Originating in early twentieth-century France, Art Deco is a pastiche of artistic styles, influenced by Cubism and Futurism, Egyptology and the Orient, Ballet Russes and the Bauhaus. Alistair Duncan's exhaustive work surveys one of the most exhilarating periods of decorative art, illuminating the cu[...]

The Art Deco movement - with its emphasis on up-to-date individuality combined with good taste, fine materials and exquisite workmanship - became all the rage in France. Other countries produced their own versions of the style, but in furniture especially, the French predominated: the world had not [...]

Posters by their very nature are ephemeral: crookedly plastered on a roadside billboard, tacked to the back of a tabac, they lasted a few weeks until advertisers issued another imaginative argument for soap or an ocean voyage. While few contemporary observers understood the richness of their design [...]

Posters of the Art Deco period, which once graced billboards and walls to advertise every variety of product, service, entertainment, or political cause, are today prized for the richness of their design and ingenuity; they offer inspiration for graphic designers and are highly collectible. Now, Wil[...]