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Art_Deco.
Art Deco
Art Deco was a movement in decorative arts that also affected architecture, deriving its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. It was a major style in Europe from the early 1920s but did not catch on in the U.S. until about 1928, when it quickly modulated into the Moderne during the 1930s. The term Art Deco was coined during the Exposition of 1925 but did not receive wider usage until it was re-evaluated in the 1960s, and its practitioners were not working as a coherent community of stylists. It is considered to be eclectic, being influenced by a variety of sources, to name a few:
- early work from the Wiener Werkstätte
- self-consciously "primitive" art of Africa, Egypt, or Aztec Mexico
- the Russian ballet
- decorative Cubism and Futurism
- everything associated with Jazz, Jazz Age or "jazzy"
- animal motifs and forms; tropical foliage
- female forms
- modern technology such as the radio and skyscraper.
The Art Deco spire of the Chrysler Building
Corresponding to these influences, the Art Deco is characterised by use of materials such as sharkskin and zebraskin, zigzag and stepped forms, bold and sweeping curves (unlike the sinuous curves of the Art nouveau), chevron patterns, sunburst motif, etc. Some of these motifs were ubiquitous- for example the sunburst motif was used in such varied contexts as a lady's shoe, a radiator grille, the spire of the Chrysler Building. Art Deco was an opulent style and this opulence is attributed as a reaction to the forced austerity during the years of World War I. Art Deco was a popular style for interiors of cinema theatres and ocean liners such as Normandie.
A parallel movement following close behind, the Streamline or Streamline Moderne, was influenced by manufacturing and streamlining techniques arising from science and mass production- shape of bullet, liners, etc., where aerodynamics are involved. Once the Chrysler Air-Flo design of 1933 (date) was successful, "streamlined" forms began to be used even for objects such as pencil sharpeners and refrigerators. In architecture, this style was characterised by rounded corners, used predominantly for buildings at road junctions.
Some historians see Art Deco as a type of or early form of Modernism
Though Art Deco slowly lost patronage in the West, and was cut short by the austerities of World War II, in colonial countries such as India, it became a gateway for Modernism, and continued to be used well after, even in the nineteen sixties.
Noted Art Deco Artists and Designers
Noted Art Deco Architects
Noted Art Deco Designs
External Links
This article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Dolls of the Art Deco Era 1910-1940: Collect, Restore, Create and Play by Susanna Oroyan
Art Deco: 1910-1939 by Charlotte/Benton Benton
Art Deco Hair: Hairstyles of the 1920s and 1930s by Daniela Turudich
Art Deco Interiors: Decoration and Design Classics of the 1920s and 1930s by Patricia Bayer
Art Deco Fashion by Suzanne Lussier
Altered Books 103: Little Books, Decos, CDs & More! (#5215) by Art's Angels
Art Deco (Architecture and Design Library) by Young Mi Kim
French Furniture : From Louis XIII to Art Deco by Sylvie Chadenet
Art Deco Furniture: The French Designers by Alastair Duncan
Art Deco Cut & Use Stencils by Theodore Menten
The Art Deco House: Avant-Garde Houses of the 1920s and 1930s by Adrian Tinniswood
American Art Deco: Modernistic Architecture and Regionalism by Carla Breeze
Art Deco Graphics by Patricia Frantz Kery
Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration, and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties by Patricia Bayer
Tropical Deco : The Architecture and Design of Old Miami Beach by Laura Cerwinske
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