Books About Art Deco Around the World

The amazing thing about the Art Deco movement and the Art Deco style is that it can be found all over the world. Beginning with early roots in Eastern Europe and expanding after its major introduction at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris , its influences spread globally, and examples of architecture and design can be found far and wide. The era between the two World Wars was one of great innovation, opulence, and optimism, and buildings and decorative arts reflected that spirit in ways that made them feel similar no matter which country they were built in—while at the same time drawing from the individual culture and natural environment in which they were created. Compare the extravagant use of materials in Parisian department stores, New York skyscrapers, and California movie palaces. Or note the sleek, streamlined style of homes and hotels in Miami Beach and Napier, New Zealand. Then look at the way Art Deco was interpreted in Shanghai, Buenos Aires, or Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It is true that almost everything can now be researched online, but we remain passionate about books. Seeing a theme developed, lavishly illustrated, and bound with a beautiful cover is something to own and cherish. Our library within the showroom at Art Deco Collection is extensive—filled with vintage books and magazines, as well as many shelves of publications both current and spanning the last fifty years. Before 1970 there were only a small handful of books with “Art Deco” in the title, because the term itself was not widely used until the late 1960s, when historian Bevis Hillier helped popularize it with his1968 book Art Deco of the 20s and 30s. Today there are hundreds of publications with “Art Deco” in their titles, many focused on an individual city and its contribution to the style. We hope to inspire you to form a collection of your own. There are wonderful books that document and examine the unique interpretation of Art Deco in cities around the world, and we have pictured a small grouping you may wish to explore.

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