Originally published as the catalog of an exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Mar. 27-July 20, 2003

Art Deco - the style redolent of the flapper girl, the luxury ocean liner, Hollywood film and the skyscraper - came to epitomize the glamour, luxury and hedonism of the Jazz Age. It burst on to the world stage at the 1925 Exposition internationale des art decoratifs et industriels modernes, in Paris and quickly swept across the globe. Its influence was felt everywhere, from the skylines of New York and Shanghai to the design of fashionable eveningwear and plastic radios. Above all, it became the signature style of the pleasure palaces of the age - hotels, cocktail bars, nightclubs and cinemas. This authoritative publication brings together leading experts to explore the sources, varied forms of expression, distinct visual language and global reach of Art Deco"--Publisher's description

PART I. INTRODUCTION --

Style and the age / Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton -- Great War, mass society and 'modernity' / Arthur Marwick --

PART II. SOURCES AND ICONOGRAPHY --

Egyptomania / Christopher Frayling -- Deco sculpture and archaism / Penelope Curtis -- Ancient Mexican sources of art deco / Oriana Baddeley -- Inspiration from the East / Anna Jackson -- Collecting and constructing Africa / Ghislaine Wood -- National traditions / Juliette Hibou -- Avant-garde sources / Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton -- From Pattern to abstraction / Jonathan M. Woodham -- Exotic / Ghislaine Wood --

PART III. THE PARIS 1925 EXHIBITION --

International exhibition / Charlotte Benton -- Paris 1925: consuming modernity / Tag Gronberg -- Artist-decorator / Stéphane Laurent --

PART IV. THE SPREAD OF DECO --

Germany, Austria and the Netherlands / Reino Liefkes -- Art deco in Central Europe / David Crowley -- 'Lovely neoclassical byways': art deco in Scandinavia / Jennifer Hawkins Opie -- European glass / Ghislaine Wood -- Italian architecture and design / Tim Benton -- Conscience and consumption: art deco in Britain / Gillian Naylor -- British art deco ceramics / Alun Graves -- Art deco architecture / Tim Benton -- Art deco fashion / Valerie Mendes -- Art deco jewellery / Clare Phillips -- Photography and the new vision / Mark Haworth-Booth -- Art deco graphic design and typography / Jeremy Aynsley -- Art deco bindings ; Art deco and the book jacket / Rowan Watson, Annemarie Riding --

PART V. THE DECO WORLD --

Travel, transport and art deco / Paul Atterbury -- Art deco and hollywood film / Ghislaine Wood -- 'The filter of American taste': design in the USA in the 1920s / Wendy Kaplan -- American metalwork between the wars / Jeannine Falino -- New materials and technologies / Jeffrey L. Meikle -- Search for an American design aesthetic: from art deco to streamlining / Nicolas P. Maffei -- Art deco in East Asia / Anna Jackson -- Indo-deco / Amin Jaffer -- Ambiguously modern: art deco in Latin America / Rafael Cardoso -- 'A growing enthusiasm for modernity': art deco in Australia / Christopher Menz -- Art deco in South Africa / Dipti Bhagat -- Decline and revival / Charlotte Benton, Time Benton