Art Deco: The Moderne

Although the style of decorative arts of the 1920s is often referred to as "Art Deco," it was known in that period as "moderne." Moderne referred to sleek modern styling, abstract patterning, and the use of the simple, abstract flower that had its origins in Charles Rennie Mackintosh's designs of the early 20th century. The style was renamed "Art Deco" in the 1940s by critics who extracted part of the title of the huge Paris decorative arts exposition of 1925, the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Sometimes thought of as the exposition that brought the moderne style to America, it actually marked the beginning of the end of the style, as demonstrated by the textiles found in the Tirocchi shop. Late in the 1920s, two new approaches replaced it: the Machine Age aesthetic, based on the shiny metals of machines, and the purist International Style of the Bauhaus in Germany and French architect le Corbusier.