Art Movement: Art Deco

Art Deco



This blog post will be about a movement that is slightly similar to cubism but takes a different look on it.

Art Deco is an influential visual arts design style that first appeared in France after World War 1 and began flourishing internationally in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s before its popularity waned after World War 2. It is an eclectic style that combines traditional craft motifs with Machine Age imagery and materials.
The style if often characterized by rich colours, bold geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation.

During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance and faith in social and technological progress.
Art Deco affected all forms of design, from the fine and decorative arts to fashion, film, photography and product design.

Art Deco represented many things for many people, It was the style of the flapper girl and the factory, the luxury ocean liner and the skyscraper, the fantasy world of Hollywood and the real world of the Harlem Renaissance.

It drew on tradition and yet simultaneously celebrated the mechanised, modern world. Often deeply nationalistic, it quickly spread around the world, dominating the skylines of cities from New York to Shanghai. It embraced both handcraft and machine production, exclusive works of high art and new products in affordable materials.


Art Deco reflected the plurality of the contemporary world. Unlike its functionalist sibling, Modernism, it responded to the human need for pleasure and escape. In celebrating the ephemeral, Art Deco succeeded in creating a mass style performance. Infinitely adaptable, it gave free reign to the imagination and celebrated the fantasies, fears and desires of people all over the world. (This information is from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/art-deco/ )

 This is Art Deco metal work, I quite like the patterns being made and how the metal over laps each other in different places. This kind of architecture is normally in front doors of fancy hotels or restaurants or inside fancy buildings. For example, some places in New York will have these kind of metal work.