1910s–1940 · United States, France, Worldwide
Art Deco
Also known as Style Moderne, Deco
Glamorous machine-age modernism — bold geometry, stepped setbacks, and stylized ornament that made the skyscraper feel like the future.
Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Chrysler_Building_from_Empire_State_Building,_New_York_City,_20231001_1510_1364.jpg
Across disciplines
- Graphic Design: Mid-Century Travel Poster
- Graphic Design: Art Deco Graphics
- Industrial Design: Machine Age Design
- Industrial Design: Art Deco Product
- Interior Design: Art Deco Interior
About the style
Art Deco modernized ornament rather than abolishing it, translating luxury into hard, confident geometry: zigzags, chevrons, sunbursts, and stepped 'setback' massing. Named after the 1925 Paris exposition of decorative arts, it became the look of skyscrapers, cinemas, and ocean liners between the wars — aspirational, urban, and unmistakably modern. It drew geometry from movements like Cubism and the machine age while keeping a taste for richness and drama that the strict functionalists rejected.
Notable examples
- ▸Chrysler Building (New York City)
- ▸Empire State Building (New York City)
- ▸Eastern Columbia Building (Los Angeles)
Anatomy of Art Deco
The numbered markers call out the design elements that define this style. Hover or tap a marker to see its breakdown.
Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Chrysler_Building_from_Empire_State_Building,_New_York_City,_20231001_1510_1364.jpg
The tower tapers through tiered setbacks toward an ornamented crown — a Deco hallmark, partly born from zoning laws requiring upper-floor setbacks.
Unbroken vertical piers run the height of the shaft, pulling the eye upward and exaggerating the sense of height.
Windows sit in vertical bands separated by decorative spandrel panels, forming the ribbon-like rhythm of the facade.
The entrance is framed with stylized geometric motifs — chevrons, sunbursts, or floral-geometric reliefs — in metal or carved stone.
How Art Deco connects
Styles form a network, not a tree. Explore the direct neighbours below — click any to travel the map one hop at a time.
- Evolved from
- Reaction against
- Parallel / cross-current
Evolved from Beaux-Arts — kept the monumental, decorative impulse but modernized the vocabulary
Reaction against Art Nouveau — swapped organic curves for hard, confident geometry
Parallel / cross-current International Style — parallel machine-age modernisms; shared geometry, opposed philosophies (decoration vs. function)
Parallel / cross-current Mid-Century Travel Poster — Deco geometry sold the ocean liner and the ski resort in print
Streamline Moderne evolved from Art Deco — stripped Deco ornament for aerodynamic curves and horizontal lines
International Style parallel / cross-current Art Deco — contested as lineage — better read as a parallel, opposed machine-age modernism
Bauhaus parallel / cross-current Art Deco — parallel interwar styles — functional rigor versus decorative glamour
Constructivism parallel / cross-current Art Deco — parallel 1920s avant-gardes — geometric abstraction, opposed politics
Vienna Secession parallel / cross-current Art Deco — its concentrated geometric ornament prefigured Art Deco — anticipatory rather than direct lineage
Italian Futurism (Architecture) parallel / cross-current Art Deco — shared a streamlined, speed-worshipping machine aesthetic; Futurist dynamism fed Deco's setback towers
Functionalism reaction against Art Deco — rejected Deco's decorative luxury in favor of utility and hygiene
Stalinist Architecture parallel / cross-current Art Deco — its stepped, spire-topped skyscraper massing parallels contemporaneous Art Deco towers
Art Deco Graphics parallel / cross-current Art Deco — the poster-and-advertising wing of the same Art Deco style
Machine Age Design parallel / cross-current Art Deco — parallels the skyscraper geometry of Art Deco architecture
Art Deco Product parallel / cross-current Art Deco — the object and tableware expression of Art Deco
Art Deco Interior parallel / cross-current Art Deco — the Art Deco architecture movement
Describe it like this
Prompt-ready vocabulary for describing or re-creating the Art Deco look.