Many artists participated in the Art Deco movement, ranging from painters, sculptors, interior designers, furniture makers, and architects. Below, we will be taking a look at several notable creatives who created significant artworks within the Art Deco period and whose influence is still discussed today. The portrait of Auguste Perret in the Art Deco-style grand staircase of the Palais d’Iéna, Paris, France. The staircase faces the entrance to the conference room, acting as a hinge between the ends of the north and south wings of the Palace. Note that the reinforced concrete columns are tapered down to express “the structural nature of the material”; Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Within this traveling cohort, Hoover included important figures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Institute of Architecture, as well as several individuals from The New York Times. This trip to Europe went on to inspire an almost instantaneous expansion in artistic innovation and creation in the United States. Many of the significant buildings in New York were built during the peak of the Art Deco movement. The famous Chrysler Building, which changed the skyline of the city, was designed by Van Alen in the late 1920s, with the building being completed in 1930. The main characteristic of the Art Deco style was its pure admiration for the concept of modernity, as well as its respect for the advancement of machinery and technology. Elements that were able to emphasize simplicity, repetition, and symmetry were frequently used, which allowed Art Deco artworks to appear with a clean and streamlined aesthetic.

Sometimes referred to as simply “Deco”, Art Deco was an art style that was characterized by vivid colors and daring geometry that led to extremely luxurious and detailed artworks. As a visual arts style that incorporated both elements of architecture and design, Art Deco first appeared in France just before the start of World War One. However, this movement was only announced to the public in 1925 at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which was loosely based around the concept of the World’s Fair. With the emergence of widespread manufacturing, Art Deco artists were able to improve the appearance of their mass-produced functional objects so that they were accessible to everyone in society. This group argued that well-made buildings, for example, should be accessible and convenient to everyone no matter their financial status, and that form should automatically follow function. Based on this, the elegance and charm of an object or building rested upon whether it was perfectly capable of fulfilling its function and not related to the art audience who would most likely be viewing the works.By 1925, two completely different and contending schools coexisted within the Art Deco movement. These schools were made up of the traditionalists and the modernists. The traditionalists, who had originally established the Society of Decorative Artists, included furniture designer Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, interior designer Jean Dunant, sculptor Antoine Bordello, and designer Paul Poirot. At first, the term “Art Deco” was used in a disdainful way by the modernist architect Le Corbusier. Art Deco-style glassware, c. 1899-1930; National Library of Norway, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The Art Deco label comes from Paris' 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes - a showcase event, organised by a loose collective of artists known as La Société des artistes décorateurs, for everything modern, stylish and high-end after the austerity of the post-World War I years. Seen as quite a structured style, Art Deco took on a very Gatsby-esque self-indulgence based on the types of works created. Adopting features from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel, The Great Gatsby, the Art Deco style celebrated the flamboyance, frivolity, and decadence that emerged during the 1920s in America. Just as the characters within Fitzgerald’s book were fixated with the glitz and glamour that was synonymous with the lifestyle at the time, Art Deco celebrated everything that was considered to be luxurious and forward-thinking.

Art Deco-style Japan travel poster, Ontake Shosenkyo Valley (Nagoya Train Agency, 1930s); Nagoya Train Agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Just like architecture, furniture, the motor industry and the fashion world, publishing embraced Art Deco from around 1915 until the outbreak of World War II. Art Deco cover art can be found in almost every genre from children's fiction to memoirs and countless popular novels. The Book League of America was just one publisher to reprint large quantities of classic novels with Art Deco-styled covers. The presence of a unique Art Deco style helped to return some trust and belief in social progress in America, as the artworks that were created were thought to be an expression of national pride. The American World Fairs in Chicago (1933) and New York City (1939) mainly featured Art Deco designs, as Hollywood adopted the style and made it alluring throughout the country. American Art Deco’s rapid growth created an expression of democracy through its designs, which were made accessible to ordinary citizens.When it first appeared, the Art Deco style wielded its impact all over the graphic art of the time. This was done in such a way that the impact of Italian Futurism was revealed, as the style’s passion for speed and its devotion to the machine could be seen in the works produced.

One of the few female artists who practiced in the Art Deco movement was the Russian-born French artist Sonia Delaunay. Co-founder of the Orphism art movement, Delaunay is said to have been included with other notable Art Deco designers who still hold a strong influence over various fashion trends today. Inspired by the Cubist and Fauvist movements, Delaunay worked closely with fellow Surrealist and Dada artists while perfecting her style. This led to her becoming the first designer to bring abstract inspiration into the realm of fashion.Art Deco experienced a revitalization during the 1960s with the beginning of the consumerist culture. Since then, a steady and continued interest in the Art Deco movement can be seen in the various art styles and designs that have emerged, which all seem to carry hints of the streamlined aesthetic of Deco art. Despite Art Deco developing as a movement that aimed to escape the past, it has now become a sentimental and fond memory of a classical style that has proven to be inseparable from the past. As a modern style of creation, Art Deco attempted to blend functional objects with artistic touches. This is one of the aspects that made Art Deco so different from other fine art styles like painting and sculpture, as artworks had no other real purpose or use beyond functioning as something intriguing for viewers to look at. Postcard of the overview of the 1925 Exposition of Decorative and Industrial Arts; SiefkinDR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most prominent furniture and interior designers within the Art Deco movement was French artist Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann. His furniture designs appeared to be incredibly streamlined, as he made use of very extravagant and outlandish materials that he worked with using his exceptionally delicate craftsmanship. During the movement’s height of popularity, Ruhlmann became a symbol of the opulence and contemporaneity associated with the Art Deco style. Delaunay was fascinated with the idea of geometric design, which proved to be modern and essentially fashionable between 1920 and 1930. As a textile designer, in addition to being a painter, Delaunay produced some of her most notable fashion pieces during this time. Color was a major aspect that featured in her works, which she defined as “dynamic art”. Spirit of the Wind” or “Victoire” mascot by Lalique, 1928; Ingrid Taylar from Seattle, WA, USA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Art Deco architecture is therefore distinguished by hard-edged and often amply decorated designs emphasized by lustrous metal accents. Many of the buildings designed using the features of Art Deco architecture have an upright emphasis, as they were built in a way that meant to draw the eyes of those walking on the streets upwards.Completed in less than two years, it was said that approximately four floors were built each week, which was a surprisingly rapid fast for the types of machinery that was available at the time. The prominence of the Art Deco era rose and fell in between the two World Wars, with the style playing an important role in molding the West’s modern vision. This was particularly noticeable in France and the United States, where the influence of the Art Deco style could be seen in the types of architecture that were used. Due to this, the greatest achievement of Ruhlmann’s career was said to have been his ability to merge the classical style of the past with the more advanced style of the modern world.