The Art Deco reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Art Deco

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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:

The Art Deco spire of the Chrysler BuildingEnlarge

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

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