Art Deco, which originated in Paris, is one of the most memorable of all design movements thanks to its modern feel and use of mathematical and geometric shapes. Oddly the actual label of 'Art Deco' was not popularised until 1968 when art historian Bevis Hillier published a book called Art Deco of the 20s and 30s.
The Art Deco label comes from Paris' 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes - a showcase event, organised by a loose collective of artists known as La Société des artistes décorateurs, for everything modern, stylish and high-end after the austerity of the post-World War I years.
Just like architecture, furniture, the motor industry and the fashion world, publishing embraced Art Deco from around 1915 until the outbreak of World War II. Art Deco cover art can be found in almost every genre from children's fiction to memoirs and countless popular novels. The Book League of America was just one publisher to reprint large quantities of classic novels with Art Deco-styled covers.
Head back to the Jazz Age of F Scott Fitzgerald in his pomp and enjoy the zigzags and the ziggurats, the fountains and the sunbursts, and the jagged shapes and the towering skyscrapers.
Beautiful Art Deco books
