Author: Victoria and Albert MuseumPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 474
Book Description
Art Deco - the style that swept across the globe during the 1920s and 1930s and created the defining look of the interwar years. Its influence was ubiquitous- it touched the design of everything - from cinemas and Hollywood films to the packaging of cigarettes, from evening wear and accessories to luxury liners and locomotives. Deco was the ultimate synthesis of styles- it borrowed from European craft traditions as eagerly as it appropriated aspects of 'the exotic' from the cultures of Ancient Egypt, Meso-America, the oriental East and black Africa. Its use of rare and unashamedly precious materials was a reminder of the wealth of empires, whilst its geometric imagery celebrated urban modernity and the experience of modernity worldwide. This lavish and erudite book brings together nearly 40 essays from leading experts in the field to discuss the phenomenon that was Art Deco in the most wide-ranging survey of what created such an utterly distinctive iconography - 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 twentieth century.
