Art Deco

The era" of Art Deco was about 1929-1939 or was it 1920-1940? Defined by various, it is best understood to have been in the 1920’s to 1940’s. One thing is clear however, the name Art Deco is derived form the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925 however the name Art Deco was not used until the 1960’s.

It means different things to different people, anywhere form Parisian furnishings to minimalism in design but in general terms it is considered to be an eclectic form of decorative modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources.

Designers from the Art Deco Era

Eckart Muthesius 1904-1989
Muthesius studied architecture in Berlin and London, and eventually started working for the architectural firm James & Yerbury. He also worked also with his father, Hermann Muthesius, founder of the “Deutscher Werkbund”. Although Muthesius is no household name, his interiors and furnishings had the edge over what was coming out of the Bauhaus.

In fact, in 1930, the Maharajah Bahadur of Indore, then, one of the richest men in the world, had asked Muthesius to design his palace “Manik Bagh" going on to designing the palace furniture and lamps. He successfully married the simple and functional with the more decorative and fanciful French Art Deco Style.

At the beginning of World War II, Eckart Muthesius returned to Berlin to work as an architect. The interior of the Manik Bagh was auctioned by Sotheby Parke Barnet at Sporting Hiver in Monte Carlo in 1980 – homage to Eckart Muthesius.

Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann 1879–1933
Born in Paris from Alsatian parents who were in the general decorating business, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann took over the family business after his father died in 1907. In 1919 Ruhlmann founded with Pierre Laurent, the company Ruhlmann et Laurent, specializing in interior design and producing luxury home goods that included furniture, wallpaper and lighting.

Known as the Genius of Art Deco, Ruhlmann was making formal elegant furniture using precious and exotic woods in combination with ivory fittings, giving them a classic, timeless appeal, epitomizing for many the glamour of the French Art Deco Style of the 1920s. His work represents the finest expression of Art Deco, and the most sumptuous and accomplished pieces produced in France during the 1920’s and early 1930’s.

His legacy as a designer was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004.

Paul Frankl 1886-1958
Paul T. Frankl was born in Vienna, Austria, and immigrated to the United States in 1914. With him, he brought an outsider’s fresh perspective and an enthusiasm for forging a uniquely American design, thus becoming the first American designer to produce a totally original American Furniture Design.

In the early 1920s, Paul Frankl opened a New York City shop that became an epicenter of American Modernism. His style continuously evolved, from his early “Skyscraper” furniture to relaxed and casual designs favored by the Hollywood elite. The "Skyscraper" bookcases led him to name his company "Skyscraper Furniture."

Frankl also wrote books and magazine articles on the Modern Style and was its most vocal proponent. He later designed production pieces for Brown & Saltzman of California and Johnson Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, incorporating an early use of biomorphic designs and novel materials such as cork veneer.