The Stock Market Crash of 1929 served as the Great Divide between the '20s and
the '30s, and between European and American Art
Deco designs. The distinct moods of the two decades dramatically affected
the arts of each. The '20s, characterized by voluptuous interiors, curvilinear
forms, exotic materials and outlandish designs gave way in the '30s (generally
referred to as the Art Moderne phase) to rectilinear
forms, sleek streamlined finishes, synthetic materials and an infatuation with
speed, dynamism and futuristic Buck Rogers elements. In America, the step-back
skyscraper, the rich interiors of Donald Deskey and the modern-age, mass-produced
vision of Kem Weber, Norman Bel Geddes and Walter Dorwin Teague pushed design
into the realm of tomorrow. Over a 70-year period, Modernism's motivating spirit
passed from reactionary to visionary.
