Cera Stribley Architects designed a series of eight, three storeyed townhouses in Melbourne in the Art Deco style architecture called Pine Ave.
Art Deco Beauty
“Sometimes we see that style and think ‘Great Gatsby.’
But last we checked, that’s one of the great novels of all time.”
(French and D’Andrade, The Type Project Book)
DRAMATIC, BOLD AND STYLISH typefaces in the Art Deco period mirrored the golden age of cinema. From the 1920s to the early 1940s, after World War One, this type and art style embraced elegance, ornamentation and stylization. Known initially as “le style moderne” or “Jazz Moderne,” the style received its current name in 1968. Art Deco originated in a time of intense aesthetic experimentation. Art movements such as the Bauhaus, Constructivism, Cubism, De Stijl, Futurism, Orphism, and Surrealism helped define the style’s inherent modernism.
Many Art Deco typefaces were based on simple shapes, such as triangles, circles and rectangles, but combined into elegant, futuristic forms. It was the machine age gone glamorous. The of chrome, glass, neon and metallics in architecture and product design carried over into the look of display type, appearing sleek and shiny in print and signage.
Art Deco marked the rise of display type — typefaces intended for large headings, signage, and advertising. Art Deco fonts like Broadway, Futura Display and Metropolis became iconic of the period. Note that the letterforms were stylized with angular, elongated lines, sharp corners, stepped forms and symmetrical embellishments. They were visually heavy, strong and yet, like the font Broadway, conveyed sophistication and style. Movie posters and theater marquees featured such typefaces.
Typography in the Art Deco period was ornamental, geometric and celebratory. It reflected the optimism, luxury and modernity of the interwar years, combining traditional craftsmanship with industrial precision. Art Deco was meant to dazzle — perfect for the jazz age, cinema, and the dawn of mass consumerism. (ChatGPT)
A renewed interest in Art Deco surfaced in the 1970s thanks to the release of the 1974 film, The Great Gatsby. In the 1980s, the style also influenced the Italian avant-gardist Memphis Group, which caused another resurgence. The Paradiso Ibiza Art Hotel in Spain (2018) along with Pine Avenue Housing in Melbourne (2018) are tributes to the Art Deco movement.[1]
The Paradiso Ibiza Hotel draws inspiration from two things — Miami Beach, identified as pastel colors that blend with urban art, and the style of the group of Italian architects of the 1970s, Archizoom. Each of the sixty rooms of the hotel features a different theme inspired by the works of famous artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring. The hotel features bold colors, such as a striking black and white lobby and bright pink and blue lounges in the pool area.
Cera Stribley Architects designed a series of eight, three storeyed townhouses in Melbourne in the Art Deco style architecture called Pine Ave. The building’s design is intended to combine the suburb’s beachside and art-deco architecture elements. The exterior of this Art Deco building features curving white brickwork and industrial metal cladding in a charcoal finish.
What about beauty in Art Deco? Did Art Deco reflect Christian ideals and God-centered beauty principles? One article from the New York Public Library gives suggestive context to this discussion when it states that “Art Deco design exemplified opulent consumption, crass commercialism, and the acceleration of contemporary life summed up in the Futurist credo ‘Speed is beauty.’”[2]
Art Deco was a reaction to the shattered utopian dreams from World War One. People went on a binge of sorts against regimentation and sacrifice with Art Deco. Art was now combined with the machine age with designs that incorporated chic elegance, eclectic historical and national imagery with the Machine Age into decorative effervescence. Beauty’s revelation of the presence of God is rebuffed in Art Deco.
Art Deco demands to be noticed. Its use of geometric forms gives a unified expression but rejects ancient artistic differences. It clearly crosses international boundaries and breaks through the borders of traditional art. It is “fitting” in the sense that it reflects the opulence and commercialism and looseness of the times, energizing it with the benefits of Machine Age advancements. Its purpose was to dazzle, and it did that with impunity.
Notes
1. Saumya Verma, “The Revival of Art Deco: Evolution, Characteristics, Building Examples,” published by Novatr, July 5, 2023 in https://www.novatr.com/blog/art-deco-revival/#4.
2. Article on Art Deco from New York Public Library at https://www.nypl.org/node/171023.