Posted on 05/20/2020 2:28:30 PM PDT by NRx
Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925. It combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.
Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. From its outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism and the Vienna Secession; the bright colors 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 exotic styles of China and Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya art. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. The Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of the Art Deco style.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Art Deco became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel, and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s; it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with the beginning of World War II and the rise of the strictly functional and unadorned styles of modern architecture and the International Style of architecture that followed.
Not sure how it ever happened. Looks OK to me.
Dothan High School is art deco.
Let’s all do the Charleston!!
I love art deco, when I find it...
Sole reason to cruise Miami Beach at dusk, even the neon is ‘Art Deco’!
Early 70’s when I was a kid my pals and I helped a friend’s father hand out campaign flyers all over South Beach in Miami. The place was full of run down Art Deco apartments and hotels that had seen better days but were still eye catching.
Back then I bet those buildings sold for a song compared to today.
Great video wrong music
Art deco hood ornaments
https://axleaddict.com/auto-industry/hood-ornaments
I think art deco furniture had an edge. But in many ways the combine nicely together. 8>)
That’s a very well done video and the music was perfect. Thanks for posting.
Really cool design, but I wouldn’t want to live every day surrounded by in it my home. Love the clothes and jewelry!
(Seems like the music is more ‘40s than ‘20s. Not sure.)
I didn’t know Art Deco predated WWI. But wasn’t it the source of “dazzle painting” applied to Allied ships to confuse enemy U-Boats?
But it didn’t get its name until 1925. And the Chrysler Building is to me the finest and most conspicuous example pf Art Deco.
Must be some social histories of the Twenties which describe those who lived in it; most were already adults during the Great War 1914-1918 yet avoided it somehow. Often discussed on FR are the long term effects of the best young men in WWI on both sides being mostly wiped out. Felt to this day.
The video claims that one of Deco’s influences was Bauhaus.
I can’t quite see it, except in maybe some of the more geometric Deco designs.
Deco seems exuberant, beautifully extravagant at times, pretty far from the boring functionality of Bauhaus.
Tom Wolfe eviscerates that boring functionality in his book: “From Bauhaus to Our House”, although he lumped Bucky Fuller in there - he was wrong about Bucky, I’m still a huge fan of Wolfe, and his rapier like slicing...with a smile :)
I think you’d enjoy that book.
That’s Alfalfa from Our Gang who opens up floor over the pool. I think they shot that at the Hollywood H.S. pool.
Why the 1940s music? It doesn’t fit.
I tried watching this, but it looks as if whoever put it together just HAD to play with every slide dissolve and transition trick in their little software program. Good Lord it’s distracting! An amateurish hack job.
I gave up after about 3 minutes.
Asheville, NC has some beautiful unmolested examples of Art Deco architecture in their remarkably well preserved downtown. The city boomed in the roaring 20s but went bust in the crash leading to the Great Depression. They insisted upon paying their debts and did so, finally crawling out of the hole in the 70s. Much of that now glorious downtown was basically boarded up and benefitted from benign neglect, no urban renewal or new development destroyed any of it. Asheville is now booming again with almost all of those Art Deco buildings renovated or restored to their former glory.
No expense was spared in its construction. Even the elevators are lined with rare imported woods and are gorgeous. The lobby is lined with exquisite African marble made into timeless designs.
Even the windows reflect the Art Deco theme, and are stunning:
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