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External Websites

• The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia - Art Deco
• Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Collection - Art Deco Style 1925 - 1940
• Gemological Institute of America - The Timeless Allure of Art Deco
• Art Deco Society of Los Angeles - What is Art Deco?
• Open Library Publishing Platform - Origins of Contemporary Art, Design, and Interiors - Art Deco
• Art in Context - Art Deco – A Summary of the Art Deco Era
• The Art Story - Art Deco

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Art Deco art movement Ask Anything Homework Help Also known as: Moderne, style moderne Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Feb. 16, 2026 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything Top Questions

What is Art Deco?

Art Deco was a design style of the 1920s and ’30s characterized especially by sleek geometric or stylized forms and by the use of manufactured materials.

When was the Art Deco era?

Characteristics of the Art Deco style originated in France in the mid-to-late 1910s, came to maturation during the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, and developed into a major style in the United States during the 1930s.

What are the main characteristics of the Art Deco style?

Art Deco objects often showcase simple, clean shapes, usually with a “streamlined” look; ornament that is geometric or stylized from representational forms such as florals, animals, and sunrays; and use of manufactured substances, including plastics, vita-glass, and reinforced concrete, often combined with such natural materials as jade, silver, ivory, and chrome.

What was Art Deco influenced by?

Among the formative influences on Art Deco were Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus, Cubism, and Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Practitioners of Art Deco also found inspiration in American Indian, Egyptian, and early Classical sources as well as from nature.

What is the difference between Art Deco and Art Nouveau?

Like Art Deco, Art Nouveau is an ornamental style applied to such media as architecture, interior design, jewelry, and illustration. Both styles were popular in Europe and the United States, but Art Nouveau flourished earlier, between 1890 and 1910. Art Nouveau emphasized nature, and objects were characterized especially by asymmetrical sinuous lines, often taking the form of flower stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate natural objects.

Art Deco, movement in the decorative arts and architecture that originated in the 1910s and 1920s in western Europe and developed into a major style in the United States during the 1930s. Its name was derived from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925, where the style was first exhibited. Art Deco design represented modernism turned into fashion. Its products included both individually crafted luxury items and mass-produced wares, but, in either case, the intention was to create a sleek and anti-traditional elegance that symbolized wealth and sophistication.

The distinguishing features of the style are simple, clean shapes, often with a “streamlined” look; ornament that is geometric or stylized from representational forms; and unusually varied, often expensive materials, which frequently include manufactured substances (plastics, especially Bakelite; vita-glass; and ferroconcrete) in addition to natural ones (jade, silver, ivory, obsidian, chrome, and rock crystal). The characteristic features of the style reflected admiration for the modernity of the machine and for the inherent design qualities of machine-made objects (e.g., relative simplicity, planarity, symmetry, and unvaried repetition of elements).

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Among the formative influences on Art Deco were Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus, Cubism, and Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Decorative ideas came from American Indian, Egyptian, and early classical sources as well as from nature. Characteristic motifs included nude female figures, animals, foliage, and sun rays, all in conventionalized forms.

More From Britannica Latin American architecture: Art Deco

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Most of the outstanding Art Deco creators designed individually crafted or limited-edition items. They included the furniture designers Jacques Ruhlmann and Maurice Dufrène; the architect Eliel Saarinen; metalsmith Jean Puiforcat; glass and jewelry designer René Lalique; fashion designer Erté; artist-jewelers Raymond Templier, H.G. Murphy, and Wiwen Nilsson; and the figural sculptor Chiparus. The fashion designer Paul Poiret and the graphic artist Edward McKnight Kauffer represent those whose work directly reached a larger audience. New York City’s Rockefeller Center (especially its interiors supervised by Donald Deskey; built between 1929 and 1940), the Chrysler Building by William Van Alen, and the Empire State Building by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon are the most monumental embodiments of Art Deco. During the 1930s the style took over South Beach in Miami, Florida, producing an area known as the Art Deco historic district.

Originally called: style moderne (Show more) Related Artists: Eva Zeisel Eliel Saarinen René Lalique Robert Mallet-Stevens Donald Deskey (Show more) On the Web: Art in Context - Art Deco – A Summary of the Art Deco Era (Feb. 16, 2026) (Show more) See all related content

Although the style went out of fashion in most places during World War II, beginning in the late 1960s there was a renewed interest in Art Deco design. Into the 21st century Art Deco continued to be a source of inspiration in such areas as decorative art, fashion, and jewelry design.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko.