By the time of the Paris exhibition of 1925 from which Art Deco took its name, the idea that an interior and its furnishings should form a complete design - a "total look" - dominated the thinking of both designers and their clients. Studios began to emerge to serve the needs of a design and style-conscious middle-class. This text displays the flourishing design ingenuity through contemporary photographs and illustrations of selected interiors complemented with modern photographs of individual pieces. It traces the sylistic evolution and dominant motifs of Deco, the triumph of the 1925 exhibition and the pure "high style" of the Paris ensembliers; the growth of Streamline Moderne offshoots in the US; the international revival of Deco as a decorative style for a new generation of post-modern designers; and the restoration of many Art Deco interiors to their original state.

This book contains stunning images for use as a graphic resource, or inspiration. All the illustrations are stored in high-resolution format on the enclosed free CD-ROM and are ready to use for professional quality printed media and web page design. The pictures can also be used to produce postcards, or to decorate your letters, flyers, etc. They can be imported directly from the CD into most design, image- manipulation, illustration, word-processing and e-mail programs; no installation is required. For most applications, single images can be used free of charge. Please consult the introduction to this book, or visit our website for conditions. Art Deco, like its forerunner Art Nouveau, was an eclectic style that drew inspiration from many sources. Designers borrowed from the pictorial inventions of contemporary avant-garde artists. The exciting colors and unfamiliar themes of the Ballets ruses exerted an especially strong influence. Also the powerful imagery of Africa and the arts of Asia and Pre-Columbian America provided endless sources of form and pattern. This collection of Art Deco decoration shows a style that is equally adaptable and as enjoyable now as when it was first created.