Art Deco

Traditionally the Art Deco Period was considered to have started in 1925. Marked by the Paris World's Fair - the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, you could say the Art Deco Period is when Modernism met the Machine Age.

The most important retrospective to date, staged in 2003 at the V & A Museum in London, defined the timespan of Art Deco to be 1910-1939, (a major exhibition at the V&A celebrating Art Deco, the most glamorous and popular style of the twentieth century.)

It was a movement that swept through Europe and America alike, influencing all areas of art and design - from architecture to furniture, fashion and fabrics, through to utility crockery, ceramics, sculpture and graphic design.

The origins of Art Deco can be seen as a progression from Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Vienna Sezession.