Product Description

Art Deco swept across the globe during the 1920s and 1930s and created the defining look of the interwar years. In an era of contradictions that encompassed both the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, it imbued everyday life with elegance and sophistication. It transformed the skylines of cities as diverse as New York and Shanghai and touched the design of everything from Hollywood films to clothing to luxury liners and locomotives. Art Deco was the style of hedonism, of indulgence, and of mass consumption. ART DECO 1910-1939 is the most wide-ranging survey of what created such an utterly distinctive iconography. Nearly 40 essays from leading experts in the field discuss the Art Deco phenomenon--its sources, its varied forms of expression, and the way it refined and redefined itself as it spread throughout the world. With breathtaking illustrations and essays both thought-provoking and scholarly, it will stand as the definitive book on what was, arguably, the most popular style of the 20th century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58384 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

Amazon.com Review
Sexy, modern, and unabashedly consumer-oriented, Art Deco was a new kind of style, flourishing at a time of rapid technological change and social upheaval. Lacking the philosophical basis of other European design movements, Deco borrowed motifs from numerous sources--Japan, Africa, ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures, avant-garde European art--simply to create novel visual effects. Art Deco 1910-1939 surveys the sources and development of the popular style with more than 400 color illustrations and 40 chapters by numerous design specialists. The authors track Deco around the globe, from Paris to the United States—-where it got its biggest boost from mass production—-to Northern and Central Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and New Zealand. The book's broad focus encompasses industrial artifacts (the Hindenburg blimp, the Burlington Zephyr locomotive), as well as architecture, furniture, accessories, fashion, jewelry, typography and poster design. Despite the existence of other prominent artistic movements during the 1920s and '30s, the authors tend to hang the Deco label on virtually any object that portrays the effects of technology or employs color, luxury materials or artificial light in striking ways. It does seem a stretch to include Man Ray's photographs, Sonia Delaunay's textiles and the movie King Kong in the Deco pantheon. But the great strength of Art Deco 1910-1939 is that it reveals the social context of Deco, not just its pretty face. The book accompanies an exhibition (organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto through January 4, 2004; subsequent venues are San Francisco and Boston. —Cathy Curtis

Review
'It is the best book on Art Deco to have appeared so far, and is likely to remain so' Bevis Hillier, The Literary Review 'The book is a triumph of scholarship and loving design and ... is phenomenal value' Tom Rosenthal, The Daily Mail 'A feast for the eyes' Antiques Magazine

About the Author
Charlotte Benton is a design and architecture historian. Tim Benton is a curator and Professor of Art History at the Open University.Ghislaine Wood is co-curator of the "Art Deco 1910-1939" exhibition.

Customer Reviews

The first and last word on Deco.
A sumptuous coffee-table book of this exuberant art style and I think it could well become the standard book on the subject. The forty essays are divided into four sections, Sources and Iconography, 1925 Paris Exhibition, Spread of Deco and finally Deco World, and I liked the way, especially in Sources and Iconography, that the authors explain how various art styles were moulded into deco art which culminated in the very influential 1925 Paris show.

I thought the last two sections were a fascinating coverage of how Art Deco spread around the world, mainly as architecture and fashion, though in Europe also as a fine art style. In North America, it influenced a huge range of commercial products. Perhaps this was the only art form that was truly democratic in that it was available (as streamlining) to be seen or bought on any Main Street across the Nation.

The design and printing are excellent. Many of the photos, especially color, are presented whole page, the rest are all well sized, and they all have captions. The back of the book has a very comprehensive bibliography, fortunately listed as relating to each chapter rather than just an alphabetical list, the index is divided into two, Names and Subject. I was very impressed with this attention to detail and with the excellent text, images and production surely `Art Deco 1910-1939' will be read for many years to come.

***FOR A LOOK INSIDE click 'customer images' under the cover.

The greatest book on Art Deco!
This book is an absolute triumph. First, it is positively gorgeous - the images just leap off the pages. Second, the essays are more in-depth, engaging, and informative than any other book I've found on the subject. This book discusses every facet of Art Deco as well: it explores the origins at the Paris Exhibition in 1925, goes through the influence in East Asia, Latin America, and South Africa, not to mention Europe. A great chapter on Deco in Hollywood; also explores all of the sources, iconography - and all of this on top of covering every aspect of the movement - ceramics, jewelry, fashion, architecture, glass, photography, graphic design, bookbindings, travel and transport, and so so much more - with stunning visuals. A fantastic read, a great resource, a beautiful work, and an absolute MUST for anyone interested in the subject! Well worth the money, and a fantastic addition to any library. Highly recommended!

Excellent - Good scope and global reach.
Bought it - read it - refer to it as a source and to unashameably copy.
Niggles;
1) No art deco gardens. Is this an ommission or was this branch of human endeavour eschewed by the industrial age?
2) Illustrations of pieces sometimes miss listing the media and all are missing the size.