Popular Art Deco: Depression Era Style and Design [Paperback]

Robert Heide (Author), John Gilman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

Covering everyday objects from chromium cocktail shakers to Bakelite radios, this text traces the Art Deco marriage of art and industry.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Heide and John Gilman, noted experts in the field of popular culture, authored Abbeville's Box-Office Buckaroos and other volumes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789208237
• ISBN-13: 978-0789208231
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 9.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,780,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Downmarket Deco on Main Street, January 9, 2005

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Popular Art Deco: Depression Era Style and Design (Paperback)

Most books about Art Deco rightly cover the fine art aspects of the movement but the authors of this lovely book explore the way commerce used deco styling in mass produced products available on any Main Street. It would be a good few years before an art style was used again to sell things, namely pop art in the mid-Sixties.

Look at the many photographs of everyday items in the book and it is clear that manufacturers copied whatever deco style elements they wanted to enhance the sales potential of their products, at the same time a group of industrial designers where developing America's unique design style, streamline and contributing more elements to be copied, a good example are the three speed lines that popped up on many products.

I think the illustrations in the book are well chosen and they really do cover everyday items in use during the Depression years and nicely the text is broken up with various interesting sidebars like the one on Dolores Del Rio's moderne house or festive season graphics or Deco Mexicana. To compliment this excellent survey have a look at 'Streamline' (ISBN 0811806626) by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, basically a visual book with several hundred examples of everyday graphics. Both books cover so well two exuberant art styles that everyone could share and so were truly democratic.

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