Sexy, modern, and unabashedly consumer-oriented, Art Deco was a new kind of style, flourishing at a time of rapid technological change and social upheaval. Lacking the philosophical basis of other European design movements, Deco borrowed motifs from numerous sources--Japan, Africa, ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures, avant-garde European art--simply to create novel visual effects. Art Deco 1910-1939 surveys the sources and development of the popular style with more than 400 color illustrations and 40 chapters by numerous design specialists. The authors track Deco around the globe, from Paris to the United States—-where it got its biggest boost from mass production—-to Northern and Central Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and New Zealand. The book's broad focus encompasses industrial artifacts (the Hindenburg blimp, the Burlington Zephyr locomotive), as well as architecture, furniture, accessories, fashion, jewelry, typography and poster design. Despite the existence of other prominent artistic movements during the 1920s and '30s, the authors tend to hang the Deco label on virtually any object that portrays the effects of technology or employs color, luxury materials or artificial light in striking ways. It does seem a stretch to include Man Ray's photographs, Sonia Delaunay's textiles and the movie King Kong in the Deco pantheon. But the great strength of Art Deco 1910-1939 is that it reveals the social context of Deco, not just its pretty face. The book accompanies an exhibition (organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto through January 4, 2004; subsequent venues are San Francisco and Boston. —Cathy Curtis


Book Description
Art Deco swept across the globe during the 1920s and 1930s and created the defining look of the interwar years. In an era of contradictions that encompassed both the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, it imbued everyday life with elegance and sophistication. It transformed the skylines of cities as diverse as New York and Shanghai and touched the design of everything from Hollywood films to clothing to luxury liners and locomotives. Art Deco was the style of hedonism, of indulgence, and of mass consumption. ART DECO 1910-1939 is the most wide-ranging survey of what created such an utterly distinctive iconography. Nearly 40 essays from leading experts in the field discuss the Art Deco phenomenon--its sources, its varied forms of expression, and the way it refined and redefined itself as it spread throughout the world. With breathtaking illustrations and essays both thought-provoking and scholarly, it will stand as the definitive book on what was, arguably, the most popular style of the 20th century.


About the Author
Charlotte Benton is a design and architecture historian. Tim Benton is a curator and Professor of Art History at the Open University.Ghislaine Wood is co-curator of the "Art Deco 1910-1939" exhibition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Spanning the boom of the roaring Twenties and the bust of the Depression-ridden 1930s, Art Deco came to epitomize all the glamour, luxury, and hedonism of the Jazz Age. It was the style of the flapper girl, the luxury ocean liner, the Hollywood film, and the skyscraper. It burst onto the world stage at the 1925 Paris Exposition internationale des arts decoratifs et industriels modernes, and quickly swept across the globe. Its influence was everywhere: it transformed the skylines of cities from New York to Shanghai and shaped the design of everything from fashionable evening wear to plastic radios. Above all it became the style of the pleasure palaces of the age - hotels, cocktail bars, night-clubs and cinemas. Though it originated before the First World War in the one-off masterwork or the limited edition piece, Deco became synonymous with mass consumption and modernity, and was enthusiastically embraced by taste-makers all over the globe, among them Josephine Baker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the Maharajah of Indore.

Deco was an essentially eclectic style. It drew from European craft traditions as well as from the exotic cultures of Ancient Egypt, Meso-America, East Asia, and black Africa. Its use of rare and unashamedly precious materials was a reminder of the wealth of empires, whilst its streamlined and geometric imagery celebrated the machine age and the exuberance of the contemporary world. This lavish and authoritative book brings together leading experts in the field to discuss the phenomenon that was Art Deco. Its sources, varied forms of expression, distinct visual language and global spread are examined in a series of thought-provoking and scholarly essays. With its breathtaking illustrations this volume will stand as the definitive book on what was, arguably, the most popular style of the twentieth century.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

The hundreds of photographs in this volume portray not only the more predictable sites and artifacts (movie palaces, Miami hotels, textiles, furniture, jewelry, household objects) but also a surprising range of regions -- India, Scandinavia, Latin America, Australia -- in which the style influenced local artisans and architects. Among the informative essays are several illuminating articles that trace Deco back to its roots in the design elements of Egyptian, Asian, African and Mexican art. — Francine Prose

Library Journal