Art Deco Design

Here is an image of my design wall at an early stage of my Art Deco study. I grouped images according to influences on the movement, illustrations of why it was known as a 'total' style, design features, materials and colours.

These are some of the influences on the movement.

One of the predominant design elements that became obvious was the step motif and form. In Europe it seems to have been inspired by ancient Egyptian culture, while in North America the step design elements came from rediscoveries of Meso-American civilisations such as Mayan, Aztec and Incan.

This is work by the British potter, Clarice Cliff, whose work was immensely popular in the late 20s and 30s. Throughout her career she used the step design element as a motif, pattern and a 3D form.

I wrote about the importance the step design in my assessment essay for the History of Design module. It seems to be a reoccuring element in many different cultures. It would be interesting to find out if there is any significance in the timing of these reoccurances. Also, that of the reappearance each time of bright orange in art, architecture and fashion.

Orange

While I was studying the Art Deco Movement, I put all of the images I collected up on my large design wall. I would group them and regroup them according to how my thoughts were developing. One thing that struck me was no matter how I rearranged the images they always had the same feel.

Then I saw the dominance of the colour orange.

Intense orange. It was bright and cheerful. Hopeful.

It reminded me of the 60s mood. Designers write about a revival of Art Deco at that time but I now think the 60s revival, with the reappearance of bright orange, was a reflection of the optimistic feelings of the time. It was the 'dawning of the age of Aquarius'.

Now I am curious, has bright orange re-emerged every time there was a positive, uplifting, optimistic collective response to the times?

I am on the look out for bright orange.

More Art Deco in Victoria

In the Royal BC Museum there are 2 Art Deco garments that are well worth the hunt to find.
This silk georgette evening dress, 1926-28, illustrates well the shock of the new. For the first time in European history women went out in public wearing garments that exposed their lower legs and the full length of their arms. These garments reflect the hard won freedoms women enjoyed for the short time between the wars in North America.

The dress is heavily embroidered with beads. Loops of seed beads make the red flowers in the floral bouquet 3 dimensional.
I am always fascinated by the strong bond between women and flowers.

Next to the dress, in the display cabinet, is this interesting hat. It too is an important social commentary on how women, for the first time, voluntarily cut off their 'crowning glory' as though they were removing a burden from the past. Then they covered up their heads in the Asian style, with form-fitting hats. It was such a shocking protest at the time. They seemed to want to remove the inequality of the gender issue so they could be seen as another human being.

The hat is covered with dense long and short stitch and ribbon couched down in a similar technique to quill work.
I don't know what to make of the design. Any suggestions?

Art Deco In Victoria BC Canada

One of the unique aspects of the Art Deco Movement is it 'moved' all around the world. Here in Victoria, where I live, I found some fine examples of well preserved Art Deco architecture.
In 1931 Imperial Oil built a 3 tiered garage on the waterfront inner harbour area of the city and topped it with a tower just like the one that had been built on the Palmolive Building in Chicago in 1929. Both towers had state-of-the-art navigational beacons put on top.

Today, Victoria's tower tops the Visitor Centre, a restaurant and tourist activity offices for harbour tours and whale watching.

The elegant Art Deco elements are still clearly visible.

For the final assignment for the JC School of Textile Art module I have just finished, I wrote an essay about how the step design element was used throughout the Art Deco Movement. I looked at the way these 'modern' skyscraper buildings were inspired by the stepped buildings in Mayan/Aztec and Egyptian civilisations. I found some very interesting links.

Art Deco in England

A box full of a semester's worth of Art Deco Movement research has been sent to England to be assessed. Phew! I am looking forward to a month's break but I thought you might like to see some more highly innovative fashion from the period, courtesy of Richard Martin's book.

This pink silk satin dress by Gabrielle Chanel has spiraling bias-cut panels encircling the body.

I may not agree with Richard's attempts to convince me these creative dress designers were inspired by Picasso (I think the inspiration flowed the other way) but he did describe this dress well, "A kind of 3D, silk-swathing puzzle." It is a 1920 design by Madeleine Vionnet.

Madeleine wasn't big on colour, as you can see in these ecru and pink dresses, in fact they are all skin-like in colour. Colour would have been a distraction from the brilliance of these designs. What was important to her was the cut and how the cloth related to the body.

The detailing on this sleeve is exciting in an understated way: threading, tying, hanging, wrapping, joining with faggoting, gathering - all on this quiet, elegant sleeve.

Another Madeleine Vionnet (1938) garment speaks of utter simplicity while it drapes the body with such complexity. All without the help of Lycra or Spandex. Pure genius.

Art Deco Art on the Figure

Here are some more luscious garments from that MOMA book I previously posted images of.

In 1927, an unknown designer has appliqued an abstract floral design on a 2 piece garment.

Yes, it does look 60s ish because that's when there was an Art Deco revival.

Mariska Karasz's 1927 appliqued silk jacket would be misinterpreted if thought to be inspired by Matisse's cutouts. Matisse didn't start doing his cutouts until he became ill  and he first published them in 1947. It is now understood how much textiles influenced Matisse's work so could it be he was inspired by Mariska's work? His mother made fashion garments. However, it is said, both Matisse and Mariska looked to folk costume embroideries for inspiration.

Jean Lanvin's wonderful 1927 evening coat of black cotton velveteen is embroidered with white wool. The radiating energy of the sun burst motif is so Art Deco.

Madeleine Vionnet and Art Deco

A friend showed me this very interesting book. Its main argument is that Art Deco fashion was greatly influenced by Cubism. I found the argument contrived and not at all convincing but it didn't stop me enjoying the wonderful images of Art Deco style garments.

One of my favourite designers in the book is Madeleine Vionnet. She was known for her great skill in working with fabric on the bias. In this 1932 dress step-shaped, bias-cut panels make a sheath that skims the body. So revolutionary!

This 1929 silk wedding dress looks as though it was made from a large leaf.

It is so elegant with its 7 foot train.

Art Deco

This semester I am doing the Art History: 20th & 21st Century module with the JC School of Textile Arts. I have chosen to study the Art Deco Movement, which happened between the world wars, 1920 to 1940. It is proving to be a most interesting period to study.

Since the summer I have been collecting images of all things Deco and have built up quite a collection I have been able to use in my assignments.

This silk georgette dress, 1920, was in the summer exhibition in the National Costume Museum in Winnipeg.

While in Wolfville, Nova Scotia I recognised their Art Deco style cinema. Like so many cities and towns across North America, in fact around the world, cinemas were built in the new style to be able to house the new popular form of entertainment.

Art Deco has shown up in the most unexpected places. In an earlier post I showed this Art Deco treasure stored in a woolen factory behind bales of wool, in New Brunswick.

Know as a total style, the Art Deco aesthetic was applied to literally everything, from flour sifters to car hood/bonnet ornaments, which meant everyone who had even a little money to spend could participate in the movement and be seen as modern. Finally art/craft/design came out of museums into people's daily lives and wasn't elitist.
Three cheers for Art Deco.

Art Deco in Canada

This semester, for my Julia Caprara School of Textile Arts degree studies, I am investigating the Art Deco Movement. While on holiday touring the Maritimes I was on the look out for evidence of the movement wherever I went.

I was rewarded with examples, often in the most unlikely places.

While touring the Briggs and Little woollen yarn factory in New Brunswick, we spied what looked like a car under covers behind bales of fleece. One of the workers threw back the covers to show a 1930s car the owner of the factory had restored. It was a perfectly preserved example of an Art Deco object with its aerodynamic shape that only recently has been reused in car design for fuel efficiency.

Hood/bonnet ornaments were works of art.

The 3 or 4 straight lines, called Streamline, were a distinctive motif that suggested speed, new technology and acceptance of the benefits of the machine age.

I am now developing my thesis for a 2,000 word paper I have to write on a specific subject in the Art Deco Movement. I am doing lots of reading of library books and articles from web searches.

Celebration Time

Today I posted to the UK the module I have been working on all summer, a semester of work towards a BA(Hons) Embroidered Textiles with the JC School of Textile Arts, which is why I am celebrating by cleaning up my studio. (I know how to have a good time).

From a study of images of The Suit...


I examined the inside of a suit jacket. I took out the lining....

and flayed it on a tree....

...and I worked with all of the interesting interfacing pieces.

Assessment day is next month in the UK where my work will be marked then returned to me.
In the meantime, I am working on the next module. This semester it is a research one and I have decided to study the Art Deco Movement.