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