Art Deco.

The Art Deco movement emerged from France in the 1920’s. The movement took its name from the world fair in Paris. Art deco took over from Art Nouveau. Art deco took its inspiration from Ancient Egyptian Civilisation due to the fact that they discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb at around the same time (1922). They were also inspired by tribal art, surrealism, futurism/cubism/constructivism, Neo classicism, Geometric abstraction, popular culture, Russian ballet companies and artists like Hoffman, Frank Lloyd Wright and Adolf Loos.

Designers during the Art deco movement mainly used materials like Ivory, Enamel, Horse skin, Ebony and mother of pearl. The Odeon style also brought materials like chromium, coloured glass, painted concrete and Bakelite. Bakelite is easy to mould and could be made transparent and even marbled.

Rene Lalique was a French designer who moved from the art nouveau movement onto the chunky and highly stylized Art Deco movement. Rene lalique used to produce works that were inspired from nature and insects during the Art Nouveau period; this was because they were main sources of inspiration for any designer during that time. However during the Art Deco period Lalique started producing pieces with geometric pieces on them or even pieces that were inspired by some sort of tribal art. As we can see in the picture below, Lalique added geometric shapes to his vase. As said earlier another main source of inspiration during the Art Deco period was cubism and we can see this in Laliques vase below. In the other picture below we can see that Lalique was inspired by some sort of tribal art, however he must have also been inspired by futurism due to the look that lalique decided to give it. 

Eileen Gray was an Irish furniture designer. After studying Japanese lacquer works, Gray established herself as a leading designer. It is her lacquered pieces that seem to situate her with the Art Deco period, and one of her most notable pieces is the Dragon Chair which was produced in 1917. The chair consists of a dark brown leather cushioned seat with lacquered wood arm rests and feet. The way the wood is bent resembles the tusks of an elephant. Gray was also a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture.

Dragon chair.

Jean Dunand was a French designer and he is also considered as a great lacquer artist. Just by looking at his works we can see that he was mainly inspired by geometric shapes and cubism. Jean Dunand also used the material enamel to produce his works. Enamel is a powder of glass which can be coated onto metal or ceramics. As we can see in the pictures below, Dunand used geometric shapes and cubist forms to decorate his works.

References:

RLalique.com. 2014. Rene Lalique Victoire Mascot. [ONLINE] Available at: https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-victoire-mascot-4775. [Accessed 23 January 15].

RLalique.com. 2014. Lalique Damiers Vase. [ONLINE] Available at: https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-damiers-vase-5472. [Accessed 23 January 15]

1883. 2013. 

Eileengray Exposition. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.1883magazine.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/eileen-gray-exhibition. [Accessed 23 January 15].

1stdibs. 2013. Vase in the style of Jean Dunand. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/more-furniture-collectibles/vases/vase-style-jean-dunand/id-f_281708/. [Accessed 23 January 15].

Ŧhe ₵oincidental Ðandy. 2010. Decorative Lacquerware: The Art of Jean Dunand. [ONLINE] Available at:http://thecoincidentaldandy.blogspot.com/2010/12/decorative-lacquerware-art-of-jean.html. [Accessed 23 January 15].