Customer Reviews

127 Authentic Art Deco Patterns in Full Color (Dover Pictorial Archives)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book represents early Art Deco Designs, perhaps even late Art Nouveau Designs. The strikingly remarkable feature is the color combinations, which show the early flavor of the period. These designs were taken from two portfolios of 1920's artists.

There is a full range of figures from antalope and mountian lion to flowers and people. Some of which are highly intricate and ornate, while others verge on the primative. As a source book for a decorative artist (me), it gives subject and theme for any period compositions which can be mounted.

The art is highly styled and ornate, giving a fresh look to the Art Deco Period.

This is an excellent selection of colorful graphic patterns in the deco genre, and should be a useful and inspiring resource to designers, students, and afficianados.

This book is great for giving an all around idea of art deco textile, and art detail. However, I would have liked more information on the designers, years these were popular, the artists, etc.

This 8 ¼ inch x 11 inch perfect bound softcover book contains 40 pages of images well printed in color. A note page presents a brief discussion of Art Deco and the two artists whose work is presented. All 133 images are on a CD bound between the last page and back cover in a sealed heavy paper envelope. Each image is numbered in the book, the number being the file name on the CD. Images are JPG in both high and low resolution. Size of the images varies considerably. The long side of the high resolution images clusters around the range of 1,800 to 2,000 pixels, but some are smaller and some larger. Low resolution image pixel dimensions are 24% of the high resolution size. The license says, "You may use them (the images) for graphics and crafts applications, free and without special permission, provided that you include no more than ten in the same publication or project." The CD also includes the Dover Design Manager, an image viewer and basic editor.

The works of two French artists are included in separate sections. The color pallets vary between the two, but all are earth tones, and although bold, are not bright. The complex designs are mostly highly stylized plants with a few people or animals mixed in. Potential buyers looking for the more commonly recognized bold, simplified shapes of much Art Deco graphical work will need to seek another publication. The images are nice to look at and could be great inspiration for creating original art. Using the images directly, which is my main interest, is problematic in many cases. Quite a few images are complete with no elements cut off at the edges. For direct use, these could be backgrounds, medallions or tiles. There are also many images with elements that run off the edges as though the image was cut out of a larger piece. In these, the designs are irregular, as though they were hand painted (probably true), and this makes it difficult to use them any place the image needs to be expanded. Creating repeatable tiles or otherwise blending multiple copies of the images would be taxing. On several pages in the book the images are arranged in artful overlapping patterns. Unfortunately, the images on the CD are cut to fit this layout. Many images are therefor of irregular shape or have a corner missing, further limiting the ability to use them directly. For beauty and inspiration this collection rates a 5; if direct use is the purpose, a lower rating is warranted.