Action Verbs

Every design movement is energized by something to become a movement. There must be a catalyst to expand its concept wide enough to be seen as a movement. For Art Deco, this catalyst was not only the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes from which its name is derived, but also, especially in the United States, Hollywood. Massey states, “The sleek surfaces of the Moderne and Streamlining were fully exploited by the American motion picture industry, for the Moderne style matched the buoyantly confident mood of inter-war Hollywood” (Massey 2001).

The lines, shapes, and motifs of the Art Deco were often shaped by the energized notion of machinery. Machinery also shaped the modern, “Inspired by a new machine aesthetic, the Modern Movement stripped away unnecessary ornament from the interior” (Massey 2001). The movement also embraced machinery shaping their products, hoping “to change society for the better… design for all” (Massey 2001).



Many modern pieces, thus, rejected the notion put forth by the Arts and Crafts movement—instead embracing the machine, which would allow what the Arts and Crafts had failed—good design reaching the masses. Interiors were composed of furniture composed by a machine. Also, the compositions of art pieces from different artistic movements had enormous impact upon architectural movements and ideas. One example is that of the De Stijl movement, which’s “emphasis on horizontals and verticals and the restricted color-scheme give visual unity to the exterior and interior of the house” (Massey 2001); “Rietveld’s Red/Blue chair of 1918 was one of the first expressions of this new aesthetic” (Massey 2001).



However, what is modern? To some degree, this can only be speculated. Is modern found in the technology of the building, or is it found in the aesthetics? Must it be a mixture of these? Is it really up to the individual viewing it, or the people utilizing it, or the architect designing it, or the builder building it? There are two moderns. There is the modern in the general sense and Modern as a distinct movement. Weston clears up the confusion well, stating, “Being modern means being up to date but being a Modernist is an affirmation of faith in the tradition of the new, which emerged as the creative credo of progressive artists in the early years of the twentieth century” (Weston).



Modern, in both senses, stretches over many styles and disciplines, Modernism being “the umbrella name for a bewildering array of movements—Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Serialism, Surrealism—and ideas—abstraction, functionalism, atonality, free verse…. It affected all the arts and blossomed in different fields” (Weston).


quotes from Modernism by Richard Weston
and
Massey, A (2001). Interior Design of the 20th Century. London: Thames & Hudson.