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Feb. 15 - Feb. 22, 2004 |
Vibrant, glamorous and exotic style
Art Deco 1910-1939 traces the style through its heavy Canadian influence
By Jennifer Febbraro
Originally Published: 2003-10-12
Author J D Reed wrote: "the martini, once a symbol of American imbibing, memorialized in thousands of neon outlines of cocktail glasses, is becoming an amusing antique, like a downtown art deco apartment building." Indeed the martini glass, with its streamlined design, its functionalist use of consumer materials, and its easy reproducibility could be the perfect symbol of art deco itself as it swelled to bursting between the 1920s and early '30s.
These next few months, the Royal Ontario Museum celebrates this borderline kitschy phenomenon that embraced the macro Chrysler building as well as the micro, the 'moderne' sense of style writ on the flapper girl. Organized initially by London's Victoria and Albert Museum, this large-scale exhibition titled Art Deco 1910-1939, premiering only in Canada at the ROM, illustrates the true pervasiveness of this era of style. As almost a precursor to today's fashion impetus towards the cyborg, art deco was a clear response to the industrial revolution, and at the same time a creative reinvention of the terms of luxury when the stock market crashed.
Initially art deco had colonial pretensions, importing then deemed "exotic" materials as proof of travel and sophistication, like unusual woods, ivory, and sharkskin. But later, purchasers tired of these and they were replaced with chromed steel, aluminum, mirror, coloured glass, and the new plastics - such as Bakelite and Catalin which were best suited to mass production. The glamour of art deco was shamelessly located at its surface, most specifically, in its reflectivity, shininess, and sleek geometry. Best representative of this at the ROM show is a 1934 McLaughlin Buick Sport Coupe, on loan from the Canadian Automotive Museum in Oshawa. Canadian-made and 17.5 feet in length, it is the only remaining car of its kind - the first to show streamlining in Canadian cars. Barely able to fit through the doors of the ROM, it represents thousands of dollars worth of reassembly costs, since it originally was discovered in pieces across a farm in Southern Ontario.
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