Cartier Brand Fan: Art Deco - So Closely Associated with Cartier. It Wasn't A Single Style - but three

Art Deco is so closely associated with Cartier, yet the style is somewhat misunderstood because it's actually not a single style, but three that roughly spanned the years 1910 to 1940. According to a kickass piece by Tony Fusco for The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles, (www.journalofantiques.com), people don't realize that Art Deco didn't actually begin with the 1925 Parisian Expositional Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes (whence the moniker Art Deco originated), but had been underway for years.

The three phases of Art Deco:

French Art Deco - initial phase of Art Deco, a deluxe style that culminated with the 1925 expo. Characterized by Jean Dunand's delicate eggshell laquer, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann sharkskin-covered furniture and Lalique glass sculpture.
Modern - second phase; Geometric & German-influenced.
Streamline - third & final phase in the late 30s, it reflected the influence of industrial design, machines, transportation and household appliances. Characterized by sleek, "bullet-nosed" designs & the increasingly exaggerated Hollywood style "razzmatazz" and "Screen Deco".

Fusco points out that it was the first international design style, and affected by regional differences. "The Art Deco pastel paradise of Miami Beach architecture owes more to the German Bauhaus and the design of ocean liners than it does to anything French. Flamingoes may be Miami's Art Deco bird, but in Australia it is usually a black swan one sees depicted." Part of the reason was travel: throughout the 20s and 30s, leisure travel was on the rise. Until 1939, luxury travel was the bomb, as witnessed by the luxury Ocean Liner floating hotels of the period.

Art Deco influences came from a wide variety of places:

Design Movements: Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts, Vienna Secession, Glasgow School in Scotland, Cubism, Holland's De Stijl movement, Italian Futurism
The ancient cultures of Egypt, Japan, sub-saharan Africa, Mayan & Aztec empires, Meso-America, East Asia
The Classical world
The Exotic: Diaghilev's Les Ballets Russes created a design explosion when they performed in Paris in 1909. Josephine Baker also shocked and delighted.
Mother Nature - tropical flora and fauna; stylized fruit and flowers and gazelles

Some of the best Cartier accessories of the period include the droolworthy cigarette cases and cigarette lighters. (photo from the McClung Museum)