Notes for Bruce:
Ray, Gordon N.
The Art Deco Book in France
Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia
2005

p. 21: the heyday of Art Deco was 1919-1930

p. 26 rejection of literal detail (livre d'art)

p. 27: "Since the incontestable mark of Art Deco in the livre d'art was its emphasis on decoration as opposed to illustration ..."

p. 85: "The revolutionary principle announced in the preface to Marius Michel's treatise, that one should 'make the exterior decoration of a book accord with the subject treated therein' (p. 2), was explored in all its nuances with remarkale results. As Marius Michel himself pointed out, this principle could be applied as appropriately to modest as to elaborate bindings, but in the eyes of posterity, the idea of opulence came to be associated as firmly with bindings as with all other aspects of Belle Epoque production."

p. 88 modern "Above all one should not 'over-embellish' but use the Jansenist cover as a base, rejecting 'traditional lace patterns, ancestral fleurons, complicated mosaics, raised bands dividing the spine.'"

Austere geometric patterns , typographic characters,


See also:
website: http://etext.virginia.edu/bsuva/artdeco (esp. Lecture 5: Legrain and Art Deco bookbinding)
Ernest de Crauzat's La reliure francaise de 1900 a 1925 (Paris, 1932)
Victor Arwas' Art Deco (London, 1980)

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Duncan, Alastair & Georges de Bartha.
Art Nouveau and Art Deco Bookbinding: French Masterpieces 1880-1940
New York: Harry N. Abrams, [1988]


p. 18: "Rejecting everything that preceded him ... [Legrain] developed a geometric vocabulary of decoration based on the interplay of straight and curved lines."
"Legrain found a new vernacular in the use of abstract geometric motifs..." "The absence of any type of representational decoration would ensure that the design remained pure."

The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts (online):
Style of decorative arts that was widely disseminated in Europe and the USA during the 1920s and 1930s. Derived from the style made popular by the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, the term has been used only since the late 1960s, when there was a revival of interest in the decorative arts of the early 20th century. Since then the term ‘Art Deco’ has been applied to a wide variety of works produced during the inter-war years, and even to those of the German Bauhaus. 1. France. 2. USA

The Oxford Dictionary of Art (online):
Art Deco. The most fashionable style of design and interior decoration in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe and the USA, characterized by sleek geometrical or stylized forms and bright, sometimes garish colours. The style takes its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925. The emphasis of the exhibition was on individuality and fine craftsmanship (at the opposite extreme from the contemporary doctrines of the Bauhaus), and Art Deco was originally a luxury style, with costly materials such as ivory, jade, and lacquer much in evidence. However, when the exhibition ‘Machine Art’—another great showcase of the style—was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1934, the emphasis was on the general style and impression of an interior rather than upon the individual craft object. Perhaps partly because of the effects of the Depression, materials that could be easily mass produced (such as plastics) were adapted to the style. Art Deco may have owed something to several of the major art movements of the early 20th century—the geometry of Cubism (it has been described as ‘Cubism tamed’), the bold colours of Fauvism, and the machine forms of Constructivism and Futurism. Similarly, although the term is not often applied to painting or sculpture, the Art Deco style is clearly reflected in the streamlined forms of certain artists of the period, for example the painter Tamara de Lempicka and the sculptor Paul Manship. There was a revival of interest in Art Deco during the 1960s (it was then that the name was coined) and its bold, bright forms have a kinship with Pop art.

Oxford Art Online:
Descriptive term applied to a style of decorative arts that was widely disseminated in Europe and the USA during the 1920s and 1930s. Derived from the style made popular by the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, the term has been used only since the late 1960s, when there was a revival of interest in the decorative arts of the early 20th century. Since then the term ‘Art Deco’ has been applied to a wide variety of works produced during the inter-war years, and even to those of the German Bauhaus. But Art Deco was essentially of French origin, and the term should, therefore, be applied only to French works and those from countries directly influenced by France.

Bruce sent an email:

Since we are scoping Art deco binding, it seems to me we should address
in some way what art deco is, but the more I read about art deco the
harder it seems to describe in only a few words. Do you think something
like: "Use for bindings of art deco style" is good enough?

This may be fine for most people. I'm wondering if it's like "Paperbacks" -- you know it when you see it. However, I'm not against doing a bit of descripition: stylized figures, bold geometrics, contrasting colors [although sometimes there are nice monochromes], primarily in leather, popular in the 1920s and 1930s. This description is pretty close to the original proposal.

I agree that a bit of description is appropriate, something to get the "sleek geometrical forms" in there. People tend to get "art nouveau" and "art deco" confused since they're both so stylized.

Is there warrant for "primarily in leather" for art deco book bindings? Or is it just that the books on the subject tend to deal with fine bindings, which tend to be leather? I'm just wondering whether that's an art deco characteristic as such.

I agree with Erin. It may be better to omit the "primarily in leather" although most examples I've seen are in leather.

I personally own the Art Deco bookbindings volume listed in the warrant and I didn't spot a definition of art deco or art deco bindings. The impression I got from the book was that you knew an art deco binding when you saw it. That makes me think that Nina's suggestion of the scope note reading "Use for bindings of art deco style" would be appropriate. Though most art deco bindings are in leather I don't think it's necessary to mention that explicitly.

I'm probably one who wouldn't know art nouveau from art deco. Are there art nouveau bindings? If we decide to include description in the SN would this distinguish it from art nouveau:
Use for bindings characterized by geometrical, abstracted, and simplified forms, often employing vibrant colors.

I like Kate wouldn't know art nouveau from art deco either. This is where we need to be able to link images to a scope note (or the term itself).

Bruce is right- this is a great example of the need to link images to the scope note. I don't think the descriptive phrase in Kate's comment would really distinguish an art deco binding by itself as pop art bindings from the 60s could use the same description. I wonder if the phrase "Use for bindings characterized by geometrical, abstracted, and simplified forms, often employing vibrant colors and produced during the 1920s and 30s." would narrow it down. Art nouveau bindings would be from an earlier period while pop art would be much later.

This seems like a good solution. I always think of Art Nouveau as a style using abstracted botanicals and organic shapes, as opposed to Art Deco, which is much more angular and geometric. It sort of like comparing tiffany lamps to the Empire State Building. Dates will definitely help in the SN.

SN:
Use for bindings characterized by geometrical, abstracted, and simplified forms produced during the 1920s and 30s, often employing vibrant colors.

Use for bindings produced during the 1920s and 1930s in Art Deco style, often characterized by sleek, geometric, or stylized forms.