Styles neither begin nor end abruptly, but Art Deco took hold of the America at the end of World War I and continued through World War II.  The rules of the Victorian age were suddenly thrown aside and design started on the road toward modernism.  Art Deco was consciously modern, and it touched society from costume to architecture.  Industrial design became its greatest admirer, with mass production replacing hand crafted objects. 

Art Deco was a design for the people with many products for everyday use being made in this style.  The simplified and recognizable design motifs were the three parallel lines, zigzags, tiered “skyscrapers” and rounded corners – machine made, shiny, modern, utilitarian, yet decorative.

This exhibition shows a wide variety of objects in the Art Deco style.  The Chase Company became synonymous with American Art Deco.  They manufactured handsome, well-designed, yet affordable products from cocktail shakers and ash trays to lamps and serving plates.  Graphic design also took up the deco look as did furniture, cars and buildings.  Art Deco was not the only style of this era, but it was the most distinctive.  Although the era has past, a testimony to the quality and timelessness of the design is that many products are still being produced.  Art Deco is still popular and vibrant today.

Special thanks to Bryant Varney for loaning many objects from his extensive Art Deco collection. 

The Original Posters were on loan from The International Poster Gallery Boston.

The DeVos Art Museum

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