Characteristics of Art Nouveau / Art Deco Styles

Art Nouveau

Sinuous, curving quality of line

Organic growth (plant forms,
intertwining tendrils)
Lack of symmetry
Whiplash Line (swirling, weaving)
An artificial style, often
asymmetrical
Use of flowers, leaves, insects,
female nudes
Art Deco

Eclectic style- drawn from

Africa, Asia, Mexico, Egypt
amongst others
Angular, rectilinear rather than
curvilinear
clear and pure
Symmetrical
Tendency to abstraction
Works embrace naturalistic,
geometric or abstract surface
decoration
Assertively modern style
Modernism was a movement which was born out of the
shock that both the United States and Europe felt at the
end of the First World War.

The brutality and destruction of that conflict left society

with a real desire to make things better for everyone.
Idealistic.

Willliam Van Alen,

Chrysler Building,
New York, 1928-30
 Art Deco reached its peak between the two world wars.
Spanning the boom of the roaring Twenties and the bust of
the Depression-ridden 1930’s, Art Deco came to epitomise all
the glamour, luxury and hedonism of the Jazz Age and the age
of Swing.
It was the style of the Flapper girl, the Charleston, the
luxury ocean liner, the Hollywood film and the Skyscraper.
Cassandre, Nord Express
1927

Natalia Goncharova
(Russian) dress
Silk applique. French,
1924-6
1918-1939 was a very distinct but
extremely contradictory period – an
age of terrible economic depression
and yet one of feverish youthful
vitality which tried to ignore what in Bakelite 5 valve Radio
retrospect seems obvious; the coming
Italian, 1940
of the second world war.
.

Its influence was everywhere: it

transformed the skylines of cities
from New York to Shanghai and shaped
the design of everything from
fashionable evening wear to plastic
radios.
Art Deco burst onto the world stage
during the Exposition internationale
des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels
modernes, in Paris 1925 and quickly
swept across the globe

Above all it became the style of the

pleasure palaces of the age – hotels, Foyer of the Daily Express building, London,1932
cocktail bars, night-clubs and cinemas.
 ARCHITECTURE

The factory and office for the Hoover

company in Ealing, West London, was built
in the Art Deco style, which was popular in
the 1920s and 1930s. The style borrowed
some of its design ideas from ancient
Egyptian temples. In part the uncovering of
the tomb of
Tutankhamun in 1922 helped to popularise
this style that was common in industrial
buildings and cinemas of the day.

Art Deco Diner, Miami,1935

Hoover factory, London (1932-35)

Architecture

Follies Bergiers, Paris

 ARCHITECTURE

Examples of
Art Deco
Buildings
in Edinburgh!

Dominion Cinema, White House pub, Craigmillar

Morningside

Architecture
Odeon, Clerk Street Maybury Casino (originally a diner)
 The uncovering in Egypt of the tomb of
Tutankhamun in 1922 left its mark on all walks
of life. Offices, factories and cinemas showed
the Egyptian influence. It also encouraged
woman to wear copies of grave goods from the
pharaoh’s tomb. The designers followed two
rules- they made no attempt to translate any
of the religious of symbolic meanings, and not
hesitate in modifying the design by adding
motifs or materials from entirely different
cultures

Scarab Pectoral, from the Tomb of

Tutankhamun, in the Valley of the Kings at
Thebes, c. 1361-52 BC
These elevator doors of the
Chrysler Building are
decorated with stylized
papyrus motif decor
John Storrs (American, 1885-
1956).
 Product Design
Though it originated in one off
masterworks or limited edition pieces,
Art Deco became synonymous with
mass consumption and modernity, and
was enthusiastically embraced by taste
makers all over the globe, among them
Josephine Baker, F.Scott Fitzgerald
and the Maharajah of Indore.
Deco was an essentially eclectic style.
It drew from European craft
traditions as well as from the exotic
cultures of Ancient Egypt, Meso-
America, East Asia and Africa.
Its use of unashamedly precious
materials was a reminder of the wealth
of empires, whilst its streamlined and
geometric imagery celebrated the
machine age and the exuberance of the
contemporary world.
Canopy Bed. Silver-covered wood. Indian, 1922
 Product Design
Bakelite
Although aluminium, chrome, stainless steel and
other metal

Hybrids were the keynotes of the streamlined era,

it was a far humbler material that brought about
the biggest revolution in commercial mass-
production. Synthetic plastics and earlier Bakelite
allowed streamlined forms to take the shape of
radios, Telephones, and other household goods. We
take these plastic goods for granted today but they
only became widespread in the 1920s and 30s
 Product Design

In their way the innumerable

Art Deco cups and saucers,
plates, teapots and cigarette
lighters, with their clean
colours and clear designs,
affordable by almost
everyone, mirrored the
cheerful optimism and gave a
boost to those beset by
increasing problems - The
Great Depression, the Wall
Street Crash, the rise of
Fascism.
Industrialisation and
marketing could produce and
sell in quantity and cheaply.
In the USA, the Sears
Roebuck mail order
catalogue was a hugely
successful example.
 Luciano Baldessari,
Luminator, Standing Lamp,
Chrome plated steel, Italian, 1929

Christian Fjerdingstad (Danish),

‘Gigogne’ Coffee pot, creamer
and sugar, Silver, 1926
Product Design
Art Nouveau was of central importance to the Graphic Design
rise of Art Deco, if only as a style against which
to react. Art Nouveau had relied on natural,
particularly botanical motifs. Art Deco turned
away from the sinuous quality to sharper
abstraction and independent colour.

Alphonse Mucha, Job.

Colour Lithograph,
Czech,1897

Where nature was used, animals were preferred,

Marcello Dudovich-Poster. Colour
lithograph. 1934
although female form continued to play a large role.
Art Deco upheld the importance of craftsmanship
but also benefited from mass production.
Objects could be made with expensive, rare
materials but copied in cheap alternatives in great
numbers.
 Edward McKnight Kauffer,
book jacket for The Bleston
Mystery, London. Colour
lineblock. 1928
Dressing Table and bench, red lacquered wood, glass
and chromium plated metal. American c.1929
The style spread rapidly
though every aspect of
daily life –e.g. in the
appearance of cinemas,
radios, cars etc. Where
Art Nouveau had been
complicated, Art Deco
was clear and pure. It
could be light hearted or
strictly serious. A style
in a time of
unprecedented change, it
was flexible enough to
perfect that change.
Art Deco was the first
truly 20th Century style –
it was international-
could be adapted to any
manmade object – was
not governed by cost –
arrived when new
technology enabled Paul Fuller, jukebox, model 1015,
rapid, wide spread American, 1946. Made by Wurlitzer
communication.
Key Points
Simple, unadorned design
Clean unfussy lines
Dynamic, powerful imagery
Streamlining i.e aerodynamic shapes
Ocean liner details
Motifs- sunbursts, lightning bolts, zig
zags, leaping gazelles
Order, color and geometry: the essence of Art
Deco vocabulary
Art Nouveau/ Art Deco

Task: Choose one designer from Art Nouveau and one designer from
the Art Deco movement. Use at least two examples of work from each
designer, describe these in detail and use your observations to validate
your opinions on both designers’ work.
Start with an outline of the main features of each movement – dates,
influences, aims, sources of inspiration etc – set the movement in it’s
period and context in time.
Use the Visual elements and Design Issues in your descriptions of each
example and give your own reasoned opinions of the work of each
designer. Provide good illustrations/colour pictures of the pieces you
describe.