9 - Art Deco

The Art Deco period involved an influential style of visual arts, which represented many things to different people. The period spanned from the 1920's when economies were booming and luxury was easy, up until the depression of the 1930's.

A.M. Cassandre - Normandie - 1935

Art Deco represented a number of idea's, including wealth, luxury and moving forward. This was shown in the creation of elegant transport, and the advertising posters that accompanied them. One means of transport in particular, included transatlantic cruise ships. These ships were prestigious at the time with everyone who had money wanting to use them. The poster to the right advertising transatlantic travel, designed by A.M. Cassandre, also known as Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron, shows a glorious curvy cruise liner. The use of scale in this image through the size of the seagulls emphasises the importance and size of the ship, with it filling the full poster and having the bow centred as if it is jumping out of the page towards the viewer. The break between the sky and water is effective for the text and is gives a nice contrast and draws attention to the information.

A.M. Cassandre - L'Atlantique - 1931

An earlier piece of Cassandre's is the L'Atlantique image to the left. The image uses a similar technique to the one above with scale, however this image uses a littler boat to show the size and importance of the cruise ship. The straight lines create a flow of attention down the page into what is a reflection of the boat in the water, with information printed on top.

Chicago's World Fair - Weimer Pursell - 1933

This final image, created by Weimer Pursell, again shows how scale and size is used to suggest luxury and prestige. The focal point could be argued to be either the header, or the path way up to the fair entrance, with the giant pillars creating a flow of attention up to the header. The colours used are very bright and elegant like the use of golds and reds, suggesting class. 

A.M. Cassandre images taken from Art Deco - Norbert Wolf - Preston Publishing - 2013

Chicago World's Fair Poster Image taken from Art Deco - Judith Miller - Dorling Kindersley LTD - 2007