Introduction
There are a number of references in 'Club Jaguar' to 'Art Deco'. In order to save you the trouble of searching around with 'Google', or some other 'search engine', this article is intended to give you a brief introduction to the artistic phenomena now known as 'Art Deco'.
The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and jewelry, as well as the visual arts such as painting, graphic arts and film.
The term "art deco" was first used widely in 1966, after an exhibition in Paris, 'Les Années 25' sub-titled Art Deco, celebrating the 1925 'Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes' that was the culmination of style moderne in Paris. At its best, Art Deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity. Before the 60s the style was usually referred to as Art Moderne
Art Deco's linear symmetry was a distinct departure from the flowing asymmetrical organic curves of its predecessor style Art Nouveau; it embraced influences from many different styles of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism and Futurism, and drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Aztec forms.
Although many design movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.
Architectural examples of Art Deco survive in many different locations worldwide, in countries as diverse as China (Shanghai), the UK, Latvia, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Poland, Austria, Germany, Russia, Romania, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Brazil, Colombia and the United States. In New York, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center are among the largest and best-known examples of the style.
Origins of 'Art Deco'
Some historians trace Deco's roots to the Universal Exposition of 1900.
After this show a group of artists established an informal collective known as 'La Société des artistes décorateurs' (Society of Decorator Artists) to promote French crafts.
Among them were Hector Guimard, Eugène Grasset, Raoul Lachenal, Paul Bellot, Maurice Dufrêne, and Emile Decoeur.
These artists are said to have influenced many of the principles of Art Deco.
The Art Deco era is often anecdotally dated from 1925 when the 'Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes' was organized to showcase new ideas in applied arts., although the style had been in full force in France for several years before that date.
Deco was heavily influenced by aspects of pre-modern art observable at the Musée du Louvre.
There was a popular interest in archaeology, due to excavations at Pompeii, Troy, the tomb of Tutankhamun etc.
Artists and designers integrated motifs from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Asia with Machine Age elements.
Deco was also influenced to some extent by the formal elements found in some examples of Cubism, Constructivism, Functionalism, Modernism, and Futurism.
In 1905, before the onset of Cubism, Eugène Grasset wrote and published 'Méthode de Composition Ornementale, Éléments Rectilignes' within which he systematically explored the decorative and ornamental aspects of geometric elements, forms, motifs and their variations, in contrast with, and as a departure from, the undulating Art Nouveau style of Hector Guimard, so popular in Paris a few years earlier.
Grasset stresses the principle that various simple geometric shapes like triangles and squares are the basis of all compositional arrangements.
Leading up to 1910 and culminating in 1912, the French designers André Mare and Louis Sue turned towards the quasi-mystical 'Golden ratio' (Golden Section), in accord with Pythagorean and Platonic traditions, giving their works a Classical sensibility.
Between 1910 and 1913, Paris saw the construction of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 15 avenue Montaigne, another sign of the radical aesthetic change experienced by the Parisian milieu of the time. The rigorous composition of its façade designed by Auguste Perret, is a major example of early Art Deco.
The building includes an exterior bas relief by Antoine Bourdelle, a dome by Maurice Denis, and a stage curtain design by Ker-Xavier Roussel.
The artists of the Section d'Or exhibited (in 1912) works considerably more accessible to the general public than the analytical cubism of Picasso and Braque.
The Cubist vocabulary was poised to attract fashion designers, furniture and interior designers.
These revolutionary changes occurring at the outset of the 20th century are summarized in the 1912 writings of André Vera.
'Le Nouveau style', published in the journal 'L'Art décoratif' expressed the rejection of Art Nouveau forms (asymmetric, polychrome and picturesque), and called for 'simplicité volontaire, symétrie manifeste, l'ordre et l'harmonie'; themes that would eventually become ubiquitous within the context of Art Deco.
Elements of 'Art Deco'
Deco emphasizes geometric forms: spheres, polygons, rectangles, trapezoids, zigzags, chevrons, and sunburst motifs.
Elements are often arranged in symmetrical patterns.
Modern materials such as aluminium stainless steel, Bakelite, chrome, and plastics are frequently used.
Stained glass, inlays, and lacquer are also common.
Colors tend to be vivid and high-contrast.
'Art Moderne' and 'Art Deco'
This was a developed style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s.
Its architectural style emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements.
As the Great Depression of the 1930s progressed, Americans saw a new aspect of Art Deco - streamlining, - a concept first conceived by industrial designers who stripped Art Deco design of its ornament in favour of the aerodynamic pure-line concept of motion and speed developed from scientific thinking.
Cylindrical forms and long horizontal windowing also may be influenced by constructivism.
As a result an array of designers quickly ultra-modernized and streamlined the designs of everyday objects.
Manufacturers of clocks, radios, telephones, cars, furniture, and many other household appliances embraced the concept.
The style was the first to incorporate electric light into architectural structure.
In the first-class dining room of the SS Normandie, fitted out 1933–35, twelve tall pillars of Lalique glass, and 38 columns lit from within illuminated the room.
SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built. Her novel design and lavish interiors led many to consider her the greatest of ocean liners. The luxurious interiors were designed in Art Déco and Moderne style. The first-class dining hall was the largest room afloat. Passengers entered through 20-foot (6.1 m) tall doors adorned with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. The room could seat 700 at 157 tables, with Normandie serving as a floating promotion for the most sophisticated French cuisine of the period. As no natural light could enter it was illuminated by 12 tall pillars of Lalique glass flanked by 38 matching columns along the walls. These, with chandeliers hung at each end of the room, earned the Normandie the nickname "Ship of Light.
The Strand Palace Hotel foyer (London - 1930), was one of the first uses of internally lit architectural glass.
The 'Streamline Moderne' was both a reaction to Art Deco and a reflection of austere economic times.
Sharp angles were replaced with simple, aerodynamic curves.
Exotic woods and stone were replaced with cement and glass.
'Art Deco' and 'Streamline Moderne' were not necessarily opposites.
'Moderne' buildings with a few Deco elements were not uncommon, but the prime movers behind streamline design (Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Gilbert Rohde, Norman Bel Geddes) all disliked certain aspects of Art Deco, seeing such aspects as 'effete' and 'falsely modern'.
Raymond Loewy (November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was an industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by Time magazine and featured on its cover of on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States. Among his designs were the Shell, Exxon, TWA and the former BP logos, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 and S-1 locomotives, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery.
Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 - December 5, 1960) was an American industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. Regarded as a classicist and a traditionalist despite a later shift to modern tastes, Teague is recognized as a critical figure in the spread of mid-century modernism in America. He is widely known for his exhibition designs during the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, such as the Ford Building, and his iconic product and package designs, from Eastman Kodak's Bantam Special to the steel-legged Steinway piano.
Gilbert Rohde (1894–1944), whose career as a furniture and industrial designer helped to define American modernism during its first phase from the late 1920s to World War II, is best known today for inaugurating modern design at Herman Miller Inc.
Norman Melancton Bel Geddes (April 27, 1893 – May 8, 1958) was an American theatrical and industrial designer who focused on aerodynamics. Bel Geddes opened an industrial-design studio in 1927, and designed a wide range of commercial products, from cocktail shakers to commemorative medallions to radio cabinets. His designs extended to unrealized futuristic concepts: a teardrop-shaped automobile, and an Art Deco House of Tomorrow. In 1929, he designed "Airliner Number 4," a 9-deck amphibian airliner that incorporated areas for deck-games, an orchestra, a gymnasium, a solarium, and two airplane hangars. His book, 'Horizons' (1932) had a significant impact: "By popularizing streamlining when only a few engineers were considering its functional use, he made possible the design style of the thirties." Bel Geddes designed the General Motors Pavilion, known as Futurama, for the 1939 New York World's Fair.
ELEMENTS of 'MODERNE'
Horizontal orientation, rounded edges, corner windows, glass brick walls, porthole windows, chrome hardware, smooth exterior wall surfaces, usually stucco (smooth plaster finish), flat roof with coping, horizontal grooves or lines in walls.
Subdued colors: base colors were typically light earth tones, off-whites, or beiges; and trim colours were typically dark colors (or bright metals) to contrast from the light base
The 'Normandie Hotel', which opened during 1942, is built in the stylized shape of the ocean liner 'SS Normandie', and it includes the ship's original sign.
The Normandie Hotel is a hotel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The hotel originally opened on October 10, 1942. Its design was inspired by the ocean liner SS Normandie. It features the same art deco design as the ship that inspired it, and the hotel's roof sign is one of the two signs that adorned the top deck of the Normandie but were removed from it during an early refitting. It is a fine example of what came to be known as the 'Moderne' architecture style. Designed by architect Raúl Reichard (1908–1996), the hotel began construction in 1938. The hotel's exterior was designed to resemble a luxury liner, elongated and curved in front, with portal-shape windows and lights. Inside, the hotel features 'art deco' design, complete with Roman, Egyptian, and French details, high ceilings, and corridors looking down into a central sky-lighted atrium. Designers and artists from the Dominican Republic, France, Spain, and Puerto Rico all contributed to the hotel's overall construction.
The 'Sterling Streamliner Diners' were diners designed like streamlined trains.
Inspired by the streamlined trains, and especially the Burlington Zephyr, Roland Stickney designed a diner in the shape of a streamlined train called the Sterling Streamliner in 1939. Built by the J.B. Judkins coach company, who had built custom car bodies, the Sterling and other diner production ceased in 1942 at the beginning on American involvement in World War II. Two Sterling Streamliners remain in operation: the Salem Diner at its original location in Salem, Massachusetts and the Modern Diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Although 'Moderne' houses are less common than 'Moderne' commercial buildings, residences do exist.
The 'Lydecker House' in Los Angeles, built by Howard Lydecker, is an example of 'Moderne' design in residential architecture.
The Lydecker Hilltop House is an 'art deco' house and film location in Los Angeles, California designed by Howard and Theodore Lydecker. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles on May 14, 2008.
In tract development, elements of the style were frequently used as a variation in postwar row housing in San Francisco's Sunset District.
Van Cleef & Arpels - Diamond, Emerald and Onyx Bracelet
Van Cleef & Arpels is a French jewellery, watch, and perfume company that was founded in 1896 by Salomon Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef. They opened their first boutique in 1906 at 22 place Vendôme, Paris. Van Cleef & Arpels are renowned for their expertise in precious stones and have won particular acclaim for a groundbreaking gem-setting procedure known as the Mystery Setting.
In 1896, Esther Arpels, the daughter of Salomon Arpels, a dealer in precious stones, married Alfred Van Cleef, whose family were sheet merchants living in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. That same year, Alfred Van Cleef and Salomon Arpels had already established a company with the aim of “founding and running a jewellery business”. In 1906, they registered the “Van Cleef & Arpels” trademark and opened a boutique at 22 place Vendôme. They were soon joined by Esther’s brothers, Salomon, Jules and Louis Arpels. Alfred Van Cleef died in 1938, leaving his daughter, Renée Rachel Puissant, behind him. From 1909 to 1939, Van Cleef & Arpels prospered and opened boutiques in holiday resorts such as Deauville, Le Touquet, Nice and Monte-Carlo.
Jean Despre - Art Deco Brooch
Jean Fouquet - Art Deco Bracelet
Cartier - Art Deco Diamond and Emerald Jabot Pin
Cartier S.A., commonly known as "Cartier", is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" (best illustrated by the Panthère brooch of the 1940s created for Wallis Simpson), the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder Singh the Maharaja of Patiala and in 1904 the first practical wristwatch, the "Santos." Cartier SA is headquartered in Paris.
The company has a long and distinguished history of serving royalty, as well as stars and celebrities.
Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier when he took over the workshop of his master. In 1874, his son Alfred Cartier took over the administration of the company, but it was Alfred's sons Louis, Pierre and Jacques, who were responsible for establishing the worldwide brand name of Cartier.
Louis retained responsibility for the Paris branch, moving to the Rue de la Paix, in 1899. He was responsible for some of the company's most celebrated designs, like the mystery clocks (a type of clock with a transparent dial and so named because their works are hidden), fashionable wristwatches and exotic orientalist Art Deco designs, including the colorful "Tutti Frutti" jewels.
Pierre Cartier established the New York City branch in 1909, moving in 1917 to the current location of 653 Fifth Avenue, the Neo-Renaissance mansion of Morton Freeman Plant (son of railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant) and designed by architect C.P.H. Gilbert.
Among the Cartier team was Charles Jacqueau, who joined Louis Cartier in 1909 for his entire life, and Jeanne Toussaint, who was Director of Fine Jewelry from 1933 on.
Cartier - Mackay Emerald and Diamond Necklace
Rolex Watch - Gentleman's Wrist Watch - 9 carat Gold - c 1930
Rolex SA is a Swiss manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches.
In 1905 Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis founded "Wilsdorf and Davis" in London.[8] Their main business at the time was importing Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to England and placing them in quality watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked "W&D" inside the caseback.
In 1908 Wilsdorf registered the trademark "Rolex" and opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The company name "Rolex" was registered on 15 November 1915. The word was made up, but its origin is obscure. Wilsdorf was said to want his watch brand's name to be easily pronounceable in any language. He also thought that the name "Rolex" was onomatopoeic, sounding like a watch being wound. It was also short enough to fit on the face of a watch. One story, never confirmed by Wilsdorf, is that the name came from the French phrase horlogerie exquise, meaning "exquisite clockwork".
In 1914 Kew Observatory awarded a Rolex watch a Class A precision certificate, a distinction which was normally awarded exclusively to marine chronometers.
In 1919 Wilsdorf moved the company to Geneva, Switzerland where it was established as the Rolex Watch Company. Its name was later changed to Montres Rolex, SA and finally Rolex, SA.
Upon the death of his wife in 1944, Wilsdorf established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation in which he left all of his Rolex shares, making sure that some of the company's income would go to charity. The company is still owned by a private trust and shares are not traded on any stock exchange.
'Perpetua Typeface'
Eric Gill
Perpetua is a typeface that was designed by English sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker Eric Gill (1882–1940).
Though not designed in the historical period of transitional type (the hallmark of transitional type was John Baskerville's type designed in the last half of the 18th century), Perpetua can be classified with transitional typefaces because of characteristics such as high stroke contrast and bracketed serifs. Along with these characteristics, Perpetua bears the distinct personality of Eric Gill's letterforms.
Gill began work on Perpetua in 1925 at the request of Stanley Morison, typographical advisor to Monotype. Morison sought Gill's talent to design a new typeface for the foundry. By 1929, Perpetua Roman was issued as Monotype Series 239.
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Gray Castle Yearbook - San Diego High School 1930
'Ariel Between Wisdom and Gaiety'
BBC Broadcasting House, 1932.
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Gill was born in 1882 in Brighton, Sussex (now East Sussex) and in 1897 the family moved to Chichester. Eric studied at Chichester Technical and Art School, and in 1900 moved to London to train as an architect with the practice of W.D. Caroe, specialists in ecclesiastical architecture. Frustrated with his training, he took evening classes in stone masonry at Westminster Technical Institute and in calligraphy at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where Edward Johnston, creator of the London Underground typeface, became a strong influence. In 1903 he gave up his architectural training to become a calligrapher, letter-cutter and monumental mason. In 1904 he married Ethel Hester Moore (1878–1961), and in 1907 he moved with his family to "Sopers", a house in the village of Ditchling in Sussex, which would later become the centre of an artists' community inspired by Gill. There he started producing sculpture – his first public success was Mother and Child (1912). In 1913 he moved to Hopkin's Crank at Ditchling Common, two miles north of the village. In 1914 he produced sculptures for the stations of the cross in Westminster Cathedral. In the same year he met the typographer Stanley Morison. In 1924 he moved to Capel-y-ffin in Wales, where he set up a new workshop, to be followed by Jones and other disciples. In 1925 he designed the Perpetua typeface, with the uppercase based upon monumental Roman inscriptions, for Morison, who was working for the Monotype Corporation. An in-situ example of Gill's design and personal cutting of his Perpetua typeface can be found in the nave of Poling church in West Sussex, on a wall plaque commemorating the life of Sir Harry Johnston. The Perpetua design was followed by the Gill Sans typeface in 1927–30, based on the sans serif lettering originally designed for the London Underground. (Gill had collaborated with Edward Johnston in the early design of the Underground typeface, but dropped out of the project before it was completed.) In the period 1930-31 Gill designed the typeface Joanna which he used to hand-set his book, An Essay on Typography. In 1928 he moved to Pigotts near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, where he set up a printing press and lettering workshop. He took on a number of apprentices, including David Kindersley, who in turn became a successful sculptor and engraver, and John Skelton (1923–1999), his nephew, and also noted as an important letterer and sculptor. In 1928/9, Gill carved three of eight relief sculptures on the theme of winds for Charles Holden's headquarters for the London Electric Railway (now Transport for London) at 55 Broadway, St James's. In 1932 Gill produced a group of sculptures, Prospero and Ariel, and others for the BBC's Broadcasting House in London. In 1937, he designed the background of the first George VI definitive stamp series for the Post Office, and in 1938 produced The Creation of Adam, three bas-reliefs in stone for the Palace of Nations, the League of Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland. During this period he was made a Royal Designer for Industry, the highest British award for designers, by the Royal Society of Arts and became a founder-member of the newly established Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry. Gill died of lung cancer in Harefield Hospital, Uxbridge, Middlesex in 1940. He was buried in Speen churchyard in the Chilterns, near Princes Risborough, the village where his last artistic community had practised. His papers and library are archived at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA.
Hollywood Bowl Auditorium
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances. It has a seating capacity of 17,376.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its band shell, a distinctive set of concentric arches that graced the site from 1929 through 2003,
In 1929 Allied Architects built the shell that stood until 2003, using a transite skin over a metal frame.
Its clean lines and white, almost-semicircular arches were copied for music shells elsewhere. The appearance underwent other, purely visual, changes as well, including the addition of a broad outer arch (forming a proscenium) where it had once had only a narrow rim and the reflecting pool in front of the stage that lasted from 1953 till 1972. Sculptor George Stanley designed the Muse Fountain. He had previously done The Oscar statuette.
Nebraska State Capitol
In 1922 Bertram G. Goodhue was selected as the winner of the competition to design the State capitol building
His design used the Classical principles of austerity, abstract geometrical form, and hierarchical arrangements of parts, but did not use columns, pediment, or dome, and is a superb example of America Art Deco architecture.
The capitol is often considered the first major expression of what has been termed Goodhue's "freely interpreted classical style."
The cross-axial plan is similar to a traditional Catholic church or cathedral.
The building's four wings radiate from a central domed rotunda, architecturally separating the parts of government.
The unarticulated windows and flat surfaces anticipate modern skyscrapers. It is also the first U.S. state capitol with usable tower space.
The $9,800,449.07 construction costs were secured by a special capitol levy tax. The building was completed during 10 years with supervision by William Lefevre Younkin.
Louisiana State Capitol
In 1930 Huey Long, then Governor of Louisana, contracted New Orleans architectural firm Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth to design the building, and expressed interest in a tower.
They took Bertram Goodhue's Art deco style Nebraska State Capitol Building as their model, which was still under construction at the time.
The building includes integrated sculpture by Ulric Ellerhusen, Lee Lawrie, Adolph Alexander Weinman, Corrado Parducci and Lorado Taft, among others, and also contains murals by Jules Guerin.
The building was completed in March 1932 (dedicated May 16, 1932) after 14 months at a cost of $5 million
Ely Jacques Kahn's & Albert Buchman - Gilded Bronze Grill
Ely Jacques Kahn's partnership with Albert Buchman lasted from 1917 until 1930.
In this period his work alternated Beaux-Arts with cubism, modernism, and art deco, of which examples are 2 Park Avenue (1927), using architectural terracotta in jazzy facets and primary colors, the Film Center Building in Hell's Kitchen (1928-29) and the Squibb Building (1930), which Kahn considered among his best work.
In what has become an iconic photograph, Kahn masqueraded as his own Squibb Building with other architects dressed as buildings for the Beaux Arts Ball of 1931.
The building moved decisively away from the decorative modernity of the Art Deco 20s.
Wirt Rowland - Guardian Building
Rowland was born and raised in Clinton, Michigan. In 1901, he landed a job as an office boy for the Detroit firm of Rogers and MacFarlane, quickly moving on to the prestigious George D. Mason firm. In 1909, he joined the office of Albert Kahn, who had also apprenticed under Mason. In 1910, with the encouragement of both Mason and Kahn, Rowland attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, for a year.
In 1911, in the office of Kahn, he and Ernest Wilby are said have been primarily responsible for the Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan.
Through 1915 Rowland worked for the local firm of Malcomson & Higginbotham.
He then returned to Kahn's office, contributing to the firm's classic projects, namely the Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, the Detroit News Building, the First National Bank Building(1922), and the General Motors Building (1922).
Rowland's career peaked as Head Designer (1922–1930) of Smith Hinchman & Grylls (SmithGroup).
There, he designed a dozen major structures in downtown Detroit; among these, are a number of the city's most accomplished and evocative buildings.
For the Guardian Building, he had assembled a multitude of artisans, mosaicists, sculptors, painters, and tile manufacturers including Corrado Parducci, muralist Ezra Winter, and tile from the Rookwood and Pewabic pottery companies.
The Guardian Building opened in 1930.
With the onset of the Great Depression, Rowland was laid off from Smith Hinchman & Grylls so formed his own office where his work decreased to a small number of churches, schools, and construction projects.
Late in life, he returned to a purer, Gothic idiom for his last few projects, notably preliminary sketches for the Kirk in the Hills. The church was built after the war to a design by George D. Mason & Co., Rowland having died in 1946.
He was a member of the Chandler Park Partnership, a group of nineteen architects and engineers that designed Parkside housing project (1935–38) in Detroit
During World War II, the Guardian Building would serve as headquarters for war time production when Detroit was called, the Arsenal of Democracy.
The Trylon and Perisphere
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres (4.92 km2) of Fountain Lake , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904.
Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons.
The NYWF of 1939–1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at "the world of tomorrow". According to the official New York World's Fair pamphlet,
'The eyes of the Fair are on the future — not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting a new and clearer view of today in preparation for tomorrow; a view of the forces and ideas that prevail as well as the machines. To its visitors the Fair will say: "Here are the materials, ideas, and forces at work in our world. These are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way. Familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future.'
Chrysler Expo Building - 1939 World Fair
Gillette Factory - Great West Road - Hounslow
Sir Banister Fletcher
King Camp Gillette (January 5, 1855 – July 9, 1932) was an American businessman, popularly known as the inventor of the safety razor, although several models were in existence prior to Gillette's design. Gillette's innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel.
Gillette is widely credited with inventing the so-called razor and blades business model, where razors are sold cheaply to increase the market for blades, but in fact he did not adopt this model until his competitors did.
The 'Gillette Building' is a grade II listed Art Deco style office and works development, designed by Sir Banister Fletcher, incorporating a high brick tower surmounted by a four-faced neon-illuminated clock. As this tall structure sits on high ground it represents a prominent local landmark and can be seen from afar, day and night. From the early 1930s until the early 21st century this building was the European headquarters of the Gillette Company, of Boston Massachusetts.
Gillette Factory - Great West Road - Hounslow
Sir Banister Fletcher
Sir Banister Flight Fletcher (15 February 1866, London – 17 August 1953, London) was an English architect and architectural historian, as was his father, also named Banister Fletcher.
With his father, he co-authored the first edition of A History of Architecture - A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. London: Athlone Press, University of London.
He was architect of the Gillette factory on the Great West Road, in Brentford, Middlesex, of the Great Hall at King's College School, and of Abbess Grange, Leckford, Hampshire.
He was elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1929 (until 1931).
Firestone Gates - Great West Road - Hounslow
The Firestone Tyre Company. Built 1928, designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners. It was the first overseas factory built by the Firestone company of America. The building frontage was demolished during a public holiday in August 1980 shortly before a preservation order was due to be served on it to retain the Art Deco architecture. The Art Deco gatehouse was demolished in 2004 to make way for increased parking facilities. The remaining gates, railings, and piers are in a Jazz Modern style and are Grade II listed.
Coty's Cosmetics Factory - Great West Road - Hounslow
Coty Cosmetics factory, No. 941, designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners opened in 1932
Ruhlmann - Desk
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (28 August 1879 – 15 November 1933), his first names often seen reversed as Jacques-Émile, was a renowned French designer of furniture and interiors, epitomising for many the glamour of the French Art Deco style of the 1920s. He was born in Paris to Alsatian parents who were in the general decorating business. When his father died in 1907 he took over the family firm. In 1919 Ruhlmann founded, with Pierre Laurent, the company Ruhlmann et Laurent, specializing in interior design and producing luxury home goods that included furniture, wallpaper and lighting. By this time, Ruhlmann was making formal elegant furniture using precious and exotic woods in combination with ivory fittings, giving them a classic, timeless appeal. Ruhlmann's legacy as a designer was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004. In 2009, he was called the "Art Deco's greatest artist" by the New York Times.
Ruhlmann - Chaise Longue
Ruhlmann - Table
Norman Bel Geddes - Mac Cobb Chairs
Norman Melancton Bel Geddes (April 27, 1893 – May 9, 1958) was an American theatrical and industrial designer who focused on aerodynamics.Bel Geddes was born Norman Melancton Geddes in Adrian, Michigan, and raised in New Philadelphia, Ohio.
He began his career with set designs for Aline Barnsdall's Los Angeles Little Theater in the 1916-1917 season, then in 1918 as the scene designer for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
He designed and directed various theatrical works, from Arabesque and The Five O'Clock Girl on Broadway to an ice show entitled It Happened on Ice produced by Sonja Henie.
He designed costumes for Max Reinhardt, and created the sets for the New York premiere production of Sidney Kingsley's Dead End (1935).
Bel Geddes opened an industrial-design studio in 1927, and designed a wide range of commercial products, from cocktail shakers to commemorative medallions to radio cabinets. His designs extended to unrealized futuristic concepts: a teardrop-shaped automobile, and an Art Deco House of Tomorrow. In 1929, he designed "Airliner Number 4," a 9-deck amphibian airliner that incorporated areas for deck-games, an orchestra, a gymnasium, a solarium, and two airplane hangars. Bel Geddes's book Horizons (1932) had a significant impact: "By popularizing streamlining when only a few engineers were considering its functional use, he made possible the design style of the thirties." Bel Geddes designed the General Motors Pavilion, known as Futurama, for the 1939 New York World's Fair. His autobiography, Miracle in the Evening, was published posthumously in 1960.
Norman Bel Geddes - Dressing Table
T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings - Chair and Stool
T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1905-1976) was a British born architect and furniture designer, who studied architecture at London University. He afterwards worked briefly as a naval architect, designing ocean liner interiors, and then as art director for a motion picture studio. In 1926, he became a salesman for an antiques dealer who specialized in Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture. In the late 1930s and 40s, he was the most important decorator in America. He opened a shop on Madison Ave in 1936 and proceeded to design houses for people like Doris Duke, Alfred A. Knopf and Thelma Chrysler Foy. From 1943-56, he worked as a designer for the Widdicomb furniture company in Grand Rapids. Then in 1960, he net Greek cabinetmakers Susan and Eleftherios Saridis. Together they created the Klismos line of furniture, which is still in production.
T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings - Console Table
Mariner's Bowl
Sidney Biehler Waugh (1904 - 1963)
Bronze and Alabaster - Chandelier - French - c 1930
Lalique Vlock - 'Quatre Moinaux Japon'
Rene Lalique - Gaillon Wall Sconces, French - 1927
Perzel Sconce - 1935
General Electric Bakerlite Radio
By 1890, Thomas Edison had brought together several of his business interests under one corporation to form Edison General Electric. At about the same time, Thomson-Houston Electric Company, under the leadership of C harles A. Coffin, gained access to a number of key patents through the acquisition of a number of competitors.
Subsequently, General Electric was formed by the 1892 merger of Edison General Electric of Schenectady, New York and Thomson-Houston Electric Company of Lynn, Massachusetts, and both plants remain in operation under the GE banner to this day. The company was incorporated in New York, with the Schenectady plant as headquarters for many years thereafter.
GE has the fourth most recognized brand in the world, worth almost $48 billion.
Walter Dorwin Teague - Nocturne Radio
Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 - December 5, 1960) was an American architect, designer and one of the most prolific American industrial designers in terms of volume of completed work.
Teague's name and vision lives on through the legacy of his company.
Walter Dorwin Teague - Desk lamp
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All text - © Copyright Peter Crawford 2021
All Images - © Copyright Vittorio Carvelli 2021
Graphic Design - © Copyright Zac Sawyer 2021