Glamour and geometry. Art Deco in illustration. Blackbox #17

“Paris, 1925: The “Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes” celebrates the triumph of a new aesthetic. Around 15,000 exhibitors from 18 nations present what would later go down in design history as Art Deco at this world exhibition of decorative arts – a style whose name was only derived retrospectively from the title of the show. One hundred years later, the Bröhan Museum is taking this anniversary as an opportunity to once again focus on the eccentric yet elegant design language of Art Deco: the style found a particularly dazzling stage in illustrations for magazines and advertising. These graphic testimonies had a decisive influence on the image of modernism—they made the luxury of the new era visible, reproducible, and appealing to the masses. Yet they were anything but trivial: fashion magazines of the time were small works of art, printed on fine paper and produced using the elaborate au pochoir process. …”