Art Deco
Description
Art Deco, short for the French Arts décoratifs (lit. 'Decorative Arts'), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished internationally during the 1920s to early 1930s, through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including clothing, fashion, and jewelry. Art Deco has influenced buildings from skyscrapers to cinemas, bridges, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects, including radios and vacuum cleaners. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Tamara de Lempicka
Celebrated painter of 'stylized cubism' whose sleek, monumental portraits of fashionable, sexually liberated women in automobiles became the supreme painted embodiment of Art Deco glamour and female emancipation.
Romain de Tirtoff (Erté)
Russian-born French designer known as the 'Father of Art Deco' who profoundly shaped the era's aesthetic through over 250 Harper's Bazaar magazine covers, theatrical sets, and opulent costume illustrations.
René Lalique
Master French jeweler and glassmaker who transitioned from Art Nouveau to become the dominant Art Deco glass designer, creating iconic molded perfume bottles, illuminated architectural glass, and dynamic automobile hood ornaments.
William Van Alen
American architect who designed the Chrysler Building in New York City, creating the architectural climax of the Art Deco skyscraper with its stainless-steel sunburst arches and automotive gargoyles.
A.M. Cassandre
Pioneering French graphic designer and poster artist who revolutionized modern advertising by applying geometric speed lines, airbrush shading, and monumental typography to ocean liner and railway posters.
Paul Manship
Leading American Art Deco sculptor who synthesized archaic Greek aesthetics and streamlined geometric purity into monumental bronze civic fountain figures across New York City.
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann
The premier Parisian furniture designer and interior decorator of the 1920s who combined classical neoclassical proportions with exotic luxury materials such as macassar ebony, ivory inlay, and sharkskin.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
The term 'Art Deco' did not come into wide currency until late 1966 when the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris staged a retrospective exhibition entitled 'Les Années 25' to commemorate the landmark 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
↗ Source: britannica.com
When the Chrysler Building was topped out in October 1929, architect William Van Alen secretly assembled the 185-foot stainless-steel sunburst spire inside the building's fire shaft and hoisted it through the roof in just 90 minutes to decisively beat H. Craig Severance's Bank of Manhattan Trust Building for the title of world's tallest building.
↗ Source: britannica.com
