Art Deco emerged from the ‘International Exhibition of
Modern and Industrial Decorative Arts’ which too place in Paris in the 1925. The exhibition was meant
to commence in 1915 however due to the World War 1, it had to be postponed
later in 1925. The aim of this exhibition was mainly to promote and put forward
French design. In fact it was vey affected by the Russian Ballet companies and
the French culture was exposed to exotic materials and trends.
The style very focused on decorative motifs and
ornamentation thus rejecting industrialized production. In fact, it didn’t
focus much on the function but looked more at its aesthetic beauty. It was
influenced by Asian and African cultures and designers started to experiment
with different new materials such as ivory, shark skin, exotic woods, mother of
pearl and shagreen. Different techniques were also coming through such as
lacquering and ceramic glazing.
Here we can see an example of a well known artist Eileen
Gray in ‘’Blocs’’ screen in black lacquer, 1922-1925. Gray creates furniture
which best describes today’s society and modern interiors with unusual
furniture.
Blocs by Eileen Gray
Another designer which also experimented with such materials
and techniques, is Renne Lalique. He moved from the Art Nouveau to a highly
stylized and bulky Art Deco glassware. In fact, his work ‘Pierrefond vase’ is a
proof of this and we can notice such features.
Pierrefond by Renne Lalique
In fact, Art Deco was also influenced effected by Cubism and
geometry and designers were coming up with abstractive forms in order to
produce something decorative. It took over from Art Nouveau and was very
inspired from by Egyptian civilization, tribal art, geometric abstraction,
Surrealism and Constructivism and over all Modernism. A prominent designer
which contributed to Art Deco is Jacques- Emile Ruhlmann.
Other materials which became popular such as chromium, colored
glass, painted concrete and Bakelite. This material can be molded, marbled and
made translucent. On the other hand, people at that time still wanted to buy
something mass produced without too much decoration such as the works from the
Bauhaus. The Great depression was also affecting this aspect since products
were becoming cheaper. After the second world war, everything had to be built
from its foundations and people had to buy affordable things to build houses
and decoration was not the aim any more. Also, during the war new technologies
paved the way to make design more adaptable, informal and cheaper products
which could be easily mass produced.
Art Deco deteriorated in 1939. The impact of Art Deco
nowadays is very significant, it is still an inspiration for some interior
designers. We can mention decoration in tiles which is popular in bathrooms.
Tiles are also made on walls with patterns. The Chrysler
Building in New York was also inspired from this
style and other similar architecture is still being built today with extensive
use of glass and other materials.
References
Fiell, C. and Fiell, P. (1999). Design of the 20th century.
Ko¨ln: Taschen.
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