1. Art Deco in the 1920s
The mood during the 1920s was optimistic and the future seemed bright. World War
I was over and the economy was booming throughout the world. The Roaring Twenties
ushered in a spirit of frivolity, luxury and a sense of freedom and hopefulness.
Jazz music was all the rage, women had won the right to
vote and the flapper further liberated women. Leisurely
travel gained popularity when in 1923, Coco Chanel
returned from a cruise to Cannes, sporting a hot
new accessory - sun tanned skin!
The Machine Age was in full swing and technology was
rapidly improving the quality of life. This was the age that
introduced the radio, the printing press, the skyscraper
and modernized transportation.
There was a sense of excitement and expectancy in the air,
a time of anticipating a future filled with promise. And it
was during this hustle and bustle of activity that the Art
Deco style began to emerge.
Paris 1925
An exhibition was held in Paris in 1925, called Exposition Internationale
des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. It attracted all of the
prominent Frenchartists, architects, craftsmen and designers of the
period and featured their works. Although the various works did not all
have a common aesthetic - the ArtDeco style is in fact quite eclectic, with
influences of Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism, Modernism, Neo-Classicism
and Bauhaus (Benton, 2003) - the themes of the works did have a
commonality...
Egyptomania's Influence on Art Deco History
The Paris Exhibition in 1925 focused primarily
on the Art Deco movement in France. However,
the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in
November of 1922 spawned a worldwide
fascination with all things Egyptian, further
contributing to the evolving aesthetic of Art
Deco. Egyptomania, as it came to be known,
spread throughout the globe like wild fire and
influenced everything
from architecture to jewelry to furniture. Hence,
we recognize the classic Egyptian Ziggurat
(staggered tier/zigzag/pyramid shape) as a
classic Art Deco motif.
Classic Art Deco Pictures
25 August 2014
