Art Deco is a design movement that started quietly in the 1910s. It saw its peak in popularity during the 1920s, then eventually died out in the 1940s. Art Deco received its name and was first exhibited in 1925 during an exhibition called Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernest. This exhibition was located in Paris and was set up like a world’s fair on 57 acres of land and lasted six months. The Art Deco movement can be seen in architecture, interior design, industrial design, fashion, painting, graphic arts, and film. Art Deco was most popular in Western Europe during the 1920s, then finally a decade later it found its popularity in the United States during the 1930s. This was around the same time when skyscrapers were starting to bes built, resulting in a lot of these buildings featuring an Art Deco style. The Art Deco style was also used in a lot of movies theaters at the time and still is today. In South Beach Miami, Florida, Art Deco became very popular during the 1930s and the area is now known as the Art Deco Historic District.
Major movements that influenced the creation of Art Deco are: Art Nouveau, Cubism, De Stijl, and Futurism. Art Deco is also said to be differentiated from Bauhaus because of the decorative elements found in the Art Deco designs. Art Deco was purely a decorative movement that borrowed its decorative elements from the Native Americans, the Egyptians, and other classical sources. Characteristics that you can find in this movement are: symmetry, geometric shapes with a clean and simple design. It is said that Art Deco symbolized wealth and sophistication and was considered to be glamorous.
There is a numerous number of artists and architects that contributed to the Art Deco movement. The Empire State Building is probably one of the most well known Art Deco skyscrapers in the United States that was designed by an architectural firm named Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon. Another well known Art Deco styled building is the Chrysler Building found in New York City, New York. This building was designed by William Van Alen.
There are many well known graphic artists that contributed to the Art Deco movement. One graphic artist that was found at the 1925 exhibit in Paris was Jean Dupas, displaying his piece named Les Perruches. Charles Gesmar is another graphic artist that is known for his posters of Mistinguett and his posters highlighting the jazz age. Paul Colin is a graphic artist that is known for the posters he created of Josephine Baker in the Art Deco style. Jean Carlu is known for the posters he created for the movie The Kid that starred Charlie Chaplin. A.M. Cassandre is a graphic artist that is known for creating many posters on transportation but is most known for his posters on cruise liners such as Normandie.
Another artist that had displayed their work at Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernest was Francios Pompon. Pompon was the sculptor that created the well known bronze polar bear statue. The massive Art Deco sculpture Christ the Redeemer that is found overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro was sculpted by Paul Landowski and the face by Gheorghe Leonida in the 1930s. Like most movements, Art Deco started to see a decline in popularity and eventually fizzled out in the 1940s during the second World War. Art Deco did receive a renewed interest in the 1960s and into the 21st century.
Sources
