Art Déco, sometimes referred to as Déco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design
that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Déco influenced the design of
buildings, furniture, jewellery, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners, and
everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs,
from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International
Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925. It combined
modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Déco
represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. Art Déco
was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern.
From its outset, Art Déco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism; the bright
colors of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes; the updated craftsmanship of the furniture of
the eras of Louis Philippe and Louis XVI; and the exotic styles of China and Japan, India,
Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya art. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony
and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. The Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers
of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of the Art Déco style. In the 1930s
during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more subdued. New materials arrived,
including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called
Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s; it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces.
Art Déco is one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with the
beginning of World War II and the rise of the strictly functional and unadorned styles of
modernism and the International Style of architecture that followed.(Source : Wikipedia)