In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Art Deco became more subdued. The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and other skyscrapers of New York City built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments to the style. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.įrom its outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism and the Vienna Secession the bright colours of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes the updated craftsmanship of the furniture of the eras of Louis Philippe I and Louis XVI and the exoticized styles of China, Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya art. Īrt Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials.

It got its name after the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris. Through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including how people look (clothing, fashion and jewelry), Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings (from skyscrapers to cinemas), ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects like radios and vacuum cleaners.

Top to bottom: Chrysler Building in New York City (1930) poster for the Chicago World's Fair by Weimer Pursell (1933) and hood ornament Victoire by René Lalique (1928)Īrt Deco, short for the French Arts Décoratifs, and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s and 1930s.

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