The name, Art Deco, was coined in the 1960’s/1970’s revival of the original decorative arts movement of 1925 to the 1940’s.  The name came from the title of the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.

Art Deco was perhaps the last great international style, influencing everything from clothing, buildings, industrial design, and publishing to automobiles, airliners, ships, radios, movies, theatres, jewelry and personal items.

The style conveyed a sleek streamlined elegance in both luxury goods and mass produced products. Art Deco was characterized by expensive materials, both natural (like inlaid woods, shagreen, animal skins) and man made (Bakelite). Influences came from aerodynamics, from primitive artifacts, from the Aztecs, and ancient Egypt (Tutankamun’s tomb discovery), incorporating such popular images as animals (gazelles, panthers), foliage, nude figures and sun rays.

Some of the best known examples are architectural: skyscrapers like the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, and the 30 blocks of hotels and apartment buildings in South Beach, Miami.  Art Deco style spanned the globe – from the London Underground to Mumbai, India, and Shanghai, China. Napier, New Zealand, rebuilt after a 1931 earthquake, has one of the largest concentrations of Art Deco architecture in the world.

A few examples of the Art Deco style from ETC.’s collections

include:

- #S021. Bronze verdigris Art Deco gate.
- #S046. Pair of Art Deco brass gazelles.
- #S045. Deco/Art Moderne bronze panther stretching upward.