Art Deco needs to make a comeback

[daqq]

Hi,

For a project I've been looking into various art styles and I found out that I love Art Deco stuff! It's really aesthetically pleasing, elegant, not gaudy as far as I'm concerned and, well, it works for me.

What's more - it's actually practical and applicable onto today's devices - Steampunk is all well and good, but it's kinda artificial and not really usable in most designs for actual devices. Art Deco on the other hand looks great and I could easily imagine it working with any number of current day devices or furniture without affecting functionality.

And some of the buildings and pieces of furniture done in the style are just beautiful.

Obviously, I'm not saying that everything done it that style is awesome, but a lot of it is. edit: As with all, there's a way to over do it, to make it gaudy or simply bad, but when done properly it seems really nice.

So, if you do your own graphics, designs and what not and are looking for inspiration, search for art deco imagery, designs, posters and so on. You may find it to your liking. I'm going to play around with it.

David

[AlbertL]

I agree - I'm a huge fan of that style, especially in architecture.  In the US, the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings is in New York City.  There's a great book on the topic, "Skyscraper Style: Art Deco New York" by Cervin Robinson and Rosemarie Haag Bletter (1975, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-501873-7).   

In terms of electronic equipment, Art Deco styling would mostly be found in consumer products like radios made during the height of its popularity (1920s-30s).

[TimNJ]

I really like art deco (architecture), though contrary to your point, do find it a bit gaudy...Well, maybe it's not quite gaudy, but it does strike me as almost "extraterrestrial" in a way. Not sure if anyone else ever has this feeling, but often when I see a building (or object) from a time before I was born, I  imagine what it must have been like when it was new, when the world was so much different than it is now. Gives me the chills sometimes. (Maybe I need to chill?) But anyway, art deco has that effect on me...For someone born in the 1990's (me), the 1920's and 1930's is an almost inconceivable time. It feels distinctly "old", yet there are so many structures that still exist with us today, even though life has changed so much since then.

To my point about it feeling "gaudy", I just think that the buildings look "heavy"...almost too sturdy? (Maybe that's why there are so many still around today.)  On the other hand, I think the bold usage of lines and geometric structures makes it very interesting, definitely way cooler than the ultra minimalist styling of the millions of "luxury" apartments popping up these days. (Luxury in quotes because these places are made almost totally out of particle board and PVC.

Thanks for topic. I enjoyed thinking about this...It may have inspired me to start a photo project to document some art deco architecture in my area.

Attached: Photo of Boston skyline with some art deco elements and photo of WWII memorial in Washington DC, built in 2003, but with seemingly lots of art deco influence

[james_s]

I'm a big fan of that too, especially the light fixtures. I also love 1950s-60s lighting, especially the space age stuff. I came across this old catalog from 1958 the other day, I'd love to outfit my whole house with stuff from there. I find most modern styling to be absolutely bland and boring, everything looks so cheap. A lot of lighting is especially bad, cheap awful looking pucks and recessed LEDs, in most cases I prefer the fixture itself to be a decorative item, not just a hidden light source. I really like large glass fixtures with low surface brightness.

https://archive.org/details/ThomasIndustiresMoeLighitng/mode/2up

[Kerlin]

Agree very muchly.
Those 30s and 40s valve radios look great.
But don't have any ideas, maybe some artistic poster could show some design images of Art Deco electronics.
Lets say an Art Deco flash memory stick to start with would be interesting.

[daqq]

TimNJ: Thanks for the photos!

Well, maybe it's not quite gaudy, but it does strike me as almost "extraterrestrial" in a way. Not sure if anyone else ever has this feeling, but often when I see a building (or object) from a time before I was born, I  imagine what it must have been like when it was new, when the world was so much different than it is now.

Interesting way to feel - the city I live in, work in and grew up in - Bratislava - has a mixture of architectures - from really historical stuff all the way up to the current vogue, which seem to include glass cubes and people boxes.

And we have a lot of stuff done in brutalist architecture style ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture ). Some of these can actually be pretty and impressive, but for the most part they are not, just utilitarian ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel%C3%A1k ).

Included is a photo from my window here - the more historic part of the city.

AlbertL, Kerlin:

In terms of electronic equipment, Art Deco styling would mostly be found in consumer products like radios made during the height of its popularity (1920s-30s).

Funnily enough, some people applied the concepts onto modern items and I like what I see:
https://www.themarysue.com/aerodyne-art-deco-pc-case-mod/
https://www.core77.com/posts/25421/jeffrey-stephensons-architectural-art-deco-computer-tower-25421



Anyway, the availability of PCBs with black solder masks, white silkscreen and gold finish is just begging for that kind of application, isn't it? 

[daqq]

I find most modern styling to be absolutely bland and boring, everything looks so cheap.

I have to agree for the most part. While I do not like some types of over-arted lighting - exquisitely detailed gilded cherubs reverently holding a ligthbulb kind - I do like it when a light source is more than just that. And some of the old stuff - 1920 to 1960 - fits that bill without going over the top. Not saying that there aren't any good designs today, but it seems that the whole trend is moving towards people boxes and utility boxes for people. There's minimalist and there's too minimalist.

[james_s]

I have to agree for the most part. While I do not like some types of over-arted lighting - exquisitely detailed gilded cherubs reverently holding a ligthbulb kind - I do like it when a light source is more than just that. And some of the old stuff - 1920 to 1960 - fits that bill without going over the top. Not saying that there aren't any good designs today, but it seems that the whole trend is moving towards people boxes and utility boxes for people. There's minimalist and there's too minimalist.

Well the gilded cherubs holding a light thing certainly wouldn't fit in my house but it has its place, some of the stuff on the luxury ocean liners like the Titanic looks pretty cool, but it wouldn't look good just anywhere. The light fixtures I like the best are from the 1930s up through the 1970s.

[TimNJ]

I had a fleeting thought, around a week ago, about something I wanted to add to this thread. It escaped me shortly thereafter. I remembered today. I usually don't like urban explorers on Youtube because they tend to be disrespectful and uninformed about the places they are exploring. These guys I find quite good though:

I found this tour of a 1920s-built power plant in Philly interesting. Ornately designed, Built Tough™, and seemingly "over-the-top" for something so out of the public eye. Do I think it would be a good use of public money these days? Probably not, but still interesting to see how the styling cues of the time influenced industrial buildings.

Start at 24:50 for a quick synopsis.

[daqq]

So, I've started watching Arcane - Netflix TV series, and the art style is heavily inspired by Art Deco. And it works great! The story is decent so far as well. It's nice to see the style being applied to new stuff.

Included are a few screenshots.

[RoGeorge]

Then you may like to play Bioshock (the game series).

Random video from a Bioshock game:




I like Art Deco, too, but only in games or movies, not in real life.  I mean, if it were to choose between living in an Art Deco house vs living in a Gaudi house, I would choose the former.  For some reason, Art Deco seems to me cold, artificial and dark (dark in a dystopian way).  Still feels cold even when it's sunny.

Gaudi style feels to me exactly the opposite: warm, organic and filled with the beauty and the joy of live.

I have no idea why so, and no formal training in art or architecture.  My best guess so far is the Art Deco is (to me) associated with some sort of dystopian/cold feeling mostly because of the movies I've seen it used in, otherwise I would have probably didn't notice that.

OTOH, when I first saw Gaudi style, it was a total jaw drop and it felt like beauty and joy, a feeling impossible to miss.  Gaudi style was instant love, no idea why.

[TimFox]

Another interesting style from just before Art Deco is "Art Nouveau".
In 2001, the city of Paris gave Chicago a replica of a classic Paris Metro entrance (link below).
The suburban service in Chicago is called "Metra", hence the label over the gate.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FVan_Buren_Street_station&psig=AOvVaw1CDormJKoRn8l2xozN8PyF&ust=1640277317400000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCJDVnKjr9_QCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ