Information on Art Deco

Art Deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s and into the World War II era.

The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion, and jewelry, as well as the visual arts such as painting, graphic arts, and film.

The term “Art Deco” was first used widely in 1926, after an exhibition in Paris, ‘Les Années 25’ sub-titled Art Deco celebrating the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) that was the culmination of Style Moderne in Paris.

At its best, art deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality, and modernity. Art deco’s linear symmetry 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 twentieth century, including neoclassical, constructivism, cubism, modernism, and futurism, and drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Aztec forms. Although many design movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.