A is for Art Deco

The A-Z April Blogging Challenge

This year I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge again and this year I've decided to focus on Art Deco, as this year is the centenary of the event which gives the artistic movement its name. Let us begin ...

Art Deco shop on Market Street, Loughborough

A is for Art Deco

Art Deco is a term which was retrospectively applied to a style of art and architecture that spanned the early 1900s to about 1940, and to an extent, Art Deco was preceded by the Art Nouveau period [1].

The name Art Deco was derived from an international exhibition, held in Paris, and opened to the public from 29th April – October 25th 1925. The exhibition was entitled ‘L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes’, and was opened by the President of the Republic of France, Pierre Paul Henri Gaston Doumergue. According to the Birmingham Post, Wednesday 29th April 1925, the President

“was surrounded by a brilliant company of all the most famous names in France. The French people are by nature and by temperament the most wonderful of stage-managers, and the scene in the interior of the Grand Palais,[2] where the opening ceremony took place, will linger long in the memory of those who were privileged enough to be able to attend it.”

Of the British exhibit, the Birmingham Post correspondent had this to say:

“Great Britain has been allotted one of the most charming sites close to the Pont Alexandre III, and it is here that the Government Pavilion … has been erected. Only the choicest and the most artistic of the British exhibits will be shown here, and many of them have been lent from private collections, and the most treasured are those that have been sent over by the Prince of Wales and Princess Mary. The greatest portion of the British exhibits will be housed in the Grand Palais itself. Prince Arthur of Connaught is coming over to inspect the British section in the middle of May, when a display fully worthy of a great nation like ours will command his praise and admiration.”

In addition to the pavilion, hanging over the side or the River Seine there was also a gaily coloured, balconied restaurant, its walls brightly painted in lacquer red, blue-green, and orange. Surmounting the building were four wooden signs. Again, from the Birmingham Post

“These signs represent with extraordinary accuracy, a Christmas pudding, a boar’s head, bacon and eggs, and last[ly] a steak and kidney pudding.”

Alongside the restaurant was a houseboat, which would be used as an annex.

An article which appeared in The Bystander of 29 April 1925 had this to say about the British pavilion:

“… one wonders what impression is meant to be conveyed to visitors … I have heard if described as a cross between a village church and a village pub … Perhaps it is intended to bring pangs of homesickness to British exiles. If brewery firms do not establish branches in the immediate vicinity, they are missing an excellent opportunity of profiting from the association of ideas. One look at the pavilion is sufficient to provoke and wandering Briton into an almost unquenchable thirst for something with foam on it. Bur Bordeaux is likely to be very cross about this introduction of the Burton note in Paris.”

So what of the resultant Art Deco style?

The familiar features of Art Deco are bold colours, and metal colours like gold and chrome. Also geometric designs, chevrons, motifs like nudes, foliage, animals, sun’s rays, and with influences coming from Bauhaus and Cubism, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and Egypt. 

Many of these features and motifs can be spotted around Loughborough’s town centre. This is because during the late-1920s-early 1930s, many of Loughborough’s buildings were demolished for road widening, and were replaced by buildings in the Art Deco style. Many used contemporary building materials, and many used the local tiles made by the Hathern Station Brick and Terra Cotta Company, which changed its name to Hathernware.

Over the course of the next month I will be sharing something here on the blog that is related to Art Deco in Loughborough. I have already written quite a lot about this – here’s one post that covers a lot of ground (I’ll try not to repeat too much of it for this A-Z Blogging Challenge!)  

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Notes

[1] Art Nouveau – is the term applied to an art and architectural style that was prevalent in Europe and the US, and featured flowing lines and curves, organic motifs, and influences from nature. The movement largely coincided with, and was influenced by a similar movement in Britain – the Arts and Craft Movement.

Arts and Craft Movement – this architectural and art style featured designs inspired by nature, but was based on traditional, handcrafting techniques, as a reaction against industrialisation and mass production. Craftsmen in this style that are familiar in our geographical area are Ernest Gimson, who designed a number of houses in the Charnwood Forest area including Stoneywell Cottage, has a permanent online exhibition associated with Leicester Museums and Galleries, and through his pupils left a permanent mark on the forerunner of Loughborough University, through the handicraft Unit. Arts and Crafts had a strong influence on Art Nouveau.

[2] Apparently, the Grand Palais had been built for the great exhibition of 1900.

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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