Art Deco in the United States: Difference between revisions

Architectural style popular in the 1920s-1930s

The Art Deco style, which originated in France just before World War I, had an important impact on architecture and design in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The most notable examples are the skyscrapers of New York City, including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center. It combined modern aesthetics, fine craftsmanship, and expensive materials, and became the symbol of luxury and modernity. While rarely used in residences, it was frequently used for office buildings, government buildings, train stations, movie theaters, diners and department stores. It also was frequently used in furniture, and in the design of automobiles, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as toasters and radio sets.

In the late 1930s, during the Great Depression, it featured prominently in the architecture of the immense public works projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration, such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. The style competed throughout the period with the modernist architecture, and came to an abrupt end in 1939 with the beginning of World War II. The style was rediscovered in the 1960s, and many of the original buildings have been restored and are now historical landmarks.

Background[edit]

American Art Deco has roots in the style moderne popularized at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Paris, from which the name Art Deco would be drawn retroactively (Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes). The United States did not officially participate, but Americans—including New York City architect Irwin Chanin and others^[1]: 55—visited the exposition,^[2]: 47 and the government sent a delegation to the expo. Their resulting reports helped spread the style to America.^[3]: 6 Other influences included German expressionism, the Austrian Secession, art nouveau, cubism, and the ornament of African and Central and South American cultures.^{[1]: 8–9 [4]: 4}

Architecture[edit]

American Art Deco architecture took different forms in different regions of the country, influenced by the local tastes, cultural influences, or laws.^[2]: 42 In the 1920s, the style was often referred to as the “vertical style”, referring to the new look of skyscrapers appearing in America’s cities. In the 1930s and 40s, more horizontal, streamlined or “moderne” buildings became popular. Government buildings commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, with their fusion of moderne and classical elements, are called “WPA Moderne” or “Modern classic”.^[4]: vi

Skyscrapers[edit]

• Radiator ornament decoration on the Chrysler Building in New York City (1928)

• The Empire State Building in New York City (1931)

• Crown of the RCA Victor Building, now the General Electric Building, in New York City (1930–31)

• Entrance of the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan (1928)

• Lobby of the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan (1928)

• Chicago Board of Trade Building in Chicago, Illinois (1930)

• The American Radiator Building in New York City by Raymond Hood (1924)

• Buffalo City Hall in Buffalo, New York, Dietel, Wade & Jones, 1931

• LeVeque Tower in Columbus, Ohio (1924)

• City Hall in Los Angeles, California (1928)

The Art Deco style had been born in Paris, but no buildings were permitted in that city which were higher than Notre Dame Cathedral with the exception of the Eiffel Tower. As a result, the United States soon took the lead in building tall buildings. The first skyscrapers had been built in Chicago in the 1880s in the Beaux-Arts or neoclassical style. In the 1920s, New York City architects used the new Art Deco style to build the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. The Empire State building was the tallest building in the world for forty years.

The decoration of the interior and exterior of the skyscrapers was classic Art Deco, with geometric shapes and zigzag patterns. The Chrysler Building, by William Van Alen (1928–30), updated the traditional gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals with sculptures on the building corners in the shape of Chrysler radiator ornaments.

Another major landmark of the style was the RCA Victor Building (now the General Electric Building), by John Walter Cross. It was covered from top to bottom with zig-zags and geometric patterns, and had a highly ornamental crown with geometric spires and lightning bolts of stone. The exterior featured bas-relief sculptures by Leo Friedlander and Lee Lawrie, and a mosaic by Barry Faulkner that required more than a million pieces of enamel and glass.

While the skyscraper Art Deco style was mostly used for corporate office buildings, it…