Art Deco: 1910-1939 [Hardcover]

Charlotte Benton (Author), Tim Benton (Author), Ghislaine Wood (Author), Oriana Baddeley (Collaborator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2003

This lavishly illustrated book brings together nearly 40 essays from leading experts in the field to discuss the phenomenon that was Art Deco.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sexy, modern, and unabashedly consumer-oriented, Art Deco was a new kind of style, flourishing at a time of rapid technological change and social upheaval. Lacking the philosophical basis of other European design movements, Deco borrowed motifs from numerous sources--Japan, Africa, ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures, avant-garde European art--simply to create novel visual effects. Art Deco 1910-1939 surveys the sources and development of the popular style with more than 400 color illustrations and 40 chapters by numerous design specialists. The authors track Deco around the globe, from Paris to the United States—-where it got its biggest boost from mass production—-to Northern and Central Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and New Zealand. The book's broad focus encompasses industrial artifacts (the Hindenburg blimp, the Burlington Zephyr locomotive), as well as architecture, furniture, accessories, fashion, jewelry, typography and poster design. Despite the existence of other prominent artistic movements during the 1920s and '30s, the authors tend to hang the Deco label on virtually any object that portrays the effects of technology or employs color, luxury materials or artificial light in striking ways. It does seem a stretch to include Man Ray's photographs, Sonia Delaunay's textiles and the movie King Kong in the Deco pantheon. But the great strength of Art Deco 1910-1939 is that it reveals the social context of Deco, not just its pretty face. The book accompanies an exhibition (organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto through January 4, 2004; subsequent venues are San Francisco and Boston. —Cathy Curtis

About the Author

Charlotte Benton is a design and architecture historian. Her works include A Different World? Emigre Architects in Britain 1926-58.
Tim Benton is Professor of Art History at the Open University and has curated a number of exhibitions and his work has been most recently included in Le Corbusier in Paris.
Ghislaine Wood is co-curator of the Art Deco 1910-1939 exhibition. She was also co-curator of the wildly successful V&A Art Nouveau exhibition that toured internationally, and a contributor to the catalogue.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch; 1 edition (September 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082122834X
• ISBN-13: 978-0821228340
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 1.6 x 11.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first and last word on Deco., September 7, 2003

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art Deco: 1910-1939 (Hardcover)

A sumptuous coffee-table book of this exuberant art style and I think it could well become the standard book on the subject. The forty essays are divided into four sections, Sources and Iconography, 1925 Paris Exhibition, Spread of Deco and finally Deco World, and I liked the way, especially in Sources and Iconography, that the authors explain how various art styles were moulded into deco art which culminated in the very influential 1925 Paris show.

I thought the last two sections were a fascinating coverage of how Art Deco spread around the world, mainly as architecture and fashion, though in Europe also as a fine art style. In North America, it influenced a huge range of commercial products. Perhaps this was the only art form that was truly democratic in that it was available (as streamlining) to be seen or bought on any Main Street across the Nation.

The design and printing are excellent. Many of the photos, especially color, are presented whole page, the rest are all well sized, and they all have captions. The back of the book has a very comprehensive bibliography, fortunately listed as relating to each chapter rather than just an alphabetical list, the index is divided into two, Names and Subject. I was very impressed with this attention to detail and with the excellent text, images and production surely `Art Deco 1910-1939' will be read for many years to come.

***FOR A LOOK INSIDE click 'customer images' under the cover.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest book on Art Deco!, September 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Art Deco: 1910-1939 (Hardcover)

This book is an absolute triumph. First, it is positively gorgeous - the images just leap off the pages. Second, the essays are more in-depth, engaging, and informative than any other book I've found on the subject. This book discusses every facet of Art Deco as well: it explores the origins at the Paris Exhibition in 1925, goes through the influence in East Asia, Latin America, and South Africa, not to mention Europe. A great chapter on Deco in Hollywood; also explores all of the sources, iconography - and all of this on top of covering every aspect of the movement - ceramics, jewelry, fashion, architecture, glass, photography, graphic design, bookbindings, travel and transport, and so so much more - with stunning visuals. A fantastic read, a great resource, a beautiful work, and an absolute MUST for anyone interested in the subject! Well worth the money, and a fantastic addition to any library. Highly recommended!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art Deco: A Case-Study in Modern, June 23, 2010

By 

Brandon Lori (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Art Deco: 1910-1939 (Hardcover)

"Art Deco 1910-1939" is the most comprehensive book on the Deco Style. It thoroughly explains the Machine Age aesthetic and how the movement was, at first, a reaction against its predecessor, Art Nouveau. Once a luxury style for the affluent, it soon trickled down to the mass-market and became something the bourgeois could embrace, too, through advertising and consumer goods. Free of ornamentation and embellishment, Art Deco celebrated the dynamism of power symbols, like sunbursts and lightning bolts. The book is brimming with high resolution photography that, from every facet of culture and socio-economic level, explains how the mannerisms of streamline touched everything from fashion to the automobile.