Art Deco | Definition, Characteristics, History, Artists, Architecture, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

Art Deco | Definition, Characteristics, History, Artists, Architecture, & Facts? ›

What is Art Deco? Art Deco is a popular design style of the 1920s and '30s characterized especially by sleek geometric or stylized forms and by the use of man-made materials. NoneSee an example of the Art Deco style adopted for the Chicago Board of Trade building.

Art Deco, short for the French Arts décoratifs ( lit. 'Decorative Arts'), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in Paris in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s.

The Empire State Building (New York)

Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the Empire State Building is among the most famous Art Deco skyscrapers in the world.

The characteristic features of Art Deco reflect admiration for the modernity of the machine and for the inherent design qualities of machine-made objects—e.g., relative simplicity, planarity, symmetry, and unvaried repetition of elements.

Art Deco buildings have a sleek, linear appearance with stylized, often geometric ornamentation. The primary façade of Art Deco buildings often feature a series of set backs that create a stepped outline. Low-relief decorative panels can be found at entrances, around windows, along roof edges or as string courses.

Art Deco paintings of the 1920s and 1930s often involved bright, bold colors, and geometrical lines. Art Deco artists include the popular painter Tamara de Lempicka, as well as illustrator/ designers like George LePape, both of whose Art Deco images encapsulate the movement.

Art Deco delivered a sense of opulence and luxury and, importantly, made it accessible to everybody. There were many entertainment buildings, travel buildings and civic buildings, theatres and cinemas, that were designed in the style.

Stylized ornamentation and geometric patterns: Zigzags, lightening bolts, sunrises, stylized florals, geometric curves, and designs inspired by Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Aztec, Mayan, and other cultures are key Art Deco motifs.

Art deco washighly varied in its influences, taking inspiration from ancient Egyptian art, Aztec and other ancient Central American art, as well as from the design of modern ships, trains and motor cars.

How old is art deco architecture? ›

Art Deco was an international decorative style than ran from 1919 to 1939. Known initially as "le style moderne" or "Jazz Moderne," the style received its current name in 1968, during a period of scholarly reappraisal.

In the era of Art Deco Architecture, architects were seen embracing taller buildings with intricate designs, and modern art deco style elements like stainless steel, reinforced concrete, plate glass, chrome plating, plastic, mass-produced aluminium, etc.

Buildings were richly embellished with hard-edged, low-relief designs, geometric shapes (including chevrons and ziggurats) and stylized floral and sunrise patterns. Shapes and decorations inspired by Native American artwork were among the archetypes of the Art Deco lexicon.

Characteristics of the Art Deco style originated in France in the mid-to-late 1910s, came to maturation during the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, and developed into a major style in western Europe and the United States during the 1930s.

To give objects a futuristic look, Art Deco artists used vertical lines and geometric shapes (arcs, circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, etc.) in repetitive patterns. The Chrysler Building in Manhattan is a classic example of Art Deco architecture, and features a number of these design elements.

What was Art Deco influenced by? Among the formative influences on Art Deco were Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus, Cubism, and Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Practitioners of Art Deco also found inspiration in American Indian, Egyptian, and early Classical sources as well as from nature.

Art Deco, with its appreciation of modern forms, progress, modern materials, and luxurious exuberance, symbolized perfectly the flourishing post-war America with its new inventions that were available to even the average person. The Art Deco style perfectly reflected this intoxicating progress.