Modernism and Art Deco

Many changes got brought by the industrialization and technology in the first decades of the 20 century. The hand made use got reduced, and everything was factory produced. The growth of the population cause many problems and poverty. In the world war 1, communism and fascism created problems that technology wont solve.

Traditions were obsolete and did not serve architecture and design in this time. It was hard finding a new design after the war, something that would present the 20 century. In French moderne is a new style or in English it will be modernistic, it will be an international style.

One of the main originators of this movement was Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe.

The movement of Art Deco was founded in France and it was slowly diffused in Europe until it arrived to the Africa. New styles were shown in the Exposition international des Arts Decoratifs et industrials moderne in 1925 in Paris. Many new materials where shown to show this new modern world, Glass, Aluminum, Black lacquer…

The architecture and decorative arts shown at the 1925 Exposition embodied a whole range of unconnected styles and sources, including a modern interpretation of the 18th-century style of Louis XVI (reigned 1643–1715), seen as the golden era of the French decorative arts, and references to the avant-garde art movements of the time, such as Cubism and the Bauhaus. Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and exotic and ancient cultures such as ancient Egyptian (following the discovery of the Pyramid tombs) and Mayan civilisations, and the art of Japan and Africa, also had an impact on the style. Unlike Modernist art movements, with their social philosophies and manifestos, Art Deco was purely decorative. A modern style, responding to the machine and to new materials such as plastic, Art Deco in its 1925 context was also sumptuous, a luxury style, characterised by individually produced luxury goods for wealthy connoisseurs.

The 1925 Exposition had a major influence on the decorative arts in America. Although the United States was not represented, many Americans visited the exhibition. In 1926 the Metropolitan Museum of Art held a retrospective exhibition to which original contributors were asked to send material. The American contribution to Art Deco is known as Streamlining and is characterised by clean lines and strong curves. It was applied to the design of cars, architecture and furniture. It was also applied to new mass-produced goods such as refrigerators and radios. In their attempt to reach new consumers from around 1930, manufacturers took iconic elements of the Art Deco styles and simplified them for mass production. Married to modern machine age materials such as bakelite and chrome, this style heralded an era of 'modern' design for mass consumption of affordable consumer goods.