Art Deco: A Brave New World

Survey 9: A Toit Summary by Jake Peralta

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Art Deco: The True Beginning of Modern Architecture

Art Deco, also called style moderne, movement in visual  arts and architecture that originated in France just before World War 1 and developed into a major style in western Europe and the United States during the 1930s. The style got its name from the Parisian Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, where the style was first exhibited in 1925. 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 combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials, representing wealth and luxury, glamour and sophistication, and faith in social and technological progress. Modernism was fashionable, and the sleek, simple, clean shapes, often with a “streamlined” look was present in everything from individually crafted luxury items to (rarely) mass-produced wares.

Chrysler Building in New York City. Built in 1930, at 1,046 feet (318.9 m), the structure was the world’s tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. It is still the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework.

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, the Art Deco style became more subdued due to the effects of the great depression. New materials such as chrome plating, stainless steel, and plastic helped Art Deco evolve into a sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne. This new 1930s trend featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco was one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with the beginning of World War II.

Dome of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (1910–1913), with an Art-Deco rose design by Maurice Denis.
Art Deco style Crown of the General Electric Building (also known as 570 Lexington Avenue) by Cross & Cross (1933).

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