Monday, April 25, 2011

HSTARC 2 : On Art Deco

This is the period when people started to move past the traditional classical style and created a unique decorative modernist style out of the Egyptian past. This began during an art exhibition in Paris called the Exposition Intertionale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes wherein different designs and styles were shown. What stood out in this exhibition was this varitety of highly decorative luxurious objects that defined what Art Deco really is.

Originating in France, this style was the fusion of colors, patterns and lines. Just like the previous styles, people during this period strived to create a name of their own thus explored different usage of materials and blending of the past styles. Although they let go of the classical, they patterned this new style after Egyptian art and architecture where geometrical patterns and shapes played an important role.

They started out with decorating furniture to add glamour to the interiors of their homes and ended up applying this distinct style to structures. This spread widely across the world, producing elegant, luxurious structures that added sophistication to cities. But it wasn’t long till the Second World War ceased the further development of this style leaving just imprints in the world of architecture.

Two famous art deco buildings that still stand today are the Empire State Building and the Chrysler building both of which located at New York City.

Chrysler Building by William Van Alen

Empire State Building by architects Shreve, Lamb and Harmon 

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