to-art-deco)


Table lamp, designed by Poul Henningsen, made by Louis Poulsen, 1927, Denmark.

3. Art Deco Design - Images

Furnishing fabric, designed by Gregory Brown, made by William Foxton Ltd, 1922, England. Museum no. T.325-1934. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Tea service, Harry George Murphy, 1933 – 1934, England. Museum no. M.6 to 6b 1985. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Liverpool's former Speke Airport. Photograph: Don McPhee


Vogue, tea service, designed by Eric Slater, manufactured by Shelley Potteries, 1930, England. Museum no. C.159:1&2-2003/C.160:1&2-2003/C.161-2003. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Chrysler Building, New York. Copyright © 2012-2016 - historylists


4. Newspaper articleBritain’s art deco icons? The BBC should get its history straight.

BBC4’s recent series on 1930s architecture looks at Britain’s art-deco history through neon-tinted glasses. The reality is a bit more complicated.

There's no denying art deco's attraction: it's the style of 1930s cinemas, ocean liners and flamboyant Manhattan skyscrapers. It conjures Hollywood, Busby Berkeley musicals, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat. It makes you think of glamorous climes – whether Miami, Havana, New York or Shanghai – in which buildings that seemed to be encrusted with fashionable jewellery gleam in the summer sun. It's also a style that's been much in vogue recently, because of BBC4's Glamour's Golden Age season, which includes a series of documentaries by David Heathcote on art deco icons.

But here's the funny thing: Britain doesn't actually have much in the way of art deco architecture. Even London has just a sprinkling of buildings: Ideal House, a black granite-clad office block off Regent's Street designed by Raymond Hood; The Odeon, Leicester Square; and the glorious Daily Express building in Fleet Street, with its spectacular, cinema-style entrance lobby by Robert Atkinson. Outside London, cinemas are the most shining examples of the style – Harry Weedon's Odeons are the best (all too many converted into bingo halls or graceless multiplexes), along with shop fronts. Manchester and Glasgow have their own dramatically deco Daily Express buildings, both dramatic examples. If you look hard enough, you can detect deco influences in the buildings of Liverpool's Speke Airport (now a hotel) and even in the suburban stations of the old Southern Railway, such as Surbiton.

But it's never a style that really took root in Britain. Which makes it all the odder that the BBC has decided to label buildings art deco that aren't. In his documentaries, Heathcote devoted much time to Charles Holden's 55 Broadway, the headquarters of London Underground, describing it as "a fantastic art deco building". Holden would have turned in his grave at the description. Influenced by contemporary US architecture, yes. And detailed inside in ways that might suggest art deco. But an art deco icon? No.

This isn't entirely Heathcote's fault. Television thrives on telling stories with the broadest of brush strokes. And art deco has become something of a catch-all title in recent years, used to describe almost any building, piece of furniture, bronze lamp or ceramic dish designed between about 1925 and 1940. I've seen Albert Speer's Reich Chancellery for Adolf Hitler described as art deco and even – a mortal sin, surely? – Le Corbusier's coolly modern Villa Savoye in the suburbs of Paris tainted with the same label. The term itself was something of a latecomer. It wasn't much used before the design historian Bevis Hillier published his delightful book Art Deco of the 20s and 30s in 1968, defining a style that had more usually been known as moderne, modernistic and jazz modern.

The style emerged from the legendary Exposition Internationale des Art Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925 – a grand showing of design and decoration, from furniture and accessories to interiors and architecture, mapped out in acres of


precious veneers, marble and onyx, stainless steel and aluminium, all much influenced by Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology. It was this licentious playfulness that provoked the contempt of the rising stars of the Modern movement – modernism – which had been rooted in the far more serious researches of the Bauhaus and, most notably, Le Corbusier. Modernists held art deco in contempt: it was all but sinful. A travesty. Low and dishonest. Downright vulgar – it was the stuff of fashion rather than function, of escapism rather than realism.

When Nikolaus Pevsner, the architecture and design historian, went to see the cinematic Hoover Factory on London's Western Avenue, built by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners (1931–5), he described it in the Middlesex volume of his The Buildings of England series as "perhaps the most offensive of the modernistic atrocities along this road of typical bypass factories". (A comment that was toned down to something substantially less angry in the revised edition of the book, published in 1991.)

And whereas Modern architecture, for better or worse, influenced the British landscape for decades to come, art deco never really took flight. It remained in domestic settings: hinted at in the stained-glass sunrises of mock-Tudor front doors, echoed in the interiors of 1930s MG sports saloons. It conjured fantasy and escapism at a time when the world could be a very grim place indeed.

Perhaps some of the same escapism touches our view of art deco. It's a way of looking at the past through neon-tinted glasses. By all means, watch Top Hat, gawp at the Chrysler Building, imagine yourself sipping cocktails aboard an ocean liner – let the dark and disturbing interwar era become the stuff of ritzy cinematic dreams. But life in the 1930s was more complicated. And while it's understandable that the BBC should have fallen for art deco's charms, it might have been better if they had got their history straight.

(Source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/12/art-deco-bbc-architecture)


https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/12/art-deco-bbc-architecture

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/12/art-deco-bbc-architecture

5. Questions

1. What topic are these resources about? What is the topic – a time period? A designer? a style?

2. What were the most important influences of Art Deco?

3. How did the Art Deco style change/develop over time? What events or ideas were important to Art Deco designers?


4. How did the Art Deco style change/develop over time? What events or ideas were important to Art Deco designers?

5. How does Art Deco style look? What are some of the key design features? How is it different to other design styles you have seen? Pick two features from the images provided.


6. Why do you think designers designed in this way?

7. What is Jonathan Glancey’s view of Art Deco design in Britain? To what extent do you agree?



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