Art Deco: An Intellectual History
epilogue
I have a story to tell you. It is a story that originated in France, full of colour and excitement. It is a story of ideas. It is the story of ART DECO.
Art Deco: a style of art and design that emerged in the beginning of the 20th century. It is distinctive among art styles. It is instantly recognisable. It is bold, clean and dynamic. It is a style that pertains much more to design than what one may call ‘pure’ art: that is, art produced for no other purpose than aesthetics, such as painting, sculpture or music. It is difficult to name many painters or composers who would sit within the discipline of Art Deco. Instead, the style is associated with commercial products, household ornaments, architecture, and advertising.
You have probably heard of Art Deco. But I hear you asking yourself “What do I care about it? What do I stand to gain from learning about it? And why now?” Well, pay attention – and I will tell you.
We are in a cycle of history. A century has passed since the 1920s. Much has been learned. Much has been forgotten. Art Deco resurfaces in curious ways. It flickers in the cultural subconsciousness as an atavistic artefact of history.
In Britain, television adaptations of Agatha Christie stories have done much to keep the flame of Art Deco burning, primarily through the long-standing ITV Series Poirot (Figure 1). Florin Court, erected in 1936, is probably one of the most recognisable art deco apartment blocks in London because of the show (Figure 2).
In New York, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler building are the most prominent of Art Deco monuments penetrating the skyline (Figure 3). The advertising for Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film The Great Gatsby plastered the London Underground stations with Art Deco inspired designs and almost ten years since, “Gatsby Themed” parties, events and stationery can be found using the same quasi-Art Deco designs to this day (Figure 4).
But the impact of Art Deco is much more than little grey cells and large colourful parties.
The story of Art Deco is much richer, interwoven with cultural context, with parables that we may learn from a century later.
I have the conviction that in telling this story, misconceptions may be unravelled – and a new chapter may be started. So, let us begin.
chapter i: genesis
Of course, we say, Art Deco belongs in the roaring 20s. The decadent excess of the prohibition era can only be rivalled by the opulent glamour of one style. And yet, this is entirely misleading. Art Deco is associated with the 20s and not without good reason. But the style emerged in the 1910s and did not truly take hold until the 1930s. In fact, the term ‘Art Deco’ did not become a popular term in the common vernacular until the late 1960s, when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major academic book on the style, Art Deco (Figure 5).
Art Deco was viewed initially as the province of artisans, craftsmen and designers rather than artists, meaning that, together with the other decorative art styles it was neglected by the artistic elite. Until 1901, decorative artists had no copyright protection over their work. One of the early proponents of Art Deco, Frantz Jourdain, described the decorative arts as ‘inconsiderately treated as a Cinderella or poor relation allowed to eat with the servants.’
The Exhibition of Dreams
In 1901, the Society of Decorative Artists was founded in France to champion the status of such artists. It took them until 1912 to secure an agreement with the French Chamber of Deputies to hold an exhibition, scheduled for 1915. This plan was regrettably interrupted by the minor inconvenience of the First World War. Once the war was over, the Exhibition was rescheduled for 1922. Suffering further postponement fur to a lack of resources, it was eventually held in 1925 (Figure 6).
It was named the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts or, in French, Exposition Internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes.
The explicit purpose of the Exhibition was both to showcase what was called the “style moderne” and to honour the allied forces of WWI. But the ulterior purpose was to cement France, in particular Paris, as the epicentre of modern art and industry.
Germany was not initially invited – and this is salient. Art Deco never found a strong foothold in Germany– and this lack of invitation may have been the foremost reason. It was a World Fair of a grand scale, and countries from far and wide were invited to participate. Japan had a grand pavilion specially constructed for their presence, designed by Shichigoro Yamada and Iwakichi Miyamoto (Figure 7). The USA was invited to participate, but declined as, in the words of the then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, there was no modern art in the United States – the country that 5 years later constructed the Chrysler building.
Although a nationalist project, the Exhibition was very international. The participating countries did not only take the opportunity to showcase designs from their own countries’ traditions but from ‘exotic’ countries whose designs may be unfamiliar to Western Europeans. The Holland Pavilion, for example directly draws from historical Southern American architecture (Figure 8). The Primavera Pavillion, built by the Printemps department store, draws inspiration from sub-Saharan African huts (Figure 9).
The products and creators at the Exhibition were not necessarily all that we would now call Art Deco. The Style Moderne was an amalgamation of contemporary styles, including those of artists critical of what became Art Deco, including Le Corbusier. The Esprit Nouveau pavilion (Figure 10), a model home designed by Le Corbusier, and the Soviet Pavilion (Figure 11), intentionally deviated from Art Deco. The ire of the French architectural authorities ordered a 20-foot-high fence to be erected around the entire Esprit Nouveau construction. They simply could not tolerate such an ugly monstrosity representing French culture. The French Minister of Fine Arts, however, had the fence removed. The international jury present at the exhibition to judge the pavilions proposed to award Le Corbusier with first prize due to his flagrant audacity. This was something that the French Academy could not stand for, and they vetoed the Jury’s vote. One assumes that, as an Avant-garde artist, the scandal and controversy could not have pleased Le Corbusier more. His designs may not have been any good, but no matter: he was now on everyone’s lips. He received commissions aplenty.
While instigated by a society of artists, it must be noted that the Exhibition was primarily a commercial activity. The Eiffel Tower was decorated with 250,000 lightbulbs as part of a Citroen advertisement (Figure 12). Multiple department stores had their own pavilions and advertised their goods there, such as the aforementioned Printemps Store, Lafayette Gallery, and the Bon Marche store.
This makes the other scandale of the exhibition initiated by the Russians all the more extraordinary. When the exhibition was over, each country lowered the flag above their national pavilion – each country bar the Soviet Union. The Hammer and Sickle remained raised in defiance among the commercial exhibition of the world fair. And in a way, this was to prophesy the success of the Russians in at least one respect: the architectural style. The Soviet Pavilion was by far the most (what we would now call) modern of the Pavilions constructed for the Exhibition. It lacked any ornament or embellishment and resembles many a government school erected in the 1990s. The two rebels of the exhibition were its real victors, historically speaking.
The majority of artwork and design presented at the Exhibition were in what we would now call the Art Deco style, and the French name of the Exhibition, Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, is where the name is derived: a contraction of Arts Décoratifs.
Le Corbusier himself contributed to the popularity of this contraction by publishing a series of articles in his magazine, L’Esprit Nouveau, entitled 1925 EXPO. ARTS. DÉCO., which were scathing polemics of the artwork presented at the Exhibition. However, used as a single uncontracted term, ‘Art Deco’ did not appear in print until 1966, when it featured in the title of the first modern exhibition on the subject, held by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, Les Années 25: Art déco, Bauhaus, Stijl, Esprit nouveau, which covered the variety of major styles in the 1920s and 1930s.
The term arts decoratifs did not originally refer to any kind of particular style but rather to the objects of application – much the same way that one might use ‘graphic design’ today. The decorative arts relate to functional objects. It was due to the legacy of the exhibition that Paris became the home of the avant-garde for decades to come.
chapter II: style and influences
We have learned the origin of a name. Alas, what is in a name? What particular features does the contraction of “decorative and industrial arts” denote? I suggest that the style and influences on Art Deco are inextricably linked to the historical context. Industrialism had two consequences: making mass-produced household items far more accessible to the wider population, and elevating the possibility to travel to new heights – and new distances.
The ability to travel to new places meant that writers, such as Agatha Christie, could travel to exotic locations and recount their adventures in popular fiction. Historical artefacts could be uncovered to draw design inspiration from. Publications no longer required illustrators to depict outfits worn by fashion models – a photograph could now be printed. And with the world shaken by the so-called Great War, there existed a thirst for rediscovery, reinvention, and a vibrant culture to replace the nihilistic grey void of conflict.
Cubism and Art Nouveau
Art Deco is considered one of the first truly international styles. It had both global influence and influences. It became so widespread and variegated that some scholars no longer consider it to be not truly a unified style, rather multiple styles incorrectly categorised under a single term. It is claimed even that Art Deco must refer only to art produced in a particular style within a set period, from around 1920 to 1939. The rest is art deco influenced, inspired, or corrupted. The alternative perspective is that the essence of Art Deco is not truly defined by a particular style, but by the commitment to a certain vision or feeling. This latter viewpoint would therefore consider literature or film to be eligible for categorisation under the Art Deco umbrella.
My perspective is that neither accurately define the essence of Art Deco. A movement cannot be totally defined by its origins. A concept can extend beyond its initial conception and validly do so without distorting its essence. Conversely, if, as in politics, a movement becomes so far removed from its original purpose as to become unrecognisable, there is little utility in considering it to be one and the same.
As for Art Deco, I do not consider merely a theme or feeling to be sufficient. Certain principles pertain to the essence of Art Deco. I will itemise these principles through a comparison with other artistic styles contemporary to Art Deco.
The closest relative of Art Deco is another of French descent: Art Nouveau. If I manage to achieve anything with this endeavour, my proudest will be that at least one more person will be able to distinguish Art Deco from Art Nouveau; for while the fact Art Deco is not Art Nouveau is hardly the most important of its qualities, it is certainly one that people mistake the most (Figure 13). And it is highly irritating to observe.
To some extent, Art Deco was a movement very much a twin spirit of Art Nouveau. Both rejected stuffy, busy, heavy styles of the past. Both were originally decorative arts.
Art nouveau embodied a kind of floral grace in its lines – the draped vines, the languid movements of exotic dancers, hair flowing in the wind. It was a softening of the rigid gothic revival styles of the Victorian Era and a melding of the Rococo and Baroque styles. It is curvaceous and supremely feminine, rarely depicting male figures (Figures 14 and 15).
Art Deco intentionally departed from all of those historical styles, but it did it with one key element: geometry. Art deco, far from embracing fluid lines, championed structure. The lines are bold, the patterns almost mathematical or fractal in nature. Even if not entirely symmetrical or geometrical, shapes usually form the basis of the centrepieces of the artwork. This is the first principle of Art Deco: Geometric Structure.
The fin de siècle brought about a distinct style of painting, the chief proponents of which were Juan Gris, Braque and Picasso. It was, of course: Cubism (Figures 16 and 17). The bold angularity of Cubism finds a relation in Art Deco, but Cubist art descends to a level that Art Deco cannot: unreality. The forms of cubist figures are incoherent. It is unclear where people end and the background begins. The depictions are not possible even within their own universe. In this sense, cubism is also a precursor to surrealism.
The realm of unreality could not be reached by Art Deco for the reason that it was a primarily *practical* art form. A painter can meld the forms of humanity into the atmosphere. But this cannot be done with a household item or the fresco on a building. Art must conform to the laws of the possible if it is to be produced in physical form.
This is not to suggest that Art Deco simulated the possible. It certainly concerned itself with the mythical from time to time. And the flat, geometric style could hardly be called “natural”. Art Deco does not emulate reality but provides a heightened version of it.
The difference between science fiction and fantasy may serve to illustrate the difference. Science Fiction must conform to the laws of reality: it cannot contradict itself. It may be implausible reassembled body parts of various corpses may be revivified into a sentient being with electrification. But in the world of Frankenstein, this is coherent and explicable. There is a scientific explanation. Fantasy, contrariwise, relies on magical puff to justify its implausible occurrences. The world of Harry Potter is not explicable and does not pretend to be, it is as fantastical as the belief that a country can tax itself into prosperity. This is the second rule of Art Deco: Coherence.
Translated into the decorative arts of furniture, clothing, and architecture, this abruptness was smoothed into a sleekness of line that we now call streamlined. But it was not alone. In architecture, two other emergent styles were competing for the title of streamlined: Modernism, with Le Corbusier as its figurehead, and Bauhaus (Figures 18 and 19).
There is much overlap between Modernism, Bauhaus and Art Deco. Bauhaus found its stronghold in Germany. Modernism permeated the international sphere thoroughly, particularly in the post-War era, were clean, cheap structures were required to be erected quickly. As Art Deco moved into the 1930s, it lost some of the flair for ornamentation and glamour. Take, for example, the 1932 Daily Express building on Fleet Street (Figure 20). Although almost 80 years old, it resembles the 21st century buildings of glass and steel more than it does the French Pavilions of the 1925 Exposition. Yet, even at its most streamlined, Art Deco possesses something that Modernism and Bauhaus do not.
While there are many buildings today that look like the Daily Express Building, at the time it would have been remarkable, flanked on either side by the Victorian and Edwardian stone buildings of Fleet Street. The message that the Daily Express conveyed by choosing such a sleek design for its headquarters was that it belonged to the future. The printing industry in the 20s and 30s experienced a massive boom. Mass-produced magazines, books and other printed media became a sensation. This kind of progressive spirit was what the Daily Express building was intended to embody. And while it may lack ornamentation on the exterior, the lobby is as lavish one would expect from an Art Deco palace (Figure 21). This is the third principle that distinguishes Art Deco from its contemporaries: Aspiration.
And now, we return to my previous statement that Art Deco, to be properly appreciated, must be understood in its cultural context. Why is it that Art Deco embodies the principles of Geometric Structure, coherence and aspiration? The first relevant factor is technology.
Industrialism and Technology
Boats. How do they work? I am not a scientist, so I don’t know– something I have in common with the captain of the Titanic. What I do know is that they were greatly popular as a means of transport. The great hulking cruise liner against the blue sky became an icon of Art Deco poster design, along with the speeding train. The ability for commercial passengers to travel was exciting, progressive and modern, something that suited the Art Deco style perfectly.
In 1930, the wonderful and bizarre stained-glass piece depicting railway construction workers, designed by Jacques Gruber, was commissioned by Société des Garages Souterrains (Society of Underground train stations) (Figure 22). This sort of intricate stained-glass artwork is usually reserved for the extravagances of religion. But for the purveyors of Art Deco, their religion was progress.
Not only was technology and industry the subject matter of decorative artwork, but technology inspired architectural designs themselves. As one of the most remarkable examples, take Elmdon Airport, now a small terminal of Birmingham Airport (Figure 23). The circular glass frontage and “wings” on either side are of course inspired by the aircraft that would have departed from it.
BBC Broadcasting House, the first purpose-built broadcasting house in Britain, is strongly reminiscent of a large ship – at least its left wing, which was opened in 1932, with the right wing opening over 70 years later, in 2005 (Figure 24). Much of the interior design of the Broadcasting House Retains its Art Deco features despite the contemporary renovations.
The Broadcasting House caused quite the controversy when the design was first unveiled. Not because of its modern design per se, but because of the sculptural commissions that adorned the façade of the building. One, in particular, a depiction of Ariel, the air sprite from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, prompted a question of offence to public morals in the House of Commons by one particularly distressed MP. The concern was due to the size of the sprite’s genitalia. One can imagine the fine gentlemen of the House of Commons observing the statue, comparing it to themselves, and immediately calling for the depiction to be reduced to a more appropriate size.
Many of the New York Skyscrapers were designated “cathedrals of commerce” or “finance”, but in London the Art Deco ‘cathedrals’ were industrial. The two most prominent Art Deco factories are the Hoover Building, opened in 1933 (Figure 25), and the Carreras Cigarette Factory, Finalised in 1928. Unlike the sordid Dickensian buildings of exposed brick and soot, these factories appear clean, glamorous – even palatial. The Art Deco factory was not merely a utilitarian locus of production: it was a place of beauty.
There was also a discussion among contemporary intellectuals about the use of technology to enhance the human condition. The highly stylised 1927 film Metropolis, is a prime example of this explored in media (Figure 26). According to Art Deco, the answer was: yes, please.
Travel and Exoticism
Together with the advent of new transportation technologies comes access to remote and ‘exotic’ cultures. European empires were still keen to demonstrate the extent of their reach and influence and, as was demonstrated by the designs of the Holland and Primavera Pavillions, they imported artistic motifs from colonised or otherwise ‘explored’ countries.
With the rediscovery of Tutankhamun’s almost entirely intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter, an interest in Egyptology proliferated globally. The structural, geometric and flat designs found kinship with the emerging style of Art Deco; Art Deco devoured it.
Take, for example, the Elevator Doors of the Chrysler Building, which closely resemble the mural designs of reeds and other plants found in Egyptian temples (Figure 28). Or, the Cartier Temple Clock of 1927 that directly appropriated a gate design of the Temple of Karnak (Figure 27). A beaded evening jacket from 1920s France is a rather camp mimicry of Egyptian mural illustrations (Figure 29).
The aforementioned Carreras Cigarette factory was nicknamed the “Black Cat Factory” and for good reason. Not only was the logo of the Carreras Cigarette Company a black cat, but the design of the factory relies heavily on the motif of Bastet, the ancient Egyptian Cat God (Figure 30).
Surrounded by columns of colourful geometric design, influenced again by the columns of the Egyptian temples, two black cat statues guard the entrance of the now ex-factory. Curious Cat faces peer down upon passers-by walking from Mornington Crescent tube station on their morning commute.
There is perhaps a paradox in a radically modern art movement incorporating designs from an ancient culture. But, in the case of the Black Cat Factory, the message is clear: this building is not just a place of production; it is a temple, worthy of veneration as much as those of ancient civilisations.
It should not be implied that the direction of influence flowed only from East and South to West. Art Deco is considered the first truly international style, not only because it enriched the artistic lexicon of the West, but touched the aesthetic spirit of countries worldwide. Japan, one of the countries present at the 1925 Exhibition operated in reverse to many Western Countries: they found ways to combine the emergent modern style of Art Deco into the more traditional forms of Japanese Art.
The image heralded as the “epitome of the modern girl” is a 1930s print named “Tipsy” by Japanese artist Kiyoshi Kobayakawa (Figure 31). It used the traditional Japanese method of woodblock printing, and the style clearly falls within a recognisable Japanese tradition. Yet the woman herself is far from traditional. Her costume is bold and modern. Her hair, cropped. Her eyes are heavy with alcohol and mildly flirtatious. She sits alone at a cocktail bar, without the company of a man.
A poster commissioned by the Japanese Tourism Board advertises the Japanese railway system in a distinctly witty way (Figure 32). Unlike the western railway posters, emphasising the hulking prowess of the steam train, or the stained-glass window of the underground railways emphasising the efficient manpower operating behind the scenes, the Japanese poster depicts neither train nor worker. Instead, we observe a landscape blurred, as if by motion. Perhaps the viewer is standing on the back of the train and what he observes is a blurry stream of flora, sky and sea. Perhaps, it is intended to be the perspective of the painter: an attempt was made to capture the passage of the train, but all that the artist had time to process was a trail of distortion left in the wake of the speeding train. Either way, we get the impression that this train is faster than even a speeding bat.
Fashion and Photography
It is also worth mentioning briefly one more phenomenon that influenced the development of Art Deco: Fashion photography and illustrations. The influence here was more limited: it cannot be considered to have affected the Art Deco style as much as the aforementioned categories. On the other hand, the world of fashion has one of the greatest Art Deco legacies of the period: Erte. Erte was a Russian born sculptor and designer of a plethora of different media. He is most celebrated for his fashion and costume illustrations, which still inspire clothing trends a century later.
The print medium experienced a boom in the 10s and 20s, and included in that were fashion magazines, now able to print high-quality photographs alongside the traditional illustrations. The designs of Paul Poiret, later known as The King of Fashion, commissioned portraits of models wearing his innovative designs, which captured attention in ways in which an illustration could not. He elevated the skill of couture into an art form (Figures 33 and 36).
British Vogue printed its first issue in 1916, French Vogue in 1920. The cover designs became progressively more Art Deco in line with the progression of the 20s (Figure 34). In 1915, the competitor magazine to Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, at the time spelt with only 2 ‘a’ (Harper’s Bazar), hired Erte to design the front cover of its magazines (Figure 35). He illustrated over 200 covers of Harper’s Bazar until 1937, which truly established him as the fashion illustrator of the period.
chapter iii: themes
As I have already posited, it would be too far removed from its meaning for themes alone to constitute Art Deco. Nevertheless, the themes of Art Deco – that is, the subject matters of its pieces – are highly significant.
As always with art movements, the style is interconnected with the themes. Not only did the practical engineering of the ship and the aeroplane influence designs, they became symbols of veneration (Figure 37). If one were to summarise Art Deco with one image, it would surely be that of a ship.
Nevertheless, there are themes of Art Deco that are not so obviously connected with the style. One of them is the progressive attitude towards gender and sexuality.
Gender and Sexuality
In the 1930s, popular Cartoonist Osbert Lancaster did a series of interior design cartoons satirising a variety of popular styles. Compare the modernist interior to the Art Deco interior (Figures 38 and 39). Art Deco is feminine, indulgent – almost decadent. The modernist design is functional and a little bare. The man is reading a book and smoking a pipe, perhaps contemplating some intellectual issue. The curvaceous woman in the Art Deco cartoon is decadently devouring chocolates. It was intended to indicate that the lavish, soft and glamorous iterations of art deco appealed to low, feminine sensibilities. The robust modernism, on the other hand, was much more practical – ethical, even.
By contrast, the Art Deco artists and illustrators certainly did not present their characters as self-indulgent bums. The figures of Tamara De Lempicka’s paintings are heroic, bold and svelte (Figure 40). She took the European aristocracy of the early 20th century and transformed them into the deities of the renaissance masters. And yet, it is impossible to claim that there is no truth in Lancaster’s satire. After the First World War, the position of women in society changed. Women over 30 were given the right to vote in 1918, the Sex Discrimination (Removal) Act 1919 removed professional prohibitions on women. The social changes were not only of a legislative nature, there were also challenges to gender roles, including a woman’s relationship to her own sexuality: she gained sexual agency. The image of the flapper, a sexually unrestrained woman, became a symbol of the epoch. To refer back to the portrait of the modern woman, Tipsy, she is solitary; seductive. When female sexuality is liberated from the male gaze, one discovers that women were not always returning the gaze of their male courters by choice. Perhaps they would prefer to gaze elsewhere.
The paintings of Tamara de Lempicka ooze female sexuality. She painted female nudes -and even the clothed female figures often had their erect nipples visible beneath the fabric draped across their breasts. Even when not explicitly sexual, sexuality played a prominent role. Take the portrait of the Duchess de la Salle de Rochemaure (Figure 41). She is wearing men’s clothing. She is pointing to her clothed, but exposed, muscular inner thigh. The pose is one of dominance; she is clearly no submissive damsel in distress waiting for a man to save her. In fact, she was one of the many, many, many… many women who had sexual relations with Tamara de Lempicka. Tamara was married to different men at different times but participated in bisexual or lesbian orgies when she was away from her current husband. As she loved to visit Paris, this was very often.
The gender of the figure is sometimes called into question entirely. In the portrait of Mrs Bush, she does not appear traditionally feminine (Figure 42). Her hair is cropped, her brow is heavy, the jawline is strong, the hands are large. Her shoulders are broad and square. It is unclear whether she possesses breasts, or whether this is an illusion created by the folds and shadows of the coat. But this apparent androgyny does not detract from the beauty of the creature before us. The figure is not one of weakness but of strength. She sits – but is as great as the skyscrapers that surround her. She is a being of imperious beauty because – not in spite of her androgyny.
Tamara was not the only artist of the time to depict majestic androgyny. Christian Schad in his 1928 portrait Sonja (Figure 43), and Erte in his fashion illustration of a single figure dressed simultaneously as bride and groom, (Figure 44) both lend their aesthetic spirit to androgyny. It was a phenomenon not confined to the world of art, it was a subject of controversy at the time that masculinity and femininity were eliding. Aided by the innovations of Paul Poiret, women’s clothing became less structured, more slack. Women wore trousers, a shockingly unfeminine endeavour. In 1926, Irving Kaufman released the song ‘Masculine women! feminine men!’ poking fun at the trend. The Chorus goes as follows:
Masculine Women Feminine Men
which is the rooster which is the hen
It’s hard to tell ’em apart today
And SAY…
Sister is busy learning to shave
Brother just loves his permanent wave
It’s hard to tell ’em apart today
HEY HEY
Girls were girls and boys were boys
when I was a tot,
Now we don’t know who is who or even what’s what
Knickers and trousers baggy and wide,
Nobody knows who’s walking inside
Those Masculine Women Feminine Men’
Rather than an idiosyncratic outlier, Art Deco captured the zeitgeist of the period in its exploration of gender expression and sexualities. A little earlier, E.M. Forster wrote the novel Maurice, a gay romance, in 1914. In 1928, three remarkable novels were published: Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf, a story of a character who experiences a sex change; Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence, a sordid tale of sexual depravity; and The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, a bildungsroman of a gender non conforming woman struggling to come to terms with her lesbianism. Radclyffe Hall was herself a lesbian who, like Tamara’s depiction of the duchess, dressed in clothing traditionally reserved for men (Figure 45). Agatha Christie’s famous detective Hercule Poirot, the representation of Genius in the Art Deco era, is a lifetime bachelor and a fashion perfectionist: he was queer coded. While it is my contention that novels cannot be considered Art Deco, it is also certain that these authors were striking the same notes as Tamara and Erte.
It is no coincidence that one of Tamara’s paintings was used as the cover image of the Wordsworth Classics edition of The Well of Loneliness (Figure 46). Similarly, it is no coincidence that the most celebrated art deco painter and the most celebrated Art Deco illustrator were both not heterosexuals. Tamara’s escapades have already been discussed. Erte’s long term same-sex partner was Nicholas Ourosoff (Figure 47). He made no secret of this fact. Art Deco, the movement initiated by commerce, refused to bow to tradition.
There are certainly parallels that can be drawn between the expressions of gender and sexuality in the 1920s and the 2020s. We find ourselves asking the same questions posed by Woolf, Forster, and Hall: what does it mean to live an authentically queer life? Yet, the certainty that De Lempicka gave in her answers to those questions is not currently heard. Rather than celebrating of the idiosyncratic forms of the human, it seems that people are engaged in a splintering of identities. It often seems like queer philosophy is an escape rather than an earnest quest to live authentically. We have lost the aspirational charm.
Race Relations and Colonialism
The 1920s was climacteric with regard to the French feeling towards its colonies. African fabrics, once seen as the primitive products of a primitive people, were now energetically incorporated into the Art Deco style, which seemed to fit well with the angular energy of tribal art.
In Britain the mania centred around Egyptology; the French colonies in Africa were a great source of inspiration across the channel. This encouraged the mania for Josephine Baker and her Revue Nègre, which took Paris by storm in the 1920s.
The enthusiasm with which the French embraced these two manifestations of black culture is, in one respect, a carryover French desire to explore (or exploit) cultures. Contrariwise, the French acceptance of black culture marked a turning point in the acceptance of a people who were once considered backward and benighted. Art Deco was the sign, not just of tolerance, but acceptance of the value of other cultures.
In contemporary society, this embracing of minority cultures by white Europeans for financial gain may be viewed with a more critical eye. In the same year as the 1925 Exhibition, La Revue Negre launched, the show that catapulted Josephine Baker to stardom as the “Black Venus”. The posters, designed in the Art Deco style by Paul Colin, used to promote the show were provocative, and may be uncomfortable to look at n the 21st Century (Figure 48). Far from intending to denigrate black bodies, the posters were intended as a celebration of them.
La Revue Negre was a dynamic, modern show, and Art Deco matched that spirit. The bronze sculptures of Erte certainly appear to be a respectful salute to the beautiful costumery of the non-western world. While the agency and autonomy that was afforded to white women in the same period had not quite been extended to black communities in Europe, the direction was again aspirational. Thanks to the success of Josephine Baker, beauty products catering specifically to black women were able to be produced on a mass scale for the first time.
In contrast to ‘exotic’ cultures depicted as some sort of inferior ‘Other’, Art Deco levelled all cultures: Grecian goddesses stood beside Egyptian Pharaohs who in turn stood beside Zulu Warriors and French aristocrats – each as heroic as the next (Figures 49 and 50). Art deco, in a way, was a unifier of culture. It was not multicultural per se, for each participant subscribed to the same heroic ideal. Each participant contributed a special object into the Art Deco hat: and thus, the first truly universalist Art Style was born.
Capitalism and Socialism
We have mentioned multiple times that technological advancement and commerce are essential threads in the tapestry of Art Deco.
This phenomenon did does emerge without its apparent contradictions. The radically progressive nature of Art Deco appealed to those against tradition. This included, of course, businessmen intent on reinvigorating a war-torn market. It also appealed to the Socialists – a group that, to put it mildly, did not see eye to eye with the entrepreneurs.
Many of the artists in the original Society of Decorative Artists, the organisation that had lobbied the government for the 1925 Exposition, were left wing activists. Francis Jourdain, who designed rooms in the 1925 Exposition and exhibited much of his work through the Society, was a self-proclaimed anarchist and member of the French Communist Party (Figure 51).
As I have mentioned, the Soviets had their own pavilion at the 1925 Exposition in Paris. It is incorrect to suggest that the Soviets adopted Art Deco wholeheartedly. They really just flirted with the idea; the dominant Russian Art Styles of the same period being Constructivism and subsequently Soviet Realism (Figure 52).
The Soviet Pavillion designed by Boris Iofan for the 1937 Paris World Fair certainly meets the criteria (Figure 53). The Statue atop the building designed by Vera Mukhina may not be as streamlined as one would expect from Art Deco sculpture, but it certainly possesses the same energy. Compare it to the statue of Mercury that adorns the front of the National Audit Office in London (Figure 54). The Soviet geometry is not quite there, but the aesthetic spirits of the two statues are of the same kind.
The radical and progressive nature of Art Deco found kinship with the revolutionary spirit of the communists in the East, and the artistic forms occasionally overlapped. The illustrator and costume designer Alexandra Ekster paralleled those of Erte, with a touch more cubist influence (Figure 55). She was, after all, personally acquainted with Picasso. Not only were her costume designs for the 1924 Soviet film Aelita: Queen of Mars in an Art Deco style, so too was the entire set (Figure 56).
In Architecture, the Soviets directly appropriated the American skyscraper for many of their state buildings. Take, for example, the formidable Moscow State University. It is as if a Tzar’s imperial palace were fused with the Empire State Building. Kazemir Malevich’s architectural structures resemble greatly the skyscrapers that feature in the background of De Lempicka’s portraits.
De Lempicka herself was Russian, born in St Petersburg (although she lied about her birthplace, claiming she was born in Warsaw so she could fit in with the European Aristocracy). As was Erte. It is remarkable once again that the two most famous artists of the Art Deco era were queer Russians. But they cannot be considered Soviet, like the other Russians I have just mentioned. They both departed from Russia prior to the 1917 Communist revolution, both living mostly in Paris. Born Russian, they became western by choice. I don’t believe they would have done this, however, without the touch of the same radical spirit that possessed the revolutionary communists and the artists who remained there to become soviet.
And herein lies the apparent contradiction of Art Deco: a radical style adopted by both socialists and businessmen alike; by Russian aristocracy and local governments in North London. This was clearly a commercial movement. But it was not bourgeois, stuffy and commonplace. It celebrated the heroic, the innovative and the radical. One of the most fascinating portraits painted by Tamara de Lempicka is of Dr Boucard (Figure 58). I don’t believe I have ever witnessed a portrait depicting a man in the same way. Dr Boucard is a scientist, holding aloft his experimental materials for inspection. But he is not a boring anorak with the charisma of a mouldering potato. He is striking, dynamic – almost seductive. He is depicted as a hero. Not a warrior, not a politician. But a scientist.
It would be remiss of me not to mention one further Russian Aristocrat who fled St Petersburg to escape the Soviets. Philosopher, author and champion of laissez faire capitalism: she was born Alissa Rosenbaum and became Ayn Rand.
I have already stated that I do not believe literature can truly be considered Art Deco. But if there were one set of novels that could be considered for the title, it would be those written by Ayn Rand. She writes of the creator as hero, of individual progress as the ultimate goal. Her Writing is streamlined and angular, if such a metaphor is permissible. She defines her genre as romantic realism – a heightened version of a coherent reality; reality as it ought to be. I am not the first to make this connection: Tamara De Lempicka’s artwork is used on the front covers of the Penguin editions of Ayn Rand’s novels (Figure 59). Nick Gaetano was commissioned to do a series of Art Deco inspired illustrations for the Signet editions of Ayn Rand’s books (Figure 60).
The 2007 videogame Bioshock is set in an underwater laissez faire capitalist city, designed in an Art Deco style, founded by a Character called Andrew Ryan (a quasi-anagram of Ayn Rand) (Figure 61). It is an unavoidable conclusion that the spirit of Art Deco toyed with by the Soviets was not at all one of socialism, but of its anathema: radical capitalism.
Perhaps this gives us a clue as to why the movement faltered in the post-war era. Socialism swept through the world. Welfare programs emerged; workers’ parties gained their first real victories in Europe. In the Soviet Union, the revolutionary communism of Lenin had been superseded by the conservative authoritarianism of Stalin. The zeitgeist of design was corrupted by government housing programmes, not by dynamic businesspeople and sexually liberated artists. When the world had been shaken by war, there was no appetite for artists to shake things further. The mood was one of restoration rather than innovation
chapter iv: legacy
As I have already recounted, the interest in Art Deco declined in the years following the second world war. The zeitgeist of the 50s settled into a traditional form. Class relations, gender relations and artistic expression became conservative. As the dialectic of history continued, the swinging 60s became the antithesis of this conservatism. It is a decade characterised by radical political movements, so-called ‘free love’ and colourful artistic expression. With this came a renewed interest in both Art Deco and Art Nouveau.
In 1964, the Biba store was established, selling “retro” fashion embodying the character of both Art Deco and Art Nouveau designs, modernised for the 1960s (Figure 62). It became fashionable for women to wear heavy eye make-up, loose, slinky dresses resembling those of the flapper, and to have cropped hair.
Erte’s career experienced another peak, and this was when he produced his most famous illustration: Symphony in Black (Figure 63). In the movie musical Sweet Charity, the dancers in the musical piece The Rich Man’s Frug move as if they were the angular fashion illustrations of the 1920s brought to life: at once elegant and sleek, but somehow awkward and constrained (Figure 64). Indeed, as stated above, the first use in print of the term ‘Art Deco’ was in 1966, by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris.
But the art of the 60s was erratic. The Pop Art of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein dominated the public interest. Unlike the Art Deco of the 20s and 30s, it was not as concerned with clarity. Even the brand Biba, intended to be a direct reincarnation of Art Deco, was tainted by unclarity. While the general spirit of its lounge appears to be Art Deco, one encounters the occasional clustered, chaotic pattern that clashes with the otherwise dynamic, streamlined forms. The clothing and upholstery patterns may contain strong elements of geometry, key to Art Deco, but it is overlapping and static.
One particular sofa in the Biba Lounge resembles a cluster of bacteria, each organism competing for space (Figure 66). Contrast it with the 1931 Furnishing Fabric by Gregory Brown (Figure 67). The distinction in style is subtle but undeniable present. Each element of Brown’s fabric is discrete. There are no overlapping forms. The space in between each element provides clarity to what may otherwise appear messy. In fact, it is more likely that the furniture from the 1920s would have had minimal patterning on the upholstery, if at all (Figure 68). The 60s revival mirrors the distorted unreality of cubism more than the augmented reality of Art Deco.
It was not the only victim of this distortion – even the already fluid fonts of Art Nouveau were distorted into psychedelic intelligibility. Record packaging, posters and advertisements became barely legible (Figure 69). Like today, the radical chaos of the 60s was ignited by a desire to avoid reality, rather than to create it.
In the 21st century, Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film The Great Gatsby contributed to a renewed interest in the 1920s and Art Deco (Figure 70). Suddenly 1920s themed parties were abundant. Gatsby’s Mansion opened in London to show only The Great Gatsby as an immersive performance. Stationers adorn their wares with black and gold geometrical designs, akin to those used in the marketing for the Great Gatsby film. If you google “Art Deco Design” or “Art Deco Stationery”, the results are almost exclusively in this style, with multiple suggestions for and references to “Gatsby” littered in the results (Figures 71 and 72).
In fact, while there were a few designs incorporating black and gold, such as Palladium House in London, these were an anomaly rather than the rule. Art Deco principally consisted of light colouring: whites and bold colour accents. This style is but a pastiche of authentic Art Deco. Indeed, the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald was set in 1922 and published in 1925– the same year that the Paris Exposition was held. Art Deco would have been an emergent style in the United States but it was far from dominant. The exposition was the first major step in making Art Deco a truly international Style instead of one dominated by the French.
The most iconic American symbols of Art Deco, its skyscrapers, are products of the 30s and would not have existed in the mind of an F. Scott Fitzgerald writing about domestic troubles in New York. Associating The Great Gatsby with Art Deco is somewhat of an anachronism. It is an unfortunate consequence that the Art Deco held in the 21st century public imagination is not wholly representative – that is, at least, for those for have not read this history.
Here we end our tale. Though I hope it will continue, one day. The aesthetic spirit of Art Deco is being toyed with but has not truly been summoned. We are casting the wrong spells; a superficial mimicry of the past. The Phoenix is yet to rise again.
With greatest benevolence,
Victor Baskerville
Figure 1: The cast of ITV’s Poirot
Figure 2: Florin Court in East London, known as Whitehaven Mansions in ITV’s Poirot
Figure 3: The Empire State Building
Figure 4: Art Deco Advertisements for The Great Gatsby cover London Underground stations circa 2013
Figure 5: The book that brought the term ‘Art Deco’ into the popular vernacular in 1968
Figure 6: Advert for the 1925 Paris Exhibition that popularised the Art Deco style internationally
Figure 7: The Japanese Pavilion a the 1925 Expo
Figure 8: The Holland Pavilion at the 1935 Expo
Figure 9: The Primavera Pavilion at the 1925 Expo
Figure 10: L’Esprit Nouveau, Le Corbusier’s pavilion at the 1925 Expo
Figure 11: The Soviet Pavilion at the 1925 Expo
Figure 12: The Eiffel Tower lit up with a Citroen advertisement for the 1925 Expo
Figure 13: illustrating the difference between Arts Deco and Nouveau
Figure 14: Art Nouveau Poster
Figure 15: An Art Nouveau cabinet
Figure 16: Picasso’s cubism
Figure 17: George Braque’s cubsim
Figure 18: Bauhaus Building
Figure 19: Le Corbusier Villa
Figure 20: Daily Express building 1932
Figure 21: The Lobby of the Daily Express Building
Figure 22: The stained glass of the Société des Garages Souterrains
Figure 23: Elmdon Airport, now a terminal at Birmingham Airport
Figure 24: BBC Broadcasting House
Figure 25: The Hoover Building 1933
Figure 26: Poster advertisement for Metropolis. 1927
Figure 27: Cartier clock modelled on a Karnak temple gate
Figure 28: Chrysler building’s elevator doors
Figure 29: 1922 Evening Jacket
Figure 30: The Black Cat Factory 1928
Figure 31: Kobayakawa, Tipsy, 1930
Figure 32: Japanese Board of Tourism poster, 1937
Figure 33: Paul Poiret couture 1922
Figure 34: Vogue Paris 1924
Figure 35: Erte’s cover deign for Harper’s Bazar 1922
Figure 36: Paul Poiret 1922
Figure 37: Pierre Patout Bd, Paris designed to look like a ship
Figure 38: Osbert Lancaster, 1939
Figure 39: Osbert Lancaster, 1939
Figure 40: Tamara De Lempicka, Portrait de Madame Alan Bott, 1930
Figure 41: Tamara De Lempicka, Duchesse de la Salle de Rochemaure, 1925
Figure 42: Tamara De Lempicka, Portrait of Mrs Bush, 1929
Figure 43: Christian Schaad, Sonja. 1928
Figure 44: Erte’s simultaneous bride and groom
Figure 45: Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness. Lesbian.
Figure 46: The Wordsworth Classics edition of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
Figure 47: Erte with his long term partner, Nicholas Ourosoff
Figure 48: Advertisement for La Bal Negre, 1927
Figure 49: Erte’s geisha sculpture
Figure 50: Erte’s Egyptian-inspired sculptures
Figure 51: Sketch of Francis Jourdain
Figure 52: El Lisitskiy, Klinom Krasnimby. 1920. An example of Constructivist art.
Figure 53: Soviet Pavillion in the 1937 Paris World Fair
Figure 54: Statue of Mercury outside of the National Audit Office in London
Figure 55: Alexandre Exter’s costume design for Aelita, Queen of Mars. 1924
Figure 56: Set of Aelita, Queen of Mars. 1924
Figure 57: Moscow State University
Figure 58: Tamara de Lempicka, Portrait of Dr Boucard. 1928
Figure 59: Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. 1957. Featureing Tamara de Lempicka’s artwork on the cover
Figure 60: Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness. 1964 featuring Nick Gaetano’s artwork.
Figure 61: Bioshock 2007
Figure 62: The Biba store, 1964
Figure 63: Erte, Symphony in Black. 1967
Figure 64: The Rich Man’s Frug from Sweet Charity. 1969
Figure 65: Twiggy in the Biba Lounge
Figure 66: Sofa in the Biba Lounge. 1966
Figure 67: Gregory Brown’s furnishing fabric. 1931
Figure 68: Armchair from 1926
Figure 69: Poster for a music festival using distorted Art Nouveau lettering
Figure 70: Promotional poster for The Great Gatsby. 2012
Figure 71: Google search results for Art Deco Design
Figure 72: Google search results for Art Deco Stationery