It flourished internationally throughout the 20s, 30s, and 40s. The style influenced all areas of design, architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and jewelry, as well as the visual arts including painting, graphic arts and film.
The term "art deco" first came into popular culture, after an exhibition in Paris, named 'Les Années 25' sub-titled Art Deco. Art Deco is usually synonymous with elegance coupled with functionality.
Art Deco experienced a decline in popularity during the late 30s and early 40s, but had a resurgence during the 1960s with the first book on the subject by Bevis Hillier in 1968 and later an exhibition organised by him in Minneapolis in 1971. It continued with the popularization of graphic design during the 1980s.
Riga, Latvia, has the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in Europe
Architectural examples survive in many different locations worldwide, in countries as diverse as China (Shanghai), the UK, Latvia, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Poland, Austria, Germany, Russia, Romania, Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, India, Brazil, Colombia and the United States.
In New York, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center are among the largest and best-known examples of the style.
Although many design movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.
Art Deco is generally attributed to an informal collective known as La Société des artistes décorateurs (the society of the decorator artists). Founding artists of this society included Hector Guimard, Eugène Grasset, Raoul Lachenal, Paul Bellot, Maurice Dufrêne, and Emile Decoeur.
The structure of Art Deco is based on mathematical geometric
shapes
Art Deco has a linear symmetry, which was a distinct departure from the flowing asymmetrical organic curves of its predecessor style Art Nouveau; it embraced influences from many different styles of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism and Futurism and drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Aztec forms.
The ability to travel and archaeological excavations during this time influenced artists and designers, integrating several elements from countries not their own. Much of this could be attributed to the popular interest in archaeology during the 1920s.
Art Deco was an ornamental style, and its lavishness is attributed to reaction to the forced austerity imposed by World War I
Art Deco used many distinctive styles, but one of the most significant of its features was its dependence upon a range of ornaments and motifs.
The style is said to have represented the cultural politics of its time, with eclecticism having been one of its defining features. In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the distinctive style of Art Deco was developed by 'all the nervous energy stored up and expended in the War'.Art Deco has been influenced partly by styles such as Cubism, Russian Constructivismand Italian Futurism, which are all evident in Art Deco decorative arts.
