Art Deco is a wildly popular design movement from the 1920s and 1930s— the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression. Wichita Art Museum presents an exhibition of 140+ iconic artworks—decorative arts, paintings, sculptures, and more—that epitomize this historical moment in American experience. The touring exhibition appears in Wichita from February 12 through May 29, 2022, where we are planning for a blockbuster given the lasting love for Art Deco.
Art Deco? Recall the stunning Chrysler Building (LEFT) completed in 1930 in New York. Think about Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center. Nearby, don’t you love the Kansas City Power and Light Building on 14th Street downtown, completed in 1931? These buildings are icons of Art Deco.
American Art Deco: Designing for the People investigates this dynamic period when the county went through sharp economic, political, social as well as artistic transformation. From stylish decorative art objects to industrial design products, from compelling photographs to modern paintings, the range of artworks in this exhibition reflect the glamour of the 1920s and the devastation and escapism of the 1930s.
The 1920s experienced a surging economy that inspired an era of mass consumerism. After the tumult of WWI, people pushed for dramatic social change. Women bobbed their hair and shortened their hemlines. Despite Prohibition, couples drank and danced in nightclubs. Cars sped off production lines, and by decade’s end there was one car on the road for every five Americans. En masse, people brought conveniences and small luxuries into their homes for a first time—vacuum cleaners, electrical refrigerators, ready-to-wear clothes, radios. The exuberance of the Jazz Age came to an abrupt halt with the stock market crash in October 29. The Great Depression took firm root—with 20% of the American population unemployed during the worst days.
Art Deco was a new style characterized by geometric ornament, clean lines, angularity, and often “streamlined” features. It combined modern style with rich materials and new technologies. The title is short for arts décoratifs, taking the name for this historical movement from a 1925 fair in Paris, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
Primarily from Midwest collections, the 140+ artworks exemplify the Art Deco style and underscore significant themes of the era—including the migration of designs and designers from Europe to the US; industrial and technological advances after WWI; the changing profile of the modern woman; the rise of the middle class and onset of consumer culture; and inequities in gender, race, and wealth.
PAGE 2 | Ship at Sea Compact, c. 1925. Sterling silver and enamel, 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 5/8 inches. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver* PAGE 3 | Boston Avenue Methodist Church, 1929, Tulsa, Oklahoma PAGE 7 | Berenice Abbott, Murray Hill Hotel: Spiral, 1935. Gelatin silver print, 9 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches.
Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Allocation of the U.S. Government, Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, U-1854.1943* PAGE 8 | Walter Dorwin Teague, designer, Sparks-Withington Company, manufacturer, Jackson,
Michigan, founded 1900, Sparton Bluebird Radio (Model 566), 1934. Wood, glass, and metal. 14 3/4 x 14 5/8 x 6 inches. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo by Wes Magyar* PAGE 10–11 | Paramount Theater, 1931, Oakland, California PAGE 12 | Paul T. Frankl, designer, Warren Telechron Company, manufacturer, Ashland, Massachusetts, 1926–1992, Modernique Clock, 1928. Chromiun-plated and enameled metal, molded Bakelite, and brush-burnished silver, 7 3/4 x 6 x 3 1/2. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, Gift of Michael Merson. Courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo by Wes Magyar* PAGE 13 | John Henry Bradley Storrs, Ceres, c. 1928. Cast terracotta, nickel-plated, 20 1/4 x 4 3/4 x 3 7/8 inches. Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Friends of the Wichita Art Museum, © Estate of John Storrs* LEFT | Raymond Loewy, designer, Hupp Motor Company, manufacturer, Detroit, Michigan, 1908– 1941. Hupmobile Hood Ornament, 1936–38. Chromium-plated metal, 6 3/8 x 6 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches. Marshall V. Miller Collection* ABOVE | Viktor Schreckengost, designer. Cowan Pottery Studio, Lakewood, Ohio, 1921–1931. Danse
Moderne Jazz Plate, 1931. Glazed ceramic, 1 x 11 1/8 inches. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, Courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo by Wes Magyar* *In the exhibition
FEBRUARY 12 THROUGH MAY 29, 2022 American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918–1939 is organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, and Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska.