Visual Culture: Visual Language and Decadence, Art Deco

The Art Nouveau period ended with the first world war. There was an air of optimism, and people thought that death and destruction on a scale that large would never happen again. Art Deco began, it affected most visual arts including fine art, fashion, architecture and more. It was a visual language based on quick consumption and industrial and technological celebration.

There were many motifs in Art Deco; it incorporated expensive materials and aimed to express modernism. The visual language had various different forms and influences. There were concepts of mortality and living in the here and now.

Picasso's cubism work reflected the art style. Cubism was a new form of realism which presented subjects from more than one perspective.

3 Musicians - Picasso

Fernard Leger

Kazimir Malevich

Archaeology had an impact on the new art language; Aztec and Mayan civilizations influenced architecture and design.

Jan Eisenloeffel

Uxmal

Egypto-mania was an obsession with ancient Egyptian design and culture.

Tutankhamun Temple 1922

Cartier

Art Deco architecture was very modern and new.

Art Deco Flats - Paris

Hoover Building - London

Other aspects of design were more modern too. The motor car began to be mass produced.

Hupmobile Coupe

There were notions of speed and immediacy in the design of the cars. The body shape was streamlined and some cars had stripes painted on them to imply rapid movement.

Raymond Loewry

The most expressive Art Deco experiments were in architecture. Skyscrapers stared to appear, and their tremendous size and design was an expression of success and achievement.

Empire State Building

Chrysler Building

Miami Florida, Art Deco Quarters

Art and design took inspiration from architecture and also surrealist artists. Fashion changed and became more about practicality.

The flapper fashion