Art Movement Spotlight: Art Deco
Read a brief history of the French Art Deco movement and how it is vastly different from Art Nouveau
Read a brief history of the French Art Deco movement and how it is vastly different from Art Nouveau
Art Deco (1919-1940) originated in France during “les années folles” (the Golden 1920s). It is characterized by simple, geometric shapes, which emerged in reaction to the voluptuous esthetic of Art Nouveau at the beginning of the 20th century, also called “la Belle Epoque.” Though it is often mistaken for Art Nouveau, Art Deco is actually a reaction to the traditionalism and conservatism attached to the Art Nouveau style. Art Deco originated under the influence of architects and designers, including Henri Sauvage, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Pierre Patout, Louis Süe, André Mare, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, and sculptor François Pompon.
The Art Deco movement accompanied the development of cars, planes, and entertainment after World War I as a triumph of Modernism and engineering. Art Deco combined art and industrial design, ranging from sculptures and ceramics to furniture and buildings. However, this style was only meant for the elite as the manufacturing series were very limited, and therefore very expensive. Bauhaus was the first movement to apply mass production to design objects and popularize design. The linear and geometric shapes were also easily applied to building design, and, with the 1929 crisis, many public commissions were made for official buildings, and for the SS Normandie ocean liner. Built in France, the ship embarked on her first trip to New York on May 29, 1935. At that time, the SS Normandie was the largest, fastest, and most luxurious passenger ship, with lavish Art Deco interior design. Though very linear in its design, as an expression of modern engineering, the Art Deco style was also very feminine, corresponding to the modern woman who smoked, wore short dresses, and hired her own interior designer.
The movement peaked in 1925, with the exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, which was intended to position French manufacturers and taste as the leading innovators in a post-World War I world in need of “modern inspiration.” The 1925 exhibition gave its name to the Art Deco movement. Because Decorative Art was absent from the Universal Exhibition in 1900, everything was done in 1925 to break away from tradition and advertise French innovation worldwide. 21 foreign delegations were invited for this purpose. Herbert Hoover, the American trade minister and future president of the United States, sent no less than 108 people to the 1925 exhibition. In return, Ruhlmann and other French designers were invited to the United States in 1936 present 400 objects, first in Boston and then in New York.
Art Deco’s use of use of simple, geometric patterns facilitated its implementation around the world, and often incorporated local features and creative adaptations. The impact of Art Deco is evident in many American cities. New York City’s Chrysler Building was constructed in the Art Deco style in 1930, and Rockefeller Center features a number of Art Deco statues, paintings, and reliefs, including Alfred Janniot’s massive bronze gilt relief, La Rencontre des continents americain et europeen (The Meeting of the American and European Continents). Miami Beach was also built entirely in the Art Deco style, with landmarks such as the Marlin and Colony Hotels representing the typical Florida Art Deco architecture. Many North American cities now have their own Art Deco societies, including Boston, Philadelphia, Tulsa, San Francisco, and Montreal.[i]
The Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine celebrated the Art Deco movement in Paris earlier this year (from October 16, 2013 to March 3, 2014) with the exhibition 1925, When Art Deco dazzled the world. It was the first exhibition since 1975 to celebrate this design movement. The exhibition took place in the Palais Chaillot (at the Trocadéro), which is one of the late Art Deco buildings in Paris¾built between 1934 and 1937.
[i] Emmanuel Breton, chief curator of heritage, head of the Painting and Stained Glass Department at the Musée des Monuments français à la Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, interview in Connaissance des arts HS N˚600, 2013.