ART DECO: SPIRIT AND SPLENDOUR
Kenneth McGillivray, author, artist and text editor
Monday 26–Wednesday 28 January 3.00 pm COURSE FEES R345; Staff and students R173
This course will explore the origins, evolution and enduring worldwide influence of Art Deco as the major design movement of the twentieth and now also the twenty-first century. First, the transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco is illustrated, after which we focus on the central period of its development from 1910 to 1939. The 1925 Paris exhibition – the centenary of which we celebrated in 2025 – stimulated the influence of the style worldwide.
In addition, the ensuing dissemination of the style throughout the Americas, Europe, Australia, South Africa and India was characterised by the adoption of local cultures and symbols. Then, major contributors to the style such as Josef Hoffmann, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, René Lalique, Edgar Brandt, Demétre Chiparus and Louis-Francois Cartier will be introduced, showing examples of their Art Deco-influenced creations. The contributions to the style of this period made by personalities such as Josephine Baker, Chanel, Erik Satie, Sergei Diaghilev and others will also feature. Furthermore, the influences of the artistic movements of Cubism, De Stijl, Surrealism, Fauvism and Constructivism will be discussed, accompanied by definitive illustrations.
This postwar period of radical social change saw factors such as the gradual introduction of paid workers’ holidays and the rise of an increasingly affluent middle class spark a surge in tourism, marked by the introduction of the cult of the motorcar, commercial air travel, sumptuous rail excursions and a fleet of luxurious cruise liners.
The spirit and splendour of Art Deco permeated every aspect of life and its enduring legacy is still with us today – as will become apparent in this course.
Lecture titles
- Origins of the style and the international impact of the 1925 Paris exhibition
- Architecture, artefacts, ephemera and all that jazz …
- ‘Forgotten’ Antwerp 1930, ‘sailing down to Rio’ and other excursions
Recommended reading
Benton, C, Benton, T and Wood, G. 2003. Art Deco: 1910–1939. United Kingdom: V&A Publications. Duncan, A. 2009. Art Deco Complete: The Definitive Guide to the Decorative Arts of the 1920s and 1930s.
United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson.
Hiller, B. 1971. The World of Art Deco. United Kingdom: Studio Vista.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575235775