1930S decorations for house
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Living Room Decoration: 1930s Style | Home Guides
By Lorna Hordos Updated April 22, 2022
The Dirty '30s had nothing to do with a lower standard of housework; in fact, despite the world’s worst financial and economical downturn in history - combined with devastating prairie drought with damaging winds - 1930s style flourished in a meaningful way. Art depicted hardships like no other decade. This was the era when art deco designs of the Roaring Twenties went from luxurious and pricey to lavish yet affordable.
1930s Style Furniture
Despite The Great Depression, designers of living-room furniture from the 1930s were leaning toward the new-age, period-hip, art nouveau concept. David Ryan of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts notes that designs from this era were daring and ingenious and are some of the best produced in the 20th century. A blend of furnishings featuring curves, straight lines, organic shapes and mixed mediums captured the day’s idea of modern, which has become some of today’s retro favorites. There were sleek, molded plywood and plastic chairs; long, streamlined, low-backed sectional sofas; shapely wingback easy chairs; cushy, chaise loungers; and unusually shaped coffee tables and end tables.
Soft and Muted Color Schemes
During this period, muted colors, reflecting the serious tone of the times, flowed from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall.
Soft blue, yellow, peach, mint, lavender and pink decorated sitting rooms in the form of covered furnishings and painted walls, or floral or striped wallpaper with any preferred hue being dominant. A living room of the 1930s typically boasted a few unmatched patterned rugs, which may have been placed in doorways, in front of a fireplace, and in the center of the room for warmth and decoration.
Representational and Nonobjective Art
Out of hardship and necessity, life had to go on, as meager as it may have been. The Great Depression influenced some artists to capture the sense of poverty and desperation felt by so many. On display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum are 1930s photography and paintings of hobos riding trains, families living in shacks and homeless people of all ages as a reflection of the times. Some painters revolted against representational style, instead using nonobjective art to address modern concerns, according to Art Institute Chicago.
Art from this period that has a lighter mood includes streamlined automobiles, tall skyscrapers, flowers spilling from vases, tasteful nudes, and black-and-white pencil sketches by Walt Disney featuring the hot-on-the-scene, cheerful rodent loved by many: Mickey Mouse.
1930s Living Room Decor
Brick and brass fireplaces, chrome wall sconces with milk-glass shades, metal pole lamps with beaded, fringed lampshades, and small, round mirrors added light and reflection to a 1930s living room. Curtains with large floral patterns and delicate, lace sheers were commonplace. In the same decade as the world’s first teabag, electric razor and sticky tape, the television set came on the scene. Although few living rooms would have boasted a TV, numerous families gathered around a bulky, wood-encased record player or wooden, floor-model radio listening to their favorite soap operas and hoping for news of a turnaround in the economy.
References
- The Minneapolis Institute of Arts: The American Moderne
- Art Institute Chicago: America after the Fall: Painting in the 1930s
Writer Bio
Lorna Hordos is a home-flipping business owner and freelance writer.
She writes friendly, conversational business, home and lifestyle articles for Bizfluent, azcentral, Daltile, Marazzi, Lowes, Philips Lighting, WordPress.com and numerous other publications.
The Art Deco era - characteristic features of art deco jewelry
In the 20s of the 20th century, society firmly decided to divert from the twisted lines and faded color of the outgoing art nouveau style. Already late Art Nouveau, or “modern”, pleases with its growing geometricism. The wings of jewelry fairies were replaced by airplane wings. However, these searches were interrupted for two years by the First World War. The period from the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second belongs entirely to the Art Deco style (the movie The Great Gatsby can serve as a style guide).
In the 1920s, at the time of "jazz modern" , fashionable Parisians cut their hair, shortened their skirts and abolished sleeves.
Fashion "garcon" was born.
During the day, a luxurious evening “brush brooch” was replaced by an endless string of artificial pearls or beads made of stones. They wore heavy belts and bracelets (on the wrist and sometimes on the forearm). Of the novelties - a two-piece brooch with a clip-on lock (it was used to stab fashionable "truacars" - a short coat with three-quarter sleeves).
Wristwatch caused a sensation , which just at the beginning of the 20th century came into use as it replaced the usual watch on a chain (in our article - the history of wristwatches). Hours differed in a variety of forms, richness of a decor and grace.
The art deco style (in Russian spelling they sometimes voice the silent t from Art Deco and write “art deco style” ), which developed in France by the beginning of the 1920s, eventually established itself in the USA and most European countries.
Technocracy became the muse of the jewelers of the period of constructivism.
This determined the features of Art Deco jewelry - geometric shapes, right angles and lines, circles and "fields" of an open, "typographic" color.
Art Deco's mission is to create a myth of luxurious living during the Lost Generation years between the two world wars.
The discovery in 1922 of the tomb of Tutankhamen awakened interest in Egypt.
Firm Cartier launched a jewelry line in Egyptian style . Jade plate pendants set in rubies and diamonds, smoky quartz scarab with blue faience wings.
Diaghilev's seasons in Paris, post-impressionism, expressionism, surrealism - all this shaped the tastes of people of the Art Deco era. As well as the spectacle of the latest technology.
Jean Fouquet ( Jean Fouquet ), the son of Georges Fouquet (the famous jeweler of the former era - Art Nouveau), created his works in a style different from everything and everyone.
The collections of Paris and New York contain works by Jean Fouquet - an ivory brooch and a bracelet - jewelry that is unlike anything else. These are the motives of the avant-garde artists of the beginning of the century, cubism in its purest form.
Also interesting are the "skyscrapers" - platinum earrings - by another Parisian jeweler, Raymond Templier ( Raymond Templier ). The ideas of constructivism are manifested in these earrings. Templie decorated the geometric elements of his "precious constructions" with bright enamel or Japanese lacquer.
The jewelers Jean Fouquet and Raymond Templier are true "guests from the future".
Cartier Jewelery - Art Deco as a foundation
Cartier Jewelry 19The 20-1930s are the brightest examples of the formation of a new jewelry style.
At first, Cartier preferred simple compositions and clear forms - a circle or a segment, the most "feminine", according to the master.
Later he "mastered" the rest of the figures. Jewelry with a simple and clear silhouette of onyx, rock crystal, jade, mother-of-pearl, he decorated with diamonds and other precious stones - in subtle colors.
But soon the masters of the House of Cartier developed "white art deco" , where white platinum and diamonds were combined with black onyx and black enamel. This play of black and white spots created a kind of "panther skin" motif.
This motif was also used in the design of wristwatches. “White Art Deco”, perhaps, not only enriched the company, but also helped the formation of a new style as a whole. At that time, brooches were made on the "color front" - "vases of fruit" or "baskets of flowers" , from rubies, emeralds and sapphires. The flower basket motif was very characteristic of Art Deco jewelry.
The exhibition of decorative arts and modern industry in 1925 in Paris was the triumph of the House of Cartier.
Works FUKU , Sandosa , Sabbath , Busheron , Cartier , , cliff 9000, Mobussen and other French jewelers showed the birth of the aesthetics of a new era. The gold medal was given to the Parisian jeweler Georges Mauboussin, already quite famous in high society.
Art Deco jewelry technology
Grooves were made in diamonds, sapphires or rubies, stones were inserted close to each other and completely covered the metal. This allowed the craftsmen of Van Cleef & Arpels - and later others - to create true masterpieces in the Art Deco style.
Already in the 1930s, the art deco style of jewelry came to the masses, in the countries of Europe and America, things were created that were accessible to a wide range of buyers. These are clip-on diamond brooches and sautoirs (French “porter en sautoire”, “to wear on the back, wear over the shoulder”), and especially bracelets, in which medium-sized diamonds emphasized the clear lines of flat ornamental patterns.
Similar decorations are found in any major antique store.
Examples of Art Deco jewelry:
Art Deco dominated the art world from the end of World War I to the start of World War II. However, his techniques and figurative structure are so universal that even today they look modern and bright.
Author: Elvira Sviridova, specially for JUVELIRUM
JEWELERY TECHNIQUES AND STYLES | Jewelry in baroque, rococo, classicism and empire style | Victorian Jewelry | Art Nouveau or Art Nouveau Jewelry | Jewelry in avant-garde styles - cubism, constructivism, abstractionism, futurism and high-tech | Steampunk jewelry | Jewelry classics | Geometry in jewelry | Jewelry in the style of primitivism | Vintage Jewelry
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Precious Art Deco | The Art Newspaper Russia - art news
№46
Newspaper material
At the end of September, the Moscow Kremlin Museums open an exposition dedicated to the European style of the 1920s-1930s.
Exhibits for the exhibition were provided by the jewelry houses Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier, as well as the Japanese Costume Institute Kyoto Anna Savitskaya
09/09/2016
Brooch Cartier. 1923. Gold, platinum, Egyptian blue faience, diamonds, lapis lazuli, black enamel.
For the first time in Russia, such a large-scale exhibition of jewelry and women's clothing of European haute couture houses of the interwar period will take place. Along with original items, author's sketches and photographs from the archives will be presented. It is interesting that this way of demonstrating jewelry and garments as a single ensemble appeared precisely in the Art Deco era: the first such show took place on the initiative of Louis Cartier and Jeanne Lanvin in the Pavilion of Elegance at the 1925 exhibition in Paris. By the way, this exhibition gave a name to the new style: as a result of the reduction of its full name "International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Art Industry" ( Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes ), the word "art deco" appeared.
Art Deco style is reflected in a wide variety of art forms, but most clearly manifested itself in interior items, fashion and jewelry. Adherents of the new trend: jewelers, decorators and fashion designers - decisively abandon the sophisticated forms and sinuous lines of the Art Nouveau style, but work with clear geometric shapes, adhere to symmetry in their compositions and prefer bright and saturated colors. Art Deco masters find inspiration both in cubist and abstract art, as well as in the unusual scenery and costumes of Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons, as well as in the cultures of ancient civilizations, folk traditions and the rapid development of technological progress.
During this period, fashion completely fell under the power of pure geometry, and the women's suit, which resembled a shirt cut, began to be determined by strict constructiveness. The new time has also given rise to a new ideal of a woman: she has become self-sufficient and independent. Parisians were the first women after the war to cut their hair, shorten their skirts and wear sleeveless dresses.
In the 1920s and 1930s, women's costume opened up wide possibilities for the imagination of jewelers. Long earrings, heavy belts and bracelets came into fashion. During this period, wristwatches gained exceptional popularity, which were distinguished by a variety of shapes, richness of decor and elegance.
The 1925 exhibition was a real triumph of art deco jewelry. The exposition of jewelers was located in the luxurious building of the Parisian Grand Palais. The works presented in it Templier, Boucheron, Cartier, van Cleef, Mauboussin and other French masters were a phenomenal success. It is indicative that the Parisian jeweler Georges Mauboussin received the gold medal for Art Deco jewelry, the highest award of the exhibition.
In the 1920s, jewelers increasingly used materials such as enamel, chrome, glass and plastic. But very soon, the post-war "lost generation" needed the illusion of well-being, which was given only by gold, platinum and the most beautiful natural stones.
This was very well understood by the jewelers at home Cartier . The works of Cartier from the 1920s and 1930s clearly demonstrate the main stages in the development of the new style. At the first stage, Louis Cartier preferred harmonious compositions and clear forms. Jewelry with a simple and clear silhouette, made of onyx, rock crystal, jade, coral or mother-of-pearl, he decorated with diamonds and other precious stones, subtly selecting their exquisite color scheme. However, pretty soon the jewelers of the house abandoned bright colors and initiated the emergence of the so-called white art deco style. Contrasting combinations of white platinum and diamonds with black onyx or black enamel - a peculiar motif called "panther skin" - was used to create brooches in the form of panthers or jewelry for hairstyles.
Multi-coloured jewelery has regained popularity following the rise of the fashion for Indian jewellery. Then the famous Cartier jewelry appeared in the style of tutti-frutti invented by him, they were bright multi-colored compositions of carved precious stones.
After the discovery in 1922 of the tomb of Tutankhamun and the subsequent surge of interest in Egypt, the company began to produce colorful jewelry made in the Egyptian style. Among them are spectacular pendants made of jade plates, decorated with diamonds and rubies, and the famous scarab brooch made of smoky quartz with blue faience wings adorned with diamonds.
Numerous achievements of the jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels are also associated with the Art Deco era. In 1935 Alfred van Cleef and Julien Arpels succeeded in inventing a new type of setting for precious stones - the invisible setting. This method of setting provides for a special cut of diamonds, sapphires or rubies matched by color, in which grooves are machined, allowing the stones to be inserted close to each other and thus completely cover the metal with them, hiding the gold base. A new technological technique allowed the company's craftsmen to create a series of excellent art deco jewelry.
The exhibition of art deco jewelry and women's costume will unfold at two sites of the Moscow Kremlin at once and will last from September 30, 2016 to January 11, 2017: in the exhibition hall of the Assumption Belfry and in the space of the One-Pillar Chamber of the Patriarchal Palace. The exposition will feature evening dresses and coats, dance and cocktail ensembles, as well as a special kind of elegant dresses that appear in the wardrobe of the women in the Art Deco era called "robe de style" ( robe de style ). Visitors will see the creations of prominent European fashion houses of the first third of the 20th century, as well as such cult fashion designers as Coco Chanel, Paul Poiret , Callot sisters , Jeanne Lanvin, sisters Bouillet and many others. The garments were provided for the exhibition by one of the most respected fashion museums in the world — the Kyoto Costume Institute (Japan), whose specialists restored many exhibits especially for the Moscow show.
