Art Deco Pictures

Art Deco Pictures

Poster art, graphic design, architecture and objets d’art were all influenced by and a product of this iconic style. From one world war to another, Art Deco was the very embodiment of the 1920s and 1930s.

Remember that our framed Art Deco pictures, like manifestations of the style itself, come in all shapes and sizes, so you can have your picture at the size you need, and framed in any way you want. Click on the image or name below to reveal posters, prints, illustrations, and much more.

Both a reaction to and an extension of Art Nouveau, Art Deco was an opulent, sophisticated and glamorous style, which emerged from the austerity and horror of the Great War and complemented the hedonistic excesses of the Roaring Twenties. At the time it was known as Style Moderne, Modernism, Art Moderne, Style Chanel and Jazz Style, but was enduringly christened Art Deco by Bevis Hillier in the late 1960s. This name came from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris to celebrate the new movements in, especially, French illustration and design.

The genesis of Art Deco was both ancient and modern. The ‘primitive’ arts of Africa, Egypt and Aztec Mexico combined with the new technology in building, transport and aerodynamics. Art Deco is not just pictures: the graphic arts we illustrate, but the principles of design apply to architecture, furniture, textiles, fashion and industrial and interior design. Bold and colourful use of sweeping curves, stepped forms, chevron patterns and the sunburst motif are typical of Art Deco pictures and design.

The most colourful expression of the style was in the graphic design influenced by Art Deco. Posters, advertising and magazine covers were particularly suitable for the striking Art Deco graphics, especially perhaps when illustrating and advertising other manifestations, such as fashion, motoring, railways, air and sea travel and music. Advertising and its media outlets mushroomed to feed the growth of consumerism and so the opportunities for Art Deco graphics increased apace.

By the time the Second World War and its austere aftermath put paid to Art Deco, the movement had run out of steam as mass production moved its perception to gaudy rather than stylish. However, it has proved enduringly attractive and adaptable and continually re-emerges in its own right and as a basis for modern design.

You can also get to our framed Art Deco pictures by this route:

Art Deco - fashion
Art Deco - illustration
Art Deco - airplanes, ships
Art Deco - magazine covers
Art Deco - motoring
Art Deco - music
Art Deco - railway posters
Art Deco - Leonetto Cappiello
Art Deco - food and drink
Art Deco - sport