Art Deco as a complete architectural style
Decorative art, which originated in France at the beginning of the 20th century, received the sonorous name Art Deco. It became an iconic style for the upper classes, a sign of prosperity and good taste. Art Deco gained such recognition due to the skillful and harmonious combination of classical art elements with modernism trends, primitive and ethnic motifs in interior design. It conveys a special mood and lifestyle, and the year of birth is considered to be 1925.
Art Deco is considered the first of the styles of the 20th century and at the same time the last of all artistic styles known in the world. It harmoniously interweaves modernity and neoclassicism, sophistication, as well as elegance and monumentality. He managed to combine straight lines, classicism and symmetry. Art Deco showed the world new characters, combining completely incompatible things: the elegance of the beauty of the world and the obscene luxury of the bourgeois layer of society.
This style is deliberately expensive. Unlike the austere and functional architecture of his contemporary, the avant-garde, Deco did not build a new and fair world of the future. It made it possible to enjoy life here and now. A certain snobbish attitude towards deco among some art critics in the West is due to the fact that this style flourished in America and proved that somehow the New World could surpass the "old" Europe. Cocktails, jazz and art deco brought a sense of joie de vivre to London, Paris and Milan.
Art Deco is characterized by:
- Combination of contrasting chromatic planes, brightness of colors. Characteristics: black, gold, turquoise, silver.
- Bold use of stepped shapes and sweeping curves (as opposed to the natural curves of Art Nouveau).
- Use of checkers and chevrons. Ziggurats, fountains, sunray motifs
- Facade sculptures and bas-reliefs.
- Rich ornaments, geometric, floral motifs
- Aluminum, stainless steel, lacquer, bakelite, chrome and inlays
- Massive metal constructions. Huge round and square balusters and I-beam columns began to be used in building construction.
- Rectangular, plain windows with large glass surfaces. Often decorated with decorative lattices, richly decorated figures of animals and plant motifs, patterns.
- Simple smooth, ornate metal or wooden doors, often with decorative grilles.