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Originally Posted by JohnMarko
Wow - where to begin.
Art Deco got it's influences DIRECTLY from Eqyptian and Mayan and American Indian influences - but it started with the discovery of Tut's tomb and the colors and geometric patterns that were discovered there-in. The zigzag patterns are traced directly to the Egyptians - altho the other American Indian styles colorations also had a great influence. Later on, it incorporated Mayan and other South American design elements, but those are rare - the United Office Building in Niagara being unique in it's Mayan decorative elements.
Art Deco is in no way shape or form influenced by "Gothic". Gothic is just GOTHIC - it is not "Art Deco".
Just because something was built at the same time period that Art Deo occured, does not make it Art Deco!
Neither is Classical, Roman or Greek. They are and always be, just classical, roman or greek - NOT "Art Deco".
The US was certainly NOT the "home" of Art Nouveau - it was simultaneously occuring in France (known as the "Liberty Style"), as well as England, Germany and most other European, South American and even Asian countries. Nor was Art Deco - the US had much more of it because it was in the process of it's great growing spurt, so it would naturally have "more" of almost everything. The only thing one could say is that the US did indeed DOMINATE the production of Art Nouveay and Art Deco structures and design... Anybody who has even minimally studied basic Architectural History classes would know as much...
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Wow - Where to begin....
Yes Art Deco was inspired by other styles like Egyptian, but also any style, especially classical ones of any culture or time period, from Mayan, to Greek and Roman, Gothic, Tudor, Italian, French, Chinese, etc. can be stylized to look Art Deco.
Look at the front of the Bronx County Courthouse for instance, not the best for example for this style but one I could think of right off. It's has Greek columns and other structural/decorative elements out front that were "stylized" to be Art Deco. I guess you could either say the columns are Art Deco with a Greek "styling" or Greek columns with an Art Deco styling? I also remember another Art Deco building that had some Roman columns inside with its ornate tops being stylized to appear Art Deco. There is also another building I remember seeing that had Egyptian columns in it, mural artwork etc. that was all stylized to be Art Deco. Yes Art Deco took elements of the Egyptian style and used them here and there, but in this instance, the whole room was essentially an Egyptian Temple reconstructed with an Art Deco twist.
I could take any classical structure, home, church, mosque, temple, etc. and then stylize its elements, any carved figures, artwork, etc. so that you could make an Art Deco version of that building and its decorative elements.
And there are quite a few buildings with Mayan influence and or that took elements of Mayan architecture and artwork and stylized them to look Art Deco. One of them being the Fire Alarm building right here in Tulsa.
I can take anything, a plant, an animal, person, piece of furniture, tea set, light fixture, frame, painting, building, architectural element, a pile of rocks lol, WHATEVER, and give it an Art Deco look. I have some Holy Cards that have baby Jesus being held by Mother Mary, with a dove overhead and sunbeams coming down, clearly remeniscent of an earlier medieval painting that is stylized to look Art Deco. I can take a cactus and make it look Art Deco. A train, a radio, a toaster, a clock tower, a rose, a rabbit, a Gothic Cathedral, a Chinese Temple, letters and numbers, etc. etc. etc. and make it look Art Deco.
Yes Art Deco pulled from many styles, but it can also just as easily take many styles or items and have an Art Deco styled version of it be created.
Its THAT element that I think of when I ask the question "What is Art Deco?" or better yet, "What are those fundamental "stylizing" characteristics that make something Art Deco?" Again you can give me just about any picture or architectural element/style and I can then change the lines and forms just so, such that a person looking at it would then go "Oh, thats Art Deco". I know it when I see it, but trying to define it is another matter lol. And then of course as with just about anything, there truly are no perfect lines that can be drawn for Artists and Architects love to borrow, and mix and match, and put their own unique twist on things, and styles evolve and change.
I get this question asked a lot at the Art Deco museum here...Is this radio Art Deco or 50's Mod? Sometimes an object, especially like radios or clocks in which the style changes a bit each year, will have elements of both. The grill and over all curvy stairstepped (waterfall) shape look quite deco, but then the thin stretched out V shaped element on the front and scrolly lettering may say 50's mod. Or that radio may have the same elements and the lettering may be Art Deco.
There are several buildings in our downtown built during the 50's. Some are very simple with practically no ornamentation, then there are a couple that are essentially stylistically the same in every respect, similar brickwork and coloring, simple window surrounds, plain boxy shape, etc..... except that here and there is a touch of Art Deco ornamentation, and we say they are Art Deco buildings.
One of the things I find interesting when looking at old magazines from the 30s is articles with titles like "What is this style called Modern?" And then they show you pictures of living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens with Art Deco furniture and items in them. To them Art Deco was the "popular and most common" modern design of its day. I even remember how one article mentioned what came before, in the 20's, as being the first clumsy and messy attempts at the modern style, that was still cluttered with ornamentation and such. It still hadn't evolved to be as "clean" and sleek as it was in the 30's. There again, you and I can find early, very sleek and clean lined stuff from even the 20s, but for the average person, what could be more commonly found in architecture and in every day items, was the "primitive modern design" having floraform, and or zig-zag elements, etc. vrs. the later items that were more streamlined. And of course there were the transitional pieces that had a bit of both, that can especially be found in say "waterfall style" bedroom furniture. Early on it had lots of ornamentation (sometimes purely art-deco or art deco with a mix of some other style like Italian, Gothic, Victorian, Country, etc. later more and more of the ornamentation fell away and the waterfall design was more simple. And then again, you and I can find very early pieces that were as simple and sleek, and "modern" as the later pieces.
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