Sexy, modern, and unabashedly consumer-oriented, Art Deco was a new kind of style, flourishing at a time of rapid technological and social change upheaval

Lacking the philosophical basis of other European design movements, Deco borrowed motifs from numerous sources - Japan, Africa, ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures, avant-garde European art--simply to create novel visual effects. Art Deco 1910-1939 surveys the sources and development of the popular style with more than 400 color illustrations and 40 chapters by numerous design specialists. The authors track Deco around the globe, from Paris to the United States - where it got its biggest boost from mass production to Northern and Central Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and New Zealand.

The book's broad focus encompasses industrial artifacts (the Hindenburg blimp, the Burlington Zephyr локомотив), as well as architecture, furniture, accessories, fashion jewelry, typography and poster design.