Art Deco
Style in Art and Design of the Early 20th Century
Art Deco is not just a style; it is a manifesto of aristocracy, quoted against the backdrop of a crumbling world. Having grown as a response to the First World War, it took the courage to return luxury where it had been replaced by war and asceticism.
The year 1925 became the starting point: the international exhibition in Paris demonstrated a worldview, a thirst for abundance and bright forms. It was then that the world saw ambitious pavilions, metals and glass, like provocateurs on the theme of who is in charge here. France, buying up the sadness of devastation, regained its status as an artist of the world, not hesitating to remind everyone of its "friends," including the Soviet Union without the USA — such is the dark humor of world politics.
Not everyone desired luxury — modernists proclaimed a return to minimalism. But, oddly enough, the competition of ideas only strengthened the style, refusing perfectionism and excess.