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potent sign that Europe was recovering from the Modernique Clock, 1928
economic, physical, and social devastation of World photo: Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art
War I. Held in Paris—considered the world’s most Paul T. Frankl’s 1928 clock design for the Warren
fashionable city at the time—the exposition and the Telechron Company—marketed as the Modernique
—coincided with American consumers’ growing
participating designers rejected historical styles and interest in modern design. The Modernique’s metal
promoted modern architecture, interior design, and case, with its step-like sides, starburst motif, and
household goods with simplified lines and geometric machine-age numbers, mimics the form and orna-
forms, often made using precious materials. Design mentation of a 1920s skyscraper.
critics derived the name for this new style from the For Frankl, the skyscraper constituted an ideal of
title of the exposition, dubbing it Art Deco. beauty, representing the aspirations of the prevailing
Although American designers did not exhibit American spirit soaring upward.
their work in the Paris Exhibition, wealthy patrons This clock is made of chromium-plated and
and representatives of manufacturers traveled from enameled metal, molded Bakelite, and brush-
the United States to see the latest fashions, and many burnished silver.
bought beautiful and expensive souvenirs.
Americans who stayed home could read about
the objects on display in magazine and newspaper often topped skyscraper setbacks with spires and
articles. Some businesses in the United States towers that recalled famous European churches.
imported French Art Deco objects similar to the They were building cathedrals to commerce.
examples seen in the Exhibit.
Status and Design: Hood Ornaments
American Art Deco Renowned designers and manufacturers pro-
New materials and technologies were key to the duced these hand-cast and intricately detailed
development of Art Deco in the United States. In accessories to adorn automobiles. Hood ornaments
American-made products, the luxurious materials often thematically evoked speed and modern
used by European manufacturers were often technological progress through motifs like airplanes
replaced with industrially produced alternatives. or leaping horses. The French designer René
Recently invented plastics replaced ivory. Lalique crafted pressed-glass mascots after falcons
Aluminum, steel, and chrome dazzled like silver. and dragonflies to embellish luxury cars. In 1926,
Inexpensive woods, such as maple and walnut, were General Motors introduced a line of cars produced
stained to look like mahogany and ebony. As a in Pontiac, Michigan, and manufactured a series of
result, more Americans could afford the new style hood ornaments referencing the Odawa chief
and update their homes while supporting postwar Obwandiyag, called Pontiac by white colonizers.
commerce. Although small in scale, hood ornaments were
Many designers in the United States favored among the most striking examples of Art Deco
a modern outlook that embraced industrial and design in the 1920s and 1930s.
Hupmobile Hood Ornament,
technological progress. They employed abstract 1936-1938, designed by Raymond Loewy
designs and stylized forms to symbolize a dynamic for the Hupp Motor Company, The New Woman
future. This attitude was reflected in everything chromium-plated metal World War I was a turning point for American
from skyscrapers and automobiles to clothing and society. Women went to work—not only in direct
radios. Inspired by contemporary European artistic support of the war, but also to fill thousands of job
movements, painters and printmakers also adopted vacancies and maintain industrial and agricultural
these formal elements, as seen through works in this production. For the first time, a substantial number
section by Paul Manship, Raymond Jonson, and of middle-class women worked outside the domestic
Rockwell Kent. sphere, assuming roles as doctors, factory workers,
nurses, secretaries, and more.
An Architectural Era When men returned home from the front, many
Following World War I, industrial cities like women did not want to sacrifice their independ-
Chicago and New York boomed. New skyscrapers ence. Galvanized by a glimpse of equality, more
marked the peak of the Art Deco style in the United women advocated for their constitutional rights. On
States, becoming some of the tallest and most August 18, 1920, after the Tennessee legislature cast
recognizable buildings in the world. Wealth from the last vote needed to ratify the Nineteenth
such commercial enterprises as petroleum drilling, Amendment, the federal government prohibited
organic chemistry, and railroads allowed business states from denying citizens the right to vote on the
executives to commission towering buildings made basis of sex. African American, Asian American,
of steel and concrete. The exteriors were decorated Hispanic American, and Native American women,
with allusions to specific industries—lightning however, remained disenfranchised. The fight for
bolts for electricity, tires for automobiles, gas wells full voting rights and equity continues today.
for petroleum. Lobbies were lavishly lined with Women also battled traditional restrictions with
imported marbles, silver and gold lighting fixtures, trailblazing fashion. In the 1920s, young women
and dark mahogany furniture. Everything pro- across racial boundaries styled themselves as flappers.
claimed power and success. Federal buildings were Dressing for freedom (and energetic dancing), they
often constructed in the Art Deco style as well, and bobbed their hair, discarded their corsets, wore looser
the Frist Art Museum, housed in Nashville’s former dresses with shorter hemlines, and painted their lips
postal headquarters, exemplifies the aesthetic in the with bright colors.
Grand Lobby. Gold Sequined Dress, ca. 1927-1929
To allow light and air to reach street level, civic by Amédée in Paris, France The Jazz Age – A Culture of Change
features sequins over silk and net,
leaders mandated the use of setbacks, or steplike 40 1/2” x 14 1/4” for the new slim Sidecars, bee’s knees, Count Basie, the jitterbug,
tiers, at the top of skyscrapers. Architects soon silhouette of the 1920s the Charleston – these all evoke the swinging 1920s
adopted this form as a symbol of modernity and Kansas City Museum, Kansas City, Missouri and 1930s in America. Art Deco objects and
36 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
