What exactly is art deco?
Art Deco is the name of a style of architecture and decoration that flourished all over the world, particularly in Europe and America between the First and Second World Wars. It quickly came to represent the spirit and glamour of the modern age. How did it all start? The clean lines of Art Deco were the perfect antidote and a natural progression from the overtly florid decoration of the Art Nouveau movement. However, the phrase Art Deco was not coined until 1968, by the English art critic and historian Bevis Hillier. Until then it had been referred to in various ways: Moderne, Jazz Moderne, Zig Zag Moderne. The high point of the Art Deco movement was the Paris Exposition of 1925, or to give it its proper name, Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes. After this, the style was emulated all over the world. Which brings us on nicely to America Not to be outdone, America embraced Art Deco with gusto, and a unique style of American Art Deco emerged. Even in the
