ContentsIntroduction1990s

Edwardian AffairsArts and CraftsJewel TonesThe Charm of IridescenceFirsts for WomenPoiret RevolutionThe Fauves

1910sTheatricsParrish BluesWiener WerksttteYouthful PastimesCubismWorld War IComing Home

1920sArt DecoTutmaniaCocktails and LaughterDestinationsThe Leyendecker ManBauhausModern PleasuresA Rose Is a Rose

1930sDeco ArchitectureIllusionsFantastic PlasticDiversionsParks and RecreationRosevilleThe Wizard of OzThe World of Tomorrow

1940sFantasiaEdward HopperWorld War IICarefree and CasualThe American DreamHit ParadeFilm NoirLa Mode

1950sHappy at HomeTeen AngelsMid-Century ModernistsMovie GoddessesCosmetic SuperstarsCoast-to-Coast WoolensFantasylandAbstract Expressionists

1960sPassage to IndiaA Different SpaceKensington and CarnabyBlack Is BeautifulPsychedeliaSesame StreetWarholPANTONE

1970sColors and CoordinatesAvocado and Harvest GoldFeathers and LeathersProvenceLand ArtThe Day the World Turned Day-GloNight LifeHotel California

1980s

Memphis, Michael, and PhilippeTo the Manor BornUrban CowboysSigns and SymbolsMiami ViceMajorelle and MoroccoSanta FePersonal ColorsJaponais

1990sGrunge and GraffitiIts a Good ThingThe Nature of ZenOut of AfricaLatin FlavorsChic over GeekAnimeConspicuous ConsumptionFuture Forecasts

EndnotesBibliographyImage CreditsIndexAcknowledgmentsCopyright

IntroductionWe see color with everything we are. What starts as a signal passing along the optic nerve quicklydevelops into an emotional, social, and spiritual phenomenon that carries many layers of vividmeaning. Light with a wavelength of 650 nanometers or so is seen as red. But it is experienced aswarmth or danger, romance or revolution, heroism or evil, depending on the cultural and personalmatrix in which it appears. Crimson, scarlet, and cerise suggest nuances of feeling and reaction thatnanometers cannot quantify. And what red can express is different from the symbolic potential ofgreens and blues. Or yellows and oranges. The resonance of any shade across the spectrum shifts anddevelops according to the context in which it appears.

The context within which color unfurls its rainbow of symbolism and emotion is history itself.Historians look back in time to explain the intricacies of people and their societies the forces thatmake crimson an ancient color of authority and power, scarlet a badge of sin, and cerise the essence offeminine seduction. And the forces that, over time, may well exchange these associations for others.The evolution of color is fascinating to watch. PANTONE The 20th Century in Color explores ahundred years of such evolution.

At more than a decades distance, we are now just far away enough to try to perceive the era as awhole. We can look through the lens of history at both the first and last decades (and all the decades inbetween) and discuss with some objectivity what best expressed the creative, cultural, and socialinfluences of the dayor in some cases what helped create them.

The last century was a remarkably significant time for color. Revolutionary changes occurred inevery visual discipline, with rules being broken and new ones set in their place at every turn. Newmaterials became available as new technologies transformed (or indeed invented) everything frompaints to plastics to powder coatings, and changed the nature of making with new manufacturingprocesses. The near-alchemy of Louis Comfort Tiffanys iridescent glazes, Bakelites emulation ofexpensive natural materials, and the Day-Glo fluorescents of the latter part of the century all point totechnologys role in propelling twentieth-century arts and design into new creative territory.

For most of the century, technology simply supported the advancement of the creative disciplineswith new materials, but by the end of the century, technology had become so deeply embedded indesign that computers themselves became design objects and generators of color palettes. Softwarewritten to help designers began to influence what was created, and once impossible projects like FrankGehrys Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao became realities. Apple Computers 1998 iMac, whichincorporated bright translucent plastics into its outer shell, was another link between color andtechnology. In many ways, our book traces the centurys continuum from handcraft to computer.

And finally, for those of us fascinated by colorwe who routinely try to name the colors foundin any given sunset or brilliant autumn leaf, every swatch of paint or complex fabrichow could wenot try to understand, in color terms, the century in which most of us were born and acquired our ownlexicon of color symbols? We can trace, with color, some of the most important social changes of thatcentury. For example, women started the twentieth century wearing the pastels and earnest neutralsthat outfitted them for a set of defined and constraining social roles. By the 80s, they were lookingfor personal, bespoke colors that brought out their individual potential.

Our changing feelings about war found expression in color, too. The chivalrous and patrioticpalette at the outbreak of World War I gave way to disillusionment with what war could achieve anddismay at its aftermath. World War IIs more somber and dutiful mood often was leavened by a bit oflighthearted comedy, but the idealism of the late teens is absent and reflected in the colors of theForties.

The change across the century in aesthetics is also impressive. The seminal color influences ofTiffany, Faberg, and Paul Poiret still linger as visual creatives revisit their work. But late-centurytalents Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Karim Rashid offer up new visions ofcolor, each of which captures something essential about the world in which they operated.

Because color is such a fundamental element in the human experience, a book about color endsup being a book about human experience itself. Part textbook and part fairy tale, part biography andpart novel, our history of color is designed to start each reader on his or her personal and creativeexploration of color.

Even for two self-confessed color fanatics, looking at a hundred years of color presents someimportant challenges, the greatest of which has to do with the inherently fugitive nature of color. Wehave based our discussion on objects from each decade of the twentieth century whose colors tell astory about the emotions and aspirations of their creators and their users, and the societies they livedin. But since the color of nearly every object changes as it ages, arriving at an accurate colorspecification is not easy.

When we describe the shade of red in an important Fauve painting as PANTONE Pompeian Red,have we chosen the red of the paint on the painters palette? Or the red as it looked wet on the canvaswhen the painting was finished? Or the red of the freshly cured paintings first day on a gallery wall?Or the red as it appears in the paintings eventual museum home? As years pass, materials mature intoslightly different color values.

Since each gently different red was accurate at one time, which red do we choose in a history ofcolor? Lacking a time machine for convenient travel back to early twentieth-century Paris, wegenerally chose color values as they appear today.

But even that has its challenges. In addition to the almost inevitable shifting over time of anobjects colors, shifts come from other sources, too. Lets again use our Fauve painting as an example.At a certain point in the paintings career as a museum artifact, it will have been photographed andcatalogued so that a record of the museums collection is available to administrators as well as arthistorians. Despite all the best efforts of the photographer, the photograph will never exactly conveythe colors of the actual painting. Something will shift. So now there are two ways to perceive thepainting, each with its own slightly different color values: a viewing of the actual painting, and aviewing of the photograph of the painting.

Perhaps at some point, an art historian will want to include the painting in a book on the Fauvemovement. The museums photograph will be reproduced by the books printer and, once again, nomatter how carefully the process is managed, some color shifts will occur. So now there will be threeways to perceive the paintingor even more if the colors shift subtly across the print run of the book.Or infinitely more if images of the painting achieve an online presence, because every computerscreen will display a slightly different color matrix.

In doing our best to sift through the various pitfalls of specifying a color, we have referred toactual paintings, products, textiles, and fashion wherever possible. Please be patient with anydiscrepancies in color identification you might uncover as you explore the book: we did our best tonegotiate these dangerous territories.

Another challenge comes from the vast scope of the project. Because color evolves in a uniqueway in every culture across the globe, tracing color across all cultures in the twentieth century wouldbe not a book project, but a lifetimes work. Perhaps even more than one lifetime and one set of co-authors would be required! As a result, our account of color in the twentieth century is admittedlyU.S.centric. Both co-authors are American, and our cultural lens has certainly shaped the focus of thebook.

However, other influences are an important part of our message, and readers from other countrieswill certainly find interest in the book. Europes presence here is undeniableparticularly at thebeginning, but also throughout the century. Asia, Africa, and Latin America also play roles in thebook, particularly in the second half of the century, when a hunger for new and diverse culturalreferences infused many creative efforts.

Even after admitting that our choices are affected by our own cultural formation, the challenge ofbreadth still remains. The single greatest challenge of putting the book together came from thenecessity to edit down a century of culture and creativity into, on the average, eight color palettes perdecade, each of which is captured in a handful of images and approximately eight colors. Winnowingpotential content into the final choices for each decade was many times downright painful,particularly as we tried to balance popular cultures broad trends with the innovations of individuals.

Who was left behind? Jack Lenor Larsen, whose brilliant career as a textile designer spannedseveral decades and touched every corner of the globe. Also the elegant exuberance of Emilio Pucci,Jamie Drake, and Tricia Guild, the chic shock of Missoni yarn colors, the intriguing combinations ofsecondary and tertiary colors of Sherri Donghias textile work and a daunting list of talentedpainters; fashion, industrial, graphic, and interior designers; architects; master artisans;photographers, film directors, and the like. Please forgive us for the terribly tough choices made out ofnecessity rather than lack of appreciation.

We hope that the book is useful to educators, designers, and visual artists of all kinds. The eightycolor palettes chosen to represent the twentieth century can serve anyone interested in informing theirwork or their teaching with historical perspective. But the careful balance of values makes eachpalette usable in its own right. For example, the interaction between the complex colors of the FutureForecasts palette of the 1990s is still relevant today: the layered neutral Lark vibrates gently againstits green-inflected sister color Oasis, and takes structure from Midnight Navy and Marron. Rust andKetchup take the central values of the palette in one lively direction, and Tourmaline and Lyons Bluein another more contemplative direction. Looking closely at earlier palettes such as Illusions of the1930s and Edwardian Affairs of the 1900s reveals similarly intriguing color relationships, all ready tobe adapted and tweaked by readers to suit their own purposes.

We also invite readers to linger over the palettes and the imagery that supports them to drawhistoric parallels. No color (or palette) ever disappears from the face of the earth forever, and it isfascinating to see revivals and transformations unfold. Is the bling of the 1990s as described in the

Conspicuous Consumption palette related to the Faberg-inspired Jewel Tones palette from the 1900s?We think so: the urge to declare ones status in precious (or at least precious-looking) materials is ahallmark of the twentieth century. And what about the surprising affinities between the 1910s paletteTheatrics and 1980s Miami Vice? What would the Ballets Russess genius designer Leon Bakst havethought of Crockett and Tubbs? He might have enjoyed the similarities between his colors ofMauvewood, Faded Rose, and Dazzling Blue with the more recent palette of Radiant Orchid, Lantana,and Deep Ultramarine. Perhaps he would have rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and donned alavender T-shirt.

While it is something of a clich to say that history is a tool for understanding the future, the idearepresents an important way in which this book can be useful. Tracing color evolution from decade todecade provides fascinating perspectives on what may be next in our own time. Take the memorableAvocado green of the 1970s, for example. Avocado (and its kissing cousins Harvest Gold and BurntOrange) disappeared in the 1980s in a wave of Santa Fe mauves and lavenders. Both were meant toembrace colors from the natural worldand thereby provide a certain amount of psychic refuge fromthe goings-on of the unnatural world. But Avocado green was so overdone and overused thatdesigners fled all the way across the color wheel to mauve for fresh access to nature and the refuge itpromises. The 1980s ubiquity of mauve, of course, also became a problem, and alternatives had to befound in the 90s in the form of hushed Zen greens and lively yellow-greens.

Observing such transitions invites us to look at the overindulgences of our own time, and whatmay follow as a reaction. Just as most of our fellow color fanatics will enjoy seeing the past inglorious color, we think readers of this book will also be intrigued by looking forward into the futurethrough a well-informed lens of color.

1990sThe New EraThe year 1900 was, to some degree, also the last year of the nineteenth century. Pariss UniversalExposition of that year can be described as a catalogue of the previous centurys most vibrant thinkingabout art, craft, design, and technologyand as a glimpse of changes to come. Fifty million visitorscame to experience sumptuous Belle poque tastes (as well as more modern offerings) as presented byseventy-six thousand exhibitors from forty-seven countries. The ideas and colors they saw were asvaried as the exhibits.

Official French committees stocked the fairs fine arts pavilions with tasteful still lifes andrefined statues, while independent exhibitors like Siegfried Bing pushed into the future with hisMaison de lArt Nouveau. Not content with academic tastes, Bing was a devotee first of Japonismeand then, as the twentieth century drew closer, of Art Nouveau. He promoted French talents such aspainter Edouard Vuillard, glass artist mile Gall, and sculptor Camille Claudel, but he alsochampioned international innovators like Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffanys iridescent Favrile glassblended gold hues with Art Nouveaus vivid take on natural inspirations to create one of theoutstanding palettes of the decade.

Established tastemakers of the day like fashion designer Jeanne Paquin chaired variouscommittees. As president of the Fashion Section of the Exhibition, she helped create an atmosphere ofluxury without excess, and invention without vulgarity. In a world where royal families still sat at thetop of well-defined social hierarchies in most Old World countries, a sense of propriety was to bemaintained in public places. Paquins elaborately draped creations of lace and pleats were modest andcorrect, but as the pastel colors of Edwardian-era womens fashions suggest, propriety was not withoutits gently seductive side.

The influence of Old World monarchies was not limited to propriety or parties. Then as now,fashionable royals wielded considerable influence over public tastes. Tsar Nikolai IIs patronage ofCarl Faberg created a vogue for gifts and accessories crafted of fine metals and gems, and finishedwith enamel. Ren Lalique offered a more innovative vocabulary of less expensive materialsbutwith just as much visual impact as his costlier rivals. With such creativity emanating from the worldof jewelry, the deep tones of precious materials emerged as an influential color range.

Controversial ideas that would later blossom into powerful influences in the next century werepresent, too. For example, women competed in the second Olympic Games, which were held as part ofthe Exposition. This new development represented a step along the way towards full rights for womenin all aspects of life. Early sportswear developed to accommodate expanding freedoms and embraceda palette that expressed an unfussy and more liberated approach to life.

While the Universal Exposition suggested that technology was on the rise, with its palacesdevoted to electricity and metallurgy and its showcasing of the first movies with sound and the firstescalator, application of modern technology in the visual realm was not yet broad. The potential ofindustrial technology to transform the domestic environment had been explored by C. F. A. Voysey, aproponent of Englands Arts and Crafts movement. But it took an American like Gustav Stickley (inthe years following the Exhibition) to make an empire out of streamlined Arts and Crafts design

combined with modern manufacturing techniques. As Stickley was busy perfecting his business, twoof his American contemporaries, brothers Charles and Henry Greene, focused on perfecting a new,refined, modern vision for domestic life. Subsequent designers and architects were highly influencedby both the accessibility offered by mass manufacturing and the idea that residential life could bemade more beautiful for a larger number of families. An Arts and Crafts palette emerges in the firstdecade of the twentieth century as a stable, earthy color range that continues to be relevant today.

Other influential voices emerged in the decade after the Exposition, as well. A small group ofEuropean painters briefly explored the wild use of saturated, unnatural colorand were labeled beastsfor their efforts. But history sees the Fauves, active as a group only from 1905 to 1907, as the first artrevolutionaries of the twentieth century. At about the same time, fashion designer Paul Poiret was alsoexploring a departure from tradition. He freed women from the corset and re-imagined fashion as theexpression of individuality and fantasy rather than a straightjacket of conformity. His inventive,flowing shapes and bold, Orientalist color palette capture a feeling just as revolutionary as the Fauves.

In Poirets forms and the Fauves colors we see a departure from nineteenth-century forms andideas, and hints of the allencompassing changes to come.

Edwardian Affairs

King Edward VII reigned over the United Kingdom. Nikolai II was emperor and autocrat of all theRussias, and Wilhelm II was German emperor and king of Prussia. Frances Third Republic had beendeclared, and the luxury of the Belle poque infused the arts and design of the Western world. Thepolitically stable, prosperous years prior to World War I have been called the last good time of theupper classes.[1]

The life of the upper crusts long party was Edward VII himself. His easy charm and love of funfueled dozens of affairs with beautiful women before and after his marriage to Princess Alexandra ofDenmarkwho seemed to accept her husbands roving eye. Edward loved food, drink, foreign travel,and a good late-night party. European society followed his example. As historian Virginia Cowles putsit, Edwardian society modeled itself to suit the Kings personal demands. Everything was larger thanlife size. There was an avalanche of balls and dinners and country house parties. More money wasspent on clothes, more food was consumed, more horses were raced, more infidelities werecommitted, more birds were shot, more yachts were commissioned, more late hours kept than everbefore.[2]

Perhaps as a counterbalance to its excesses, appropriateness rather than ostentation was acriterion for Edwardian style. Both Edward and Alexandra expertly coordinated their apparel andemphasized finesse over extravagance. This was also the time when the English country house was theepitome of fine living. The penchant of country house style for comfort and the grounded pleasures ofgarden, hunt, and horses, kept tastes of the day from being too rarified.

White Swan, Gray Dawn, Jojoba, Deauville Mauve, and Wild Rose express the decorum requiredby Edwardian standards, while Shale Green, Prune, and Faded Rose recall the pleasures of anEdwardian party.

Left: Queen Alexandras ostrich feather fan 1901Right: Illustration A Summer Toilette for a pattern in Fashions for All 1909

Left: Cinq Heures chez le Couturier Paquin 1906, Henri GervexRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) White Swan 12-0000; Gray Dawn 14-4106; Jojoba 14-0935; Deauville Mauve 16-

1707; Wild Rose 16-1715; Shale Green 16-6116; Prune 19-2014; Faded Rose 18-1629

Arts and Crafts

The Arts and Crafts movement arose in England in the 1880s, inspired by the designs of WilliamMorris and the writings of John Ruskin. Both advocated truth in materials and fine handcraftsmanship, to which the Arts and Crafts movement added an anti-manufacturing philosophy andeconomic populism. Aesthetically, Arts and Crafts offered a simplification of pattern and color thatrepresented a departure from Victorian ornamental excessesand by implication its confining socialcode.

C. F. A. Voysey, a leading Arts and Crafts adherent, was known for the restrained colors andpared-down patterns of his wallpapers, fabrics, and carpets. In his later career Voysey departed fromthe handmade emphasis of Arts and Crafts and relied heavily on manufacturers to make and sell hisgoods.

When Arts and Crafts reached the United States at the turn of the century, influential designersfollowed Voyseys footsteps. Gustav Stickley built his signature slat-back furniture into an empire ofshowrooms, catalogues, production facilities, and even a magazine called The Craftsman. Withoutmodern manufacturing, his success would have been impossible.

Stickleys example encouraged American designers to advocate the accessibility offered bymodern manufacturing. In the words of Frank Lloyd Wright, machine-made furnishings made itpossible for rich and poor alike to enjoy beautiful surface treatments of clean, strong forms.[3] Artsand Crafts in American hands became an attempt to ennoble and improve domestic life in as manyhomes as possible.

The palette of the Arts and Crafts movement of the first decade of the twentieth century includesa range of complex, earthy tones, all of which support the idea of home as noble refuge. The richneutrals of Pine Bark, Beech, Antique White, and Cream Tan form a restful base for residentialinteriors. Leather Brown, Autumn Leaf, Brittany Blue, and Loden Green refer directly to naturetheArts and Crafts movements most frequent source of inspiration.

Left: Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson bound 1905, binding by Frederick KranzRight: Linen press 1904, Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony

Left: Chandelier 19071909, Greene and Greene, Pasadena, CaliforniaRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Pine Bark 17-1410; Beech 19-1618; Antique White 11-0105; Cream Tan 13-1108;

Leather Brown 18-1142; Autumn Leaf 17-1347; Brittany Blue 18-5610; Loden Green 18-0422

Jewel Tones

The years prior to World War I saw coronation ceremonies in Norway, England, Denmark, Spain,Italy, Portugal, and Belgium not to mention the Russian and Dutch coronations just before thecentury began. The grandest of these generated a wave of commissions to jewelers throughout Europe.The Parisian firm of Cartier, for example, shot into international prominence after they supplied tiarasfor the coronation of Englands Edward VII.

More familiar with royal patronage were established firms like Carl Fabergs. His objects offantasy earned him the position of official jeweler to the courts of Russia, Sweden, and Norway. TsarNikolai II commissioned forty-four eggs throughout his reign, not to mention opera glasses, cigarettecases, and other sumptuous accessories and objects. Fabergs vivid colors were part of his appeal,and lapis lazuli and nephrite jade were favorite materials.

Ren Lalique became prominent at nearly the same time as Faberg. His following was attractedless by stately luxury and more by Laliques wildly inventive designs. He freely mixed precious andsemiprecious stones with blown glass, ivory, and other unexpected materials. His use of enameltechniques like champlev and plique-a-jour gave Lalique a nearly unlimited color palette, which heused to create shimmering Art Nouveau versions of peacocks, hummingbirds, dragonflies, and more.Influential patrons collected his jewelry, including actress Sarah Bernhardt and philanthropistCalouste Gulbenkian.

At the 1900 Universal Exposition, Lalique displayed over one hundred pieces laid out like ameadow of wildflowers in vitrines decorated with bats flying overhead against a twilight sky andbackdrops of bronze butterfly women.[4] He was one of several designers (including Louis ComfortTiffany) hoping to establish an international reputation. He succeeded.

Rich Gold forms the gleaming foundation of the Jewel Tones palette. Victoria Blue, Viridis,Cloisonn, Chinese Violet, and Chateau Rose hint at colored gemstones and the saturated, shimmeringcolors of fine enamel.

Left: Pendant 1901, Ren Jules LaliqueRight: Group of Faberg eggs ca. 19001910

Left: Peacock library lamp ca. 19001910, Tiffany Studios, New YorkRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Rich Gold 16-0836; Victoria Blue 18-4148; Viridis 17-5734; Cloisonn 18-4440;

Chinese Violet 18-3418; Chateau Rose 17-2120

The Charm of Iridescence

Painter Louis Comfort Tiffany became interested in glass in his late twenties. After apprenticing atglass studios in Brooklyn, he founded the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885. His desire to capture thebeauty of plants and flowers drove Tiffany to develop an immense catalog of glass colors and textures.

By 1900, Tiffany was known worldwide for his work in glass, metal, enamel, and other materialswhich he called Favrile, after an Old English word for handmade. Tastemaker Siegfried Bing wrotein praise of him, Never, perhaps, has any man carried to greater perfection the art of faithfullyrendering Nature in her most seductive aspects.[5] Of Tiffanys peacock feather designs, he said,[T]his truly unique art is combined in these peacocks feathers with the charm of iridescence whichbathes the subtle and velvety ornamentation with an almost supernatural light.[6]

Nature was Tiffanys inspiration, but his methods were scientific. Tiffany relied on laboratorysubstances like silver nitrate, uranium, manganese, arsenic, and potash nitrate which, combined inprecise quantities with glass, made his signature gold luster. Other recipes created as many as fivethousand glass colors and textures. Unknown technicians worked behind the scenes, under thedirection of Arthur J. Nash and his son Leslie, to achieve the effects Tiffany needed.

Others, like Frederick Carder of Steuben Glassworks, also explored iridescence. He introducedgold-toned Aurene glass in 1904 as an attempt to rival Tiffany. The allure of pearlescent, iridescent,and reflective finishes remained part of the armory of the decorative arts for the rest of the century.

Pale Gold and Antique Gold form the foundation of the iridescent palette. Juniper, Sepia, andDeep Teal reference Art Nouveaus interest in nature. Lavender, Evening Sand, and Almost Mauvecapture the subtle and dreamy play of light across a Tiffany peacock vase.

Left: Blue peacock vase ca. 19001910, Tiffany Studios, New YorkRight: Ornamental art glass print ca. 19021908, Meyers Konv

Left: Eighteen-light pond lily decorative lamp ca. 19021915, Tiffany Studios, New YorkRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Pale Gold 15-1927; Antique Gold 16-0730; Juniper 18-6330; Sepia 18-1928; Deep

Teal 19-4914; Lavender 15-3817; Evening Sand 14-1311; Almost Mauve 12-2103

Firsts for Women

Innovation at the Universal Exposition was not confined to fashion and the decorative arts: attendeessaw early signs of some of the revolutionary social changes that would characterize the new century.For example, nineteen women competed for the first time at the second Olympic Games, staged aspart of the Exposition. Charlotte Cooper was the first female Olympic champion, with a first in tennis.

Other sporty women furthered Coopers example. Baroness Raymonde de Laroche became thefirst woman to earn a pilots license in 1910. Annie Taylor became the first person to go over NiagaraFalls in a barrel in 1902and afterward said of her adventure, Nobody ought to do that again. Manywomen embraced sport as healthful for mind and bodyand as a way to express a sense of personalfreedom in public life.

The sporting life helped birth the ground-changing idea that the body was no longer something tomold into predetermined shapes with corsets and rigid, structured garmentsbut rather a vibrantforce to be trained through sport and diet. For those who could afford the time and expense, briskwalks and bike rides in the countryside were thought good for the posture. French men and womenswam together without scandal along the coast of Normandy on getaway weekends and summervacations. Alpine sports began to take hold, and skiing, skating, and curling provided a new respitefrom the winter doldrums.

The colors of early twentieth-century sporting life are grounded in pragmatic, unfussy neutralsfrom dark to light, with Anthracite and Brunette at the deep end of the scale and Rugby Tan, WarmSand, and Pristine at the lighter end. In a reflection of the new presence of women in sport, MirageGray, Powder Pink, and Shale Green layer a breezy, feminine aspect into the palette. American Beautysuggests a blush of new power for women in the young century.

Left: Three women on bicycles ca. 19001910Right: Hartford Tire magazine advertisement 1909

Left: Ad for Kelloggs Toasted Corn Flakes 1907Right: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Anthracite 19-4007; Brunette 19-1235; Rugby Tan 15-1315; Warm Sand 15-1214;

Pristine 11-0606; Mirage Gray 15-4703; Powder Pink 14-1511; Shale Green16-6116; American Beauty 19-1759

Poiret Revolution

In Paul Poirets hands, fashion became a luxurious vehicle for fantasy that encouraged movement andease rather than conformity, back pain, and fainting spells. He transformed Belle poque dressmakinginto twentieth-century couture with his emphasis on draping over tailoring. And he presaged todaysglobal lifestyle brands with his lines of furniture, dcor, and fragrance.

In 1903, shortly after establishing his own atelier, Poiret eliminated the petticoat from hisdesigns. The corset followed suit in 1906. He liberated women from the hourglass silhouette imposedupon them by tradition and maintained by foundation garments so constricting that they sometimesharmed their wearers. He explained the success of his clothes by saying, I am merely the first toperceive womens secret desires and to fulfill them.[7]

His sense of what women wanted took him beyond the references that governed fashion at theturn of his century. He found inspiration in the Hellenic chiton, the Japanese kimono, Middle Easternharem pants, and more. He invented new shapes with his comfortable cocoon coats, which envelopedtheir wearer in sensuous fabrics, and in his famous chemise dresses which, because they hung looselyfrom the shoulders, freed their wearers from any sense of clothing as physical restraint. His frequentuse of fur and other sumptuous materials heightened the pleasure of wearing his clothes.

His palette was as interesting and revolutionary as everything else about him. He found hiscompetitors color choices to be dull to the point of tedium. But my sunburst of pastels has brought anew dawn,[8] he proclaimedand his tones of Jaffa Orange, Yolk Yellow, and Cocoon, combinedwith Cadmium Green, Chinese and Chalk Violet, and Crocus, justify his declaration.

Left: Coat drawing from Bon Ton Gazette ca. 1900s, Paul PoiretRight: Coats and cloaks from Les Robes de Paul Poiret 1908, Paul Iribe

Left: Three dresses and a toad from Les Robes de Paul Poiret 1908, Paul IribeRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Jaffa Orange 16-1454; Yolk Yellow; Cocoon14-1025; Cadmium Green 18-5424;

Chinese Violet 18-3418; Chalk Violet 17-3615; Crocus 16-3115

The Fauves

Fauves is French for beasts, because the artists of this movement the first art revolution of thetwentieth centurywere said to paint less like men than like animals. They sometimes squeezed paintout of the tube and directly onto the canvas. And even when they used brushes, the marks they madewere aggressive daubs of unalloyed color rather than brushstrokes.

They made their mark at the 1905 Salon dAutomne in Paris. The rawness of their work touchedoff a scandal comparable to that of the First Impressionist Exhibition of 1874. A pot of colors flungin the face of the public was the assessment of one critic, Camille Mauclair.[9]

But history sees the Fauves in a much more positive way. They were the first to see painting in atruly Modern lightas mere marks of pigment on canvas. They created in their works a visualexperience rather than a mirror held up to something else. They set painting free from the academicconventions of realism, and even of the Impressionists need to capture the sensory experience of aplace or event.

Henri Matisse painted Calm, Luxe, et Volupt in 1904, which is generally recognized as asuccessful articulation of the movements ideas. By 1907, most of the individualistic Fauves hadsplintered away to other ideas and styles. But their exploration of painting as solely pigment andsurface became the basis for the increasingly abstract exploration of color and form that characterizesModern art of the twentieth century.

Jaffa Orange and Fusion Coral, Pink Lavender and Confetti, particularly when used to depictlandscape elements, trumpet the Fauves deliberate departure from realism. Strong Blue, PompeianRed, and Fluorite Green heighten a sense of assertive and unnatural beauty, while Sycamore isfrequently used like a pen stroke to instill some form into the colorful mayhem of the Fauves.

Left:The Port of La Ciotat 1907, Georges BraqueRight:Tugboat on the Seine, Chatou 1906, Maurice de Vlaminck

Left: Open Window, Collioure 1905, Henri MatisseRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Jaffa Orange 16-1454; Fusion Coral 16-1543; Pink Lavendar 14-3207; Confetti 16-

1723; Strong Blue 18-4051; Pompeian Red 18-1658; Fluorite Green 17-0133; Sycamore 19-5917

1910sChanges and ChallengesCan a silly little doll capture the heart of a decade? If it is a Kewpie, yes. Illustrator Rose ONeillsguileless adaptation of the Cupid of classical mythology was a hit from the moment it appeared inLadies Home Journal in 1909. Three-dimensional Kewpie dolls later sold by the tens of thousands,and cartoon versions ran in broadly circulated womens magazines for twenty-five years.

What was it about the Kewpie that made so many fall in love? The sunny intentions behind theKewpie played a part in the craze. Kewpie philosophy takes the unwieldiness out of wisdom [and]puts cheerio into charity ONeill said, ever the optimist.[10] Though successful financially,ONeills life was not a happy one romantically, and the Kewpie was her sunny response to the trialsof Love, or indeed to the trials of anything. The resolute and steady colors of her Kewpie worldcapture her stalwart cheeras well as something essential about the decade.

Other innocent toys, including Raggedy Ann and the Erector Set, also became toy empires, whichpoints to the nascent commercialism of the century.

More than one brand of optimism was in wide distribution in the United States. Anotherentrepreneurial American artist, Maxfield Parrish, painted radiant landscapes populated mostly byscantily clad nymphs and youths. Like ONeill, he sold millions of reproductions of his work andbecame a part of the American imagination. His fans included Edith Wharton towards the beginningof his life and Andy Warhol towards the end, both drawn to his accomplished painting technique andperhaps also to his languorous sensuality. The intense blue of his skies came to be called Parrish Blue,a color which was widely used in textiles, ceramics, and more. It is the center point of a lush, romanticpalette.

Across the Atlantic, the stylish Wiener Werksttte advocated another aesthetic ideal: acompletely designed existence, from coats to carpets and shoes to shades, all in refined shapes andcolors. Founded by visionaries Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, the Werksttte movement wantedto promote an ideal and purposeful order and simplicity in craftsmanship, at the same time as itbrought the sensibilities of the middle and upper classes of the Hapsburg Empire (and elsewhere) intothe young century.[11] The founders, along with a host of well-known collaborators, rendered theirdesigns in carefully curated tones. Their success took the Wiener Werksttte into nearly everycategory of the decorative arts, in a prototype of todays international mega-brand.

Artist and designer Leon Bakst, along with cultural impresario Sergei Diaghilev and hischoreographers and dancers, seduced the avant-garde of Paris into adulation with their work at theBallets Russes. Starting with Scheherazade in 1910, the company stunned its audiences withdownright sexy ballets that were a radical departure from the prim, high-society-approved ballets ofthe established companies. Baksts costumes and sets, which adapted the patterns and textures of theEast in a bold, modern way, became a fashion craze. Clothing and interiors across Paris brightenedvisibly in emulation of Baksts passionate language of color.

Optimism, idealism, and sensuality, however, were not the only influences in the air. The Cubistscaptured something of the tensions of preWWI Europe with their studied reordering of reality. Intheir attempt to portray the multiple perspectives of modern life, they captured the fragmented view of

the world that would emerge after the conflict. On first exposure to the work of the Cubists, TeddyRoosevelt declared them the lunatic fringe. But their intellectual endeavors, carried out in mostlysomber urban colors, turned out to be more clairvoyant than lunatic.

At the onset, World War I inspired a burst of chivalrous patriotism and persuasive propaganda.But the deadly, tedious trench warfare that dragged on for years soon replaced heroic rhetoric with amore mournful view. Erich Maria Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front later emerged as arealistic account of the war from a soldiers point of view. It suggested, too, the disillusionment ofsociety at large with the generation whose leadership provoked the war. The colors of World War Iexpress, of course, the influence of military uniforms and of flag-waving patriotism. But the mournfulaftermath is captured in the color of the corn poppy, an enduring symbol of the many lives sacrificedaround the world.

The years after World War I saw, particularly in the United States, a rushed return to normalcywhich went well beyond normal. Soldiers, who had experienced something of the world outsidetheir cities and towns, and their wives, many of whom had now worked outside the home, were readyfor new ideas. They embraced a wave of labor-saving home appliances, a new emphasis on homehygiene and the domestic sciences, and the idea of home improvement promoted by new magazineslike the long-running House Beautiful. Rules for home design were rewritten in strong, optimisticcolors, which set the stage for the roaring decade to come.

Theatrics

The Ballets Russes set the world on fire with a 1910 production of Scheherazade. With impresarioSergei Diaghilev at the helm, and Michel Fokine as choreographer, Rimsky-Korsakovs lush 1888evocation of the legendary storytelling queen of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights camealive as a modern ballet. But it was Leon Baksts designs for costumes and sets that elevated theproduction into the realm of modern theater. His subsequent designs for the Ballets Russes, withwhich he was active through 1914, introduced a passionate and contemporary language of color andpattern to avant-garde Parisians.

Russian-born Bakst brought a fascination with folk art and Eastern sensibilities into his work. Hispatterns simplified Turkish, Persian, and Central Asian textiles into bold, modern geometry. Suzaniembroideries were simplified into cotton prints of concentric circles. References to complicated ikatpatterns were delivered in crisp appliqu or beading. Diaphanous, patterned scarves swirledsuggestively around womens costumes constructed with simple bras and hip bands rather than a stiffcorset. Occasionally, as in star dancer Vaslav Nijinskys performance in Prlude laprs-midi dunfaune, sexualized choreography combined with Baksts designs challenged social mores of the day.

But his admirers were undaunted. His work elicited a fashion craze, which opened the way forbrightly colored clothing with Orientalist touches like plunging V-necks, turbans, and tribal jewelry.His set designs were no less influential, and for many years to come, divans and floor cushions wereused to evoke a bit of Scheherazades enchantment.

Baksts exotic palette featured saturated contrasts between Russet Orange, Grenadine, DazzlingBlue, Mauvewood, and Turkish Tile. Sensuous, smoky colors of Faded Rose, Amber Brown, andGolden Haze supported Baksts Orientalist approach.

Left: Costume design for a dancer in Diaghilevs production of the ballet Scheherazade 1910, Leon BakstRight (top): Modern dress, Dione 1910, Leon Bakst

Right (bottom):A Scheherazade Salon 1910, Leon Bakst

Left: Costume design for The Great Eunuch in Diaghilevs production of the ballet Scheherazade 1910, Leon BakstRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Russet Orange 16-1255; Grenadine 17-1558; Dazzling Blue 18-3949; Mauvewood

17-1522; Turkish Tile 18-4432; Faded Rose 18-1629; Amber Brown 17-1147; Golden Haze 12-0826

Parrish Blues

There seem to be magic days once in a while, with some rare quality of light, that hold a bodyspellbound, wrote Maxfield Parrish.[12] For the first thirty years of the twentieth century, MaxfieldParrish held thousands of viewers spellbound with his paintings.

He illustrated Edith Whartons well-received 1904 Italian Villas and their Gardens, which wasfollowed by equally successful illustrations for several childrens books, including The ArabianNights. He quickly became a sought-after painter of magazine covers, and entered an exclusivecontract with Colliers, for which he created sixty covers. After Colliers he worked with other titlessuch as Ladies Home Journal and Harpers Weekly. His illustrations were reprinted commerciallyand sold to homes, hotels, and offices as wall decorationwhich proved so wildly popular that Parrishhas been called the common mans Rembrandt.[13] A reproduction of his 1920 painting Daybreakwas owned by one in four American households.

In Parrishs idealized world, the sky occasionally featured a fluffy cloud or a handful of stars, butwas otherwise perfectly, gorgeously blue. Look closely at one of his skies. They start off at thehorizon as a pale white-blue with a hint of green and eventually soar into a celestial hue that becameknown as Parrish Blue. The color proved so popular that it appeared in china, textiles, stained glass,and more.

Parrish fell out of favor in midcentury, with critics like influential Clement Greenberg decryinghis hallucinatory highoctane realism. But in his final years artists like Andy Warhol embraced theworks combination of lyricism and androgynous sensuality.

Parrishs skies incorporate Marina, Celestial, and Turkish Sea. His lush, optimistic depictions ofnature are brightened with Ibis Rose, Mulberry, and Forest Green. And Dawn is part of Parrishsdepictions of early morning light and youthful skin.

Left: Equity Lodge commemorative plate 1912Right: Blue and pink tobacco flower design 19151920, Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Left: Cleopatra 1918, Maxfield Frederick ParrishRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Marina 17-4041; Celestial 18-4530; Turkish Sea 19-4053; Mulberry 17-3014; Ibis

Rose 17-2520; Forest Green 17-0230; Dawn 12-0811

Wiener Werksttte

Designers Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, along with industrialist Fritz Wrndorfer, founded theWiener Werksttte (Vienna Workshops) in the early 1900s to provide an alternative to theoverwrought designs of the past and to combat the heaviness of urban life.

Like the early British Arts and Crafts movement, the Wiener Werksttte eschewed modernmanufacturing. Unlike the Arts and Crafts movement, however, there was little or no compromisewith technology: the Werksttte remained throughout its almost thirty years devoted to arts, crafts, anddesign conceived with human intellect, made with human hands, and intended to beautify humanenvironments. The ultimate dream of Hoffmann and Moser was to achieve a kind of Gesamtkunstwerka total work of artin peoples homes and lifestyles.

Outfitting a home as a Gesamtkunstwerk was then (and now) an expensive proposition. Expenseaside, it may not have been entirely easy to be a Werksttte client. Hoffmann and Moser wrote, Ourmiddle class is as yet very far from having fulfilled its cultural task. Its turn has come to do full andwholesale justice to its own evolution.[14] Part of fulfilling ones cultural task required wearingclothes that would not clash with Werksttte interiors, and Hoffmann sparked the Werkstttes entry intofashion with a 1911 gown designed for the Belgian owner of a lavish top-to-bottom Werksttte housewhose wardrobe must not have coordinated sufficiently with the elegant wallpaper.

The Werksttte palette begins with the dramatic tones of Moonless Night and Red Mahogany,without whose depth the Werkstttes graphic patterns would have fallen flat. Saxony Blue, DazzlingBlue, Feldspar, and Cinnabar imbue the palette with luxurious references to semiprecious stones usedin Werksttte jewelry. Lavender Gray, Cream Gold, Shell, and Silver provide the ethereal top-notesrequired by the Werkstttes idealistic agenda.

Left: Tea service 1905, Josef Hoffmann, Wiener Werksttte

Right: Brooch 1908, Josef Hoffmann

Left: Leopard textile swatch 1912, Arch E. Wimmer, Wiener WerksttteRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom)Moonless Night 19-4203; Red Mahogany 19-1521; Saxony Blue 18-4225; DazzlingBlue 18-3949; Feldspar 16-5815; Cinnabar 18-1540; Lavender Gray 17-3910; Cream Gold 13-0739; Shell 13-1405; Silver 14-

5002

Youthful Pastimes

Neither childhood nor toys were invented in the twentieth century. But a new combination of majormagazines, mass manufacturing, and higher discretionary incomes came together to create thebusiness of childrens toys.

One of the centurys first toy crazes began in 1909, when illustrator Rose ONeill drew the firstKewpie for Ladies Home Journal. Her happy creatures stayed in broad circulation for twenty-fiveyears. In 1913, ONeill created her three-dimensional bisque Kewpies in two sizes. During a factoryvisit, she found the smaller version to be poorly executed. She commented that since the small dollswould be sold to the poorest children, it was essential that they equal the larger ones in quality. Thiswas implemented, and sales soared.

ONeill is said to have earned over a million dollars (twenty million in todays currency) inKewpie royaltiesbut money was not her goal. She seemed to want her innocent creatures to buoy upanyone who met them. Do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh or at least to smilemore than it does, she wrote.[15] The Kewpie certainly brought smiles to many. The Mysto ErectorStructural Steel Builder appeared in 1913, backed by the first aggressive promotional ad campaign fora toy. At once practical looking and a vehicle for fantasy, the Erector Set fascinated sons and fathersand probably some daughters and mothers, too. Raggedy Ann was introduced to the public in 1918 byillustrator Johnny Gruelle, with book and doll sold side by side. The combination was very successful,and presages the multimedia approach of toy marketing today.

The palette of early toys and their packaging begins with the earthy primaries of ochre-yellowand deep red. Warm and cool neutrals are layered against the primary colors. The flesh tone ofcelluloid Kewpies and wistful Raggedy Ann also comes into play.

Left: Group of Raggedy Ann dolls ca. 1910sCenter: Erector Set ad ca. 1910s

Right: Cover of Tip Top Weekly 1912

Left: Cover of The Kewpies, Their Book 1913, Rose ONeillRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) 7556; 7621; 462; 7527; 7410

Cubism

Cubism pushes art further into the twentieth century than the Fauves dared to go. The Fauves brokewith academic realism, and even with the Impressionists desire for a truthful-to-the-eye visualexperience. But the Cubists introduced a mobile perspective, which demands that the viewer,presented with interconnected fragments and facets of an object, must reassemble the pieces in orderto arrive at the meaning, the underlying reality, of the thing being painted.[16]

The Cubists attempted to show how the reality of a thing can unfold across not just multipleperspectives, but time, too. In Marcel Duchamps Nude Descending a Staircase, for example, themany-faceted time-exposure of the painting covers not a single moment but rather a series of them.The painting captures adjacent and relevant realities, whether physical or temporal, in order to arriveat a richer version of coherence than offered by mere realism.

The serious, demanding intellectualism of the Cubist proposition was too important to berendered in the decorative colors of the Fauves. Picasso and Georges Braque delivered their messagein somber tones, along with bits of wrapping paper, wallpaper, newspaper, and even sand, dirt, andhouse paint. Eventually, later Cubists like Robert Delaunay and Juan Gris introduced more vividcolors in a desire to capture the vibrant urban reality of preWWI Paris.

Shale, Gray Ridge, Chestnut, Golden Brown, and Tan helped the Cubists deliver contour anddimensionality without a sense of realism. Aurora Red, Ensign Blue, and Dark Green are used to drawthe eye into the surface of the painting, and to heighten a sense of visual drama.

Left: Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) 1912, Marcel DuchampRight: Artillery 1911, Roger Andr de La Fresnaye

Left: Italian Still Life 1914, Lyubov Sergeevna PopovaRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Shale 19-3903; Gray Ridge 18-3710; Chestnut 19-1118; Golden Brown 18-1940; Tan

16-1334; Aurora Red 18-1550; Ensign Blue19-4026; Dark Green 19-5513

World War I

World War I began in the summer of 1914 and was only supposed to last until Christmas. It started ina wave of patriotic fervor. Poems were written. Songs were sung. Propaganda posters appeared far andwideenticing men into military service, women into thrift, and the general public into a state ofunity.

As the men went to war, women mostly held down the fort both at home and in the workplace. Inthe United States, seven hundred thousand women were employed in munitions factories alone. Manythousands served in the army and navy nursing corps. Still more conducted buses, stood onmanufacturing lines, and sat at desks, filling the spots left open by their husbands and brothers.

But the war did not end by Christmas. It lasted four long years, during which time sixteen millionpeople died and twentyone million were wounded worldwide. The toll on Europe was profound,particularly along the line of trenches that stretched from Belgium to the Swiss frontier. What hadbegun with optimism ended with a sense of tragedy.

In the aftermath, national borders were redrawn, empires disassembled, and hierarchiesdiscredited. The awesome power of technology in the hands of warring states was nearly impossible tocontemplate. It was called the war to end all wars. Sadly, this did not turn out to be true.

The colors of the day were sensible and functional. Vanity seemed inappropriate when nearlyevery family had lost loved ones. It was a time for duty and modesty. Medal Bronze, Twill, TrekkingGreen, and Dress Blues express the militarys omnipresence. Saxony Blue, Grenadine, and BrightWhite, reminiscent of the colors of the U.S., British, and French flags, recall the patriotism of the era.

Grenadine, when it stands alone, recalls the corn poppy, which became a symbol of remembrancefor those lost in the war.

Left: U.S. Food Administration poster 1918, Paul StahrRight: Gee!! I wish I were a man, Id join the Navy Navy recruiting poster 1917, Howard Chandler Christy

Cover from The Ladies Home Journal 1917, Howard GilesRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Medal Bronze 17; Twill 16-1108; Trekking Green 19-5411; Dress Blues 19-4024;

Saxony Blue 18-4225; Grenadine 17-1558; Bright White 11-0601

Coming Home

Soldiers reuniting with their families brought with them a new openness to change. Young peopleseemed eager to leave behind the ideas of their parents generation, which got them into the Great Warand the ways in which they nested in their new homes revealed their willingness to reinvent lifeas the decade came to a close.

Europes dominance in matters of fashion and home styles waned, and the New World exertedmore influence. The House Beautiful was founded in 1918 and became a bible of tasteful decoratingwith a can-do attitude and emphasis on home improvement. Every bungalow could be made perfect, ifyou just followed the directions of the new tastemakers.

Home improvement was more than an aesthetic pursuit. Labor-saving devices in the form ofhome appliances entered the marketplace. Over two dozen home refrigerators were introduced byGeneral Electric, Frigidaire, and Kelvinator. Toasters, coffee percolators, and waffle irons encouragedefficient homemakers to electrify their kitchens even further. Whirlpool and Maytag introduced theirfirst washing machines in 1911, greatly easing the Sisyphean work of laundry day. Even the ordinarykitchen stove became a kitchen triumph with a fresh coat of blue enamel.

Refrigeration and more frequent clothes-washing were part of an interest in better home hygienean idea made allimportant by the deadly flu epidemic of 1918. Even Armstrong, the developer oflinoleum, got in on the act with advertisements that proclaimed their new product to be germ free,high performance, and aesthetically pleasing.

Cocoon suggests the familiar comforts of home, reinforced by Golden Cream, Cashew, LavenderLustre, and True Blue. Deep Lichen Green and Moonless Night provide strength and structure.

Left: Black Model T Ford Touring car 1915Right: Pyrex ad 1918

Left: Armstrong Flooring ad 1919Right: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Cocoon 14-1025; Golden Cream 13-0939; Cashew 17-1137; Lavender Lustre 16-

3920; True Blue 19-4057; Deep Lichen Green 18-0318; Moonless Night 19-4203

1920sModern WaysThe 20s roared. Time-honored systems and old hierarchies had created a devastating (and somethought pointless) war. In the wake of its devastation, an exuberant and very visible fringe of youngpeoplecentered mostly in the major cities of the United States and Europeexperimented with newways of dressing and dancing, romancing and traveling. Parents everywhere were shocked.

Throughout the decade, social mores were deeply challenged, and the hegemony of the whitemale weakened a little. After a decades-long suffrage movement, women were granted the vote in theUnited States in 1920. The Jazz Age brought African-inflected rhythms and African-Americanperformers into the limelight for the first time. Sessue Hayakawa, a Japanese actor, became one ofHollywoods highest paid talents. Young womens skirts got shorter. Their hair got bobbed. And manyinhibitions faded into the background. Makeup, once the domain of actresses and prostitutes,brightened many lips and cheeks. Prohibition and its unintended by-products, speakeasies andmoonshine, made breaking the law a game. Rebellion was in the air, perfumed with cocktails andcigarettes, and it was expressed in a color palette anchored in intoxicating Apricot Brandy andWinetasting.

Artist J. C. Leyendecker channeled the sensuality of the 20s into commercial illustrations thattempted customers into buying not just clothing, but an image. His iconic Arrow Collar man made agiant of the company he came to symbolize. Good looking, athletic, and sexy, he suggested thatwearing an Arrow shirt made you the same. Not surprisingly, Leyendeckers colors were at oncesensual and wholesome, a combination advertisers continue to pursue to this day. But even in therelatively freewheeling atmosphere of the 20s, shirt buyers would have been surprised to learn thatthe Arrow man was modeled after Charles Beach, the partner with whom Leyendecker lived for almostfifty years.

The openness of the decade allowed idiosyncratic talents like Clarice Cliff to thrive. She took awarehouseful of defective pottery and decorated it with bright enamel patterns for her line of BizarreWare. Assisted by a small team of painters known as Bizarre Girls, she offered a burst of happy andaffordable color to many homes. Society hostess and artist Florine Stettheimer also worked withsunny tones, but only for her own delightand that of the talented New Yorkers who flocked to salon-style gatherings in her colorful home. Both Cliff and Stettheimer mixed bright citrus colors withquirky doses of pink and purple.

Another unique talent, artist Raoul Dufy, was invited by fashion designer Paul Poiret to bring hissensibilities to textile design. True to the bold spirit of his era, Dufy simplified form and color, oftenat a very large scale, and in doing so had a profound impact on textile design. As manufacturers nearand far emulated his strategies, floral motifs became more modern in their layering of geometry andsimple painterly gestures. They also replaced Dufys preferred black and white with a seductivepalette of beautifully faded colors.

Speed was also seductive in this era. Over thirty million cars took to the roads over the course ofthe decade, introducing new freedom to many. Luxury trains and ships lured passengers with twinpromises of style and speed. The notion of travel evolved from something only for the very rich or the

very daring into the idea of the pleasure trip accessible to the many. Exquisitely drawn travel posterspromised coppery suntans and glamorous palm-shaded watering holes.

A leisurely Nile cruise was among the favored destinations for European travelers. But interest inEgypt went well beyond boat trips when Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen in1922. Extensive news coverage gave the public detailed images of furniture and statues that had notseen sunlight in over three thousand years, and all things Egyptian became a craze. Gold and thecolors of inlaid stones made the Tutmania of the 20s glistenas a vogue for Egyptian-inspiredobjects swept the globe.

Egyptian references were among the many influences to combine in the internationally popularArt Deco style. What started as a rarified style of furniture and interiors for wealthy interwarEuropeansas conceived by legendary talents like mile-Jacques Ruhlmanngradually became amore accessible and streamlined language of shapes and finishes. Eileen Grays exploration of steeltubing and other industrial materials opened new avenues for Art Deco designers.

Industrial materials were also explored, with intellectual rigor, by the highly influential Bauhausschool in its pursuit of a union between art, craft, design, and technology. Instructor Marcel Breuerstubular steel chairs are still icons of industrial design. What is less remembered is the Bauhaussexploration of color and form, and the emotional and spiritual aspects of each. Johannes Itten, PaulKlee, and Wassily Kandinsky each contributed to the Bauhaus approach to the basics of design andhuman experience. While their ideas are perhaps too complex for icon status, their contemplativecolor palette and the thinking behind it still influence creatives everywhere.

Art Deco

Art Deco got its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Dcoratifs et Industriels Modernes,held in Paris in 1925 and attended by exhibitors from twenty countries and sixteen million viewers.[17] The modern language of luxury promoted by the fair began, for the most part, in the ateliers ofthe designers and craftsmen of France.

Designer and decorator mile-Jacques Ruhlmann epitomizes the Parisian genius behind ArtDeco. Using rare woods, complex marquetry, gilding, ivory, shagreen, and much more, he turneddiverse references to historical styles into costly and superfashionable furnishings and interiors. Hewas not at all concerned by the immense prices he charged: Only the very rich can pay for what isnew and they alone can make it fashionable. And they did.

It took designers like Irish-born Eileen Gray to hone Art Deco into sleek simplicityand tointroduce less expensive materials. Fascinated by the luster of lacquer, she studied with Paris-basedJapanese master Sugawara Seizo. She learned to craft gorgeous screens, small furniture, and objects inblack and red with silver details. Her lacquered interiors for an apartment on the rue de Lota,completed in 1924, attracted much attention for their tasteful modernity. Her Transat Chair alsosprang from her fascination with sleek lacquer.

She experimented with less expensive materials, too. The chromed metal and glass E-1027 sidetable she designed for her own home is popular again today. Her 1925 steel-framed Bibendum chairremains an exemplar of modern design. Grays work opened the way for Art Deco to become anaccessible and international movement.

Silver and Jet Black form the sleek contrast essential to the Art Deco aesthetic. Carnelian,Champagne Beige, and Turtledove add warm nuance, while Lavender Violet beckons with a coolallure.

Left: Art Deco glass bottle and three glasses ca. 1920sRight (top): Screen 1928, Eileen Gray

Right (bottom): Leather evening shoes 1925, Bob, Inc., New York

Left: Dressing table and chair 19221926, design by mile-Jacques Ruhlmann, pochoir print from Interieurs en Couleurs byLeon Deshairs, Albert Levy, ed.

Right: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Silver 14-5002; Jet Black 19-0303; Carnelian 16-1435; Champagne Beige 14-1012;Turtledove 12-5202; Lavender Violet 17-3924

Tutmania

The fifth Earl of Carnarvon was ready to throw in the towel: with his backing, archeologist HowardCarter had disturbed a great deal of Egyptian sand with little to show for it. But Carter begged hispatron for one last season of digging in the autumn of 1922, convinced by slim evidence that he knewthe location of a lost tomb in the Valley of Kings. Carnarvon relented.

Four days into that last dig, Carter found a stone stairway descending to massive doors. WhenCarnarvon arrived three weeks later from England, they opened the tomb together and Carter crawledinside. When asked what he saw, his legendary reply was, Wonderful things!

Constant newsreel and newspaper coverage of King Tutankhamens trove of furniture, ritualobjects, statues, and pharaonic jewelry turned public appetite for all things Egyptian into aninternational cultural phenomenon. The Tutankhamen Rag was played in the ballroom of LuxorsWinter Palace Hotel. Furniture, interior dcor, and fashion soon featured lotus motifs and ancientsymbols.[18] Biscuit tins and perfume bottles conveyed messages (about shelf life?) in hieroglyphics.Cleopatra earrings, scarab rings, and sphinx shoulder clips abounded. Amazing talents such asdesigner Pierre-mile Legrain modeled side chairs and dressing tables after archeological specimensin ebony, vellum, shagreen, chromium-plated metal, zebra skin, and lacquer.[19]

Like Napoleons France, which had experienced its own Egyptian revival a century earlier, theJazz Age found a place in its heart for an ancient, deeply religious culture.

Shimmering Rich Gold captures the awe-inspiring luxury of King Tuts burial goods. BurntHenna, Imperial Blue, and Aqua Haze are found in the semiprecious inlay of his jewelry and statuary.Nile Green, Sahara Sun, and Desert Sage remind us of the frescoed walls of Tutankhamens well-preserved tomb, and their promise of a sumptuous eternal life.

Left: Art Deco glass perfume bottles ca. 1920s

Right: Corsage ornament ca. 1923, Georges Fouquet

Left: Funerary mask of Tutankhamen ca. 13321322 BCRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Rich Gold 16-1836; Burnt Henna 19-1540; Imperial Blue 19-4245; Aqua Haze 15-

5209; Nile Green 14-0121; Sahara Sun 14-0936; Desert Sage 16-0110

Cocktails and Laughter

American women were granted the right to vote in 1920, a major shift in public life. But change didnot stop there. Energized in part by disillusionment with established rules and norms following WorldWar I, heated up with sophisticated jazz, and set afire by the Eighteenth Amendments prohibition ofalcohol, the 1920s roared rebelliously.

Young women cut their hair short, slicked it down with brilliantine, and raised their hemlines.They went to nightclubs with menin cars. They wore lipstick and rouge. They smoked and dancedand drank from their boyfriends hip flasks. Or from their own. Freewheeling flappers thoroughlyshocked their elders. As Dorothy Parker said in her poem The Flapper, Shes not what Grandmaused to be.[20]

Some blamed everything on jazz. Anne Shaw Faulkner, head of the music division of the GeneralFederation of Womens Clubs, published her essay Does Jazz Put the Sin in Syncopation? in 1921.[21] To Faulkners ears, jazz was the music of the devil himself, and pulled innocent youth headlonginto moral decay. To young people dancing the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Fox Trot, theCubanola Glide or the Tango Argentino, the devil never sounded so good.

The Jazz Age was also an international phenomenon. Across the Atlantic, East St. LouisbornJosephine Baker stunned le Tout-Paris with her shimmy and her shimmer. She became a sexy,intriguing emblem of interwar daring and style, even as she demonstrated a new freedom for womento create lives completely of their own choosing.

Flapper colors express the pleasure-loving times with Winetasting and Apricot Brandy,highlighted by the fleshy appeal of Dusty Pink and Desert Rose. Boa and Pale Gold bring luxury to thenever-ending party promised by Infinity.

Left (top): Josephine Baker La Vie Parisienne ad ca. 1920Left (bottom): Panne velvet wrap, detail ca. 1925

Right: Gold evening dress 19261927, Edward Molyneux

Left: The Flapper cover of Life magazine 1922, F. X. LeyendeckerRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Winetasting 19-2118; Apricot Brandy 17-1540; Dusty Pink 14-1316; Desert Rose 17-

1927; Boa 17-0625; Pale Gold 15-0927; Infinity 17-4015

Destinations

Though postWWI nationalism made international travel a little more complicated, improvements intrain and ship lines gave it a stylish sense of luxury and adventure. The forward march of technologyalso made speed part of the thrill.

The most luxurious form of international travel was the ocean cruise. The le de France, forexample, made her maiden voyage from Paris to New York in 1927. She was equipped with all thenecessary luxuries: a two-story chapel with pipe organ, a sixhundred- seat dining room with a gold andsilver fountain, a tea room, and a Parisian sidewalk caf, all of which were designed with thirty-sixkinds of wood and a variety of lacquer and metalwork. The quality of the interiors was not the onlyway ships distinguished themselves: they also competed to see who could travel fastest, particularlyacross the Atlantic.

When it came to speed, the airplane trumped them all. Charles A. Lindbergh made his historicsolo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, and while the world celebrated his achievement, it also seemedto become smaller. International travel, while still the province of the well-to-do, became a bit moreimaginable. Lindbergh used his fame to promote the commercial aviation industry to make sure that itbecame achievable, as well.

Graphic designers did their part to build desire for cities like Paris and London with elegantposters that glamorized both destinations and their inhabitantswho all seemed to wear the latestfashions. Resorts like Nice and Vichy also benefitted from such marketing: resort towns that relativelyfew had heard of became worldwide household names.

The color language found in travel posters of the day frequently employed the coppery tones ofsuntans and the warm neutrals of sand and sunlight. Silvery greens gave elegant life to oceans andrivers, and olives and browns to the landscape.

Left: Travel ad for La Cte dAzur 1928, Roger BrodersRight: Le Mont Revard travel ad 1927, Roger Broders

Left: Vichy travel ad 1928, Roger SoubieRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) 7410; 7407; 7566; 7499; 7580; 5783; 5763; 476

The Leyendecker Man

The career of illustrator Joseph Christian Leyendecker was fueled by a booming market for magazinesthat created an intense demand for illustrators. Over a forty-year period he created more than threehundred covers for the Saturday Evening Post alone, where he is credited with originating the rotund,rosy-cheeked Santa which still presides over the American Christmas season, as well as sash-wearingBaby New Year.

As the number of printed pages grew, so did the number of advertisements needed to fund themand the growing commercial market is a second force behind Leyendeckers career. He was amongthe most influential commercial artists of his day, starting with years of work for Chicago-basedmenswear labels Kuppenheimer and Hart, Schaffner, and Marx.

Leyendeckers most enduring commercial creation, however, was the Arrow Collar Man.Leyendecker himself approached Arrow with the idea of creating a signature masculine icon for theircompany: Not simply a man, but a manly man, a handsome manan ideal American man.[22] Thefit, pensive, and undeniably handsome character created by Leyendecker came to represent an ideal ofmasculine beauty still resonant today. The Arrow Collar Man also remains one of advertisings greatsuccess stories: he helped Arrow eventually gain control of 96 percent of the market for store-boughtshirts.

What was the final force behind Leyendeckers success? Love. His life-partner of nearly fiftyyears, Charles Beach, was the model for the Arrow campaign. They kept their personal life mostlyhidden, but their undercover attachment may explain the smoldering quality of Leyendeckers colorsand brushwork.

Toast, Rutabaga, and True Blue create a stable triad of sincerity and wholesomeness inLeyendeckers palettewhich Peat, Nasturtium, and Prune bring alive with complex and passionatecolor.

Left: Motorcycle Cop and Kids cover of The Saturday Evening Post 1922, J. C. LeyendeckerMiddle: Kuppenheimer ad 1920, J. C. Leyendecker

Right: Socks by Interwoven 1926, J. C. Leyendecker

Arrow Dress Collars and Shirts 1920, J. C. LeyendeckerRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Toast 16-1331; Rutabaga 12-0806; True Blue 19-4057; Peat 19-0508; Nasturtium 16-

1451; Prune 19-2014

Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919, and folded under Nazi pressure in 1933. Its ambitious goals soughta synthesis of art, craft, design, and technology into functional objects and beautiful environments forliving and working. The schools embrace of machine production created an enduring impact ontwentiethcentury designand the Bauhaus aesthetic is most often remembered in instructor MarcelBreuers chrome-plated tubular steel chairs and the rational architecture of founder Walter Gropius.

But there is another side to Bauhaus thought, stemming from early collaborator Johannes Itten.As the only founding faculty member with teaching experience, Itten designed the Bauhausintroductory curriculum in 1919, which covered basic ideas about color, form, and material. Ittenemphasized self-discovery as the key to successful learning, and sought not to damage the creativeimpulse of his students. Such tenderness put him at odds with the Bauhaus master-apprentice model ofinstruction. He was also revered by his students, which did not endear him to Gropius.

Itten resigned in 1922, but fellow instructors Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky elaborated on hisideas about the synchronicity of color and form. Yellow is sharp and triangular. Blue is spiritual andcircular. Red is square and associated with weight and matter. Secondary colors were associated withhybrid forms and nuanced meanings. Kandinsky also discussed the possibility of experiencing color assound and texturesomething with which he, capable of synesthesia, was familiar.

An interconnected universe of color, form, and emotion emerges from the work of these men.The colors of the spiritual Bauhaus begin with mystical Moonless Night, Violet Storm, and Lavender.Delft contributes a restful blue, while Oxblood and Burnt Ochre offer the gravity of red withoutweighing down the palette. Yolk Yellow and Sunflower lend a lively energy without disturbing thethoughtful violet end of the spectrum.

Left: Tanz Festspiele (Dance Festival) poster 1928, Max BurchartzRight (top): Club Chair B3 (Wassily) 1925, Marcel BreuerRight (bottom): Ancient Harmony no. 236 1925, Paul Klee

Left: Several Circles (Einige Kreise) 1926, Wassily KandinskyRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Moonless Night 19-4203; Violet Storm 18-3944; Lavender 15-3817; Delft 19-4039;

Oxblood Red 19-1524; Burnt Ochre 18-1354; Yolk Yellow 14-0846; Sunflower 16-1054

Modern Pleasures

Once the Fauves and Leon Bakst let the color-genie out of the bottle, it was impossible to contain it.The 1920s embraced the color revolution of the preceding decades and added a new, cheerful spin.Bright tones became vibrant rather than clashing, and whimsical rather than revolutionary. As theRoaring 20s embraced a range of new pleasures, a capricious, energized palette emerged in fashion,ceramics, upholstery textiles, paintings, and more.

One of the notable proponents of bright tones was ceramic designer Clarice Cliff. Afterapprenticing as an enamel decorator and lithographer, she was hired by Englands Newport Pottery asa pattern painter. Confronted with a warehouse full of defective goods that needed to be sold, shecovered their flawed surfaces with bright patterns of on-glaze enamel colors.[23] Much to the surpriseof the salesmen, her line, back-stamped Bizarre by Clarice Cliff, was immensely successful. Cliffscolorful vision remained popular until World War II, when her signature effervescence seemedaltogether too happy.

Another eccentric vision for color emerged across the Atlantic. Florine Stettheimer, a wealthy,unmarried New York hostess, painted with tones Clarice Cliff would have admired. After the onlyexhibition of her work during her lifetime, in 1916, she painted solely for her own pleasure. Hercanvasses describe the doings of her social set, which included some of New York Citys mostcreative residents, as well as a rich fantasy life. Her exuberant, idiosyncratic depictions of events realand imaginary radiate pure color. In the words of a biographer, [S]he was not one for mixing colors;what came straight out of the tube seemed to her quite good enough.[24]

Modern Pleasures blends Bright Lime Green, Buttercup, and Carrot in generous amounts. SachetPink sweetens up their citrus mix, while Persian Jewel, African Violet, and Amethyst Orchid addeccentricity and flirtatiousness.

Left (top): Beauty Contest: To the Memory of P. T. Barnum 1924, Florine StettheimerLeft (bottom): Appliqu bird-of-paradise charger 1930, Clarice Cliff

Right: Cloche hat 1925, Kilpin Ltd.

Sheer silk flapper print ca. 1926, sourced by Patricia Nugent Design and TextilesRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Bright Lime Green 14-0244; Buttercup 12-0752 ; Carrot 16-1361; Sachet Pink 15-

2216; Persian Jewel 17-3934; African Violet 16-3520; Amethyst Orchid 17-3628

A Rose Is a Rose

As a painter, Raoul Dufys work is often thought too decorative and sentimental to join the canon oftwentieth-century art. But as a textile designer, nothing could be further from the truth. His patternwork pulled textile design expressively into the realm of art, and continues to inspire designers today.

Fashion designer Paul Poiret, who advocated a free exchange of ideas between art, craft, anddesign, commissioned Dufy to create textiles after seeing his woodcut illustrations for poet GuillaumeApollinaires Le Bestiaire. Dufy had fashioned a splendid universe of fauna and flora in black andwhite, and Poiret was intrigued.

The results were unusual. Arts and Crafts and Wiener Werksttte designers had begun to treatflora in a graphic manner, but Dufy simplified references to nature even further. In his hands, leavesand petals were rendered as large-scale masses of black with a single white detail. An early black andwhite fabric for Poiret, La Perse, was made into a coat worn by Madame Poiret in 1911 and created asensation. Later floral prints for Poiret reduced the rose, quintessential symbol of romance, to a singlewhite line on blackor to a silhouetted blossom surrounding a froth of white brushstrokes. On thestrength of his work with Poiret, preeminent silk mill Bianchini-Ferier teamed with Dufy to makegroundbreaking textiles through the late 1920s.

Dufys manner of handling floral motifs bridged the gap between traditionally feminine patternsand a visual language appropriate for the more liberated women of the 1920s. His work was emulatedand adapted in Europe and the United States.

Rose patterns were often delivered in a subtle and seductive palette. Faded Rose and Honey Peachlead the way, cooled by Acorn and Grape Jam. Aluminum and Mallard Blue provide a bit of deepshade to this garden.

Left: Abstract rose ca. 19251928, sourced by Patricia Nugent Design and TextilesRight (top): Silver sweetmeat dish in the form of a rose 19251926, Omar Ramsden

Right (bottom): Styled rose with shards ca. 1928, sourced by Patricia Nugent Design and Textiles

Left: Rose on graphic ground ca. 19201928, sourced by Patricia Nugent Design and TextilesRight: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Faded Rose 18-1629; Honey Peach 13-1015; Acorn 18-1314; Grape Jam 18-3415;

Aluminium 16-1107; Mallard Blue 19-4318

1930sResilience and RecoveryThe 1930s began on October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday. The rapid decline of the NewYork Stock Exchange silenced the Roaring 20s, and threw the United States into the GreatDepression, which would endure until 1939. Other countries followed suit in a domino effect, and theentire world suffered from the downturn. Unemployment exceeded 25 percent in the United States,and went as high as 33 percent in some developed nations. Industries of all kinds were devastated bylack of demandeven agriculture, with crop prices down as much as 60 percent. The gloom wasgeneral, and thick.

Nonetheless, it took some time for the Great Depression to completely take hold. Projectsconceived in the late 20s, like the Chrysler and Empire State buildings, came to completion in the30s in the Art Deco style, replete with gleaming silver and gold details and expensive red, black, andgreen marble. But after that, with new construction slowing to a crawl, the splendors of Art Decomostly continued in the more modest form of consumer goods.

Manufacturers explored design as a tool for tempting customers into purchasing, and productsfrom radios to bathroom scales began to look as dynamic and stylish as the New York skyline.Industrial design came into its own as the bridge linking new materials and technologies to theconsumers who might be enticed into adopting them in their daily lives. Bakelite, a durable andinexpensive plastic, became an amazing resource for industrial designers in their pursuit of affordableappliances and other products. Bakelite was also used extensively in costume jewelry. It was made incolors resembling jade, jet, amber, and exotic woodsbut at a satisfying fraction of their cost.

The movies were another affordable source of satisfaction, and distraction. In the form ofgangster films, horror flicks, madcap comedies, and teary dramas, movies helped people cast asidetheir worries for a while, for just fifteen cents. Millions of moviegoers around the world were thrilledwith stories of pluck and persistenceand enthralled by images of beautiful actresses in shimmeringsatin gowns. Living a life of luxury was still possible in the Depression, if you did it vicariously.Costume designers (who were often noted fashion designers in their own right) set the styles of theday in smoky, subtle colors which also had a practical side: such tones could be worn and re-worn fora long time, which was a necessity in lean circumstances.

This simultaneously luxurious and practical palette of fashion entered the home in thecosmopolitan hands of interior designers like Syrie Maugham, whose rooms brought movie glamourto life.

Having fun at home was more economical than going out, and radio programs, board games, andcomic strips became wildly popular. Monopoly came into thousands and thousands of homes in themid-1930s, along with Chinese checkers and other amusements. Even the younger members of afamily could dream of becoming Wall Street titans with vivid plastic houses and hotels spread aroundthe cheerfully bright game board. Late 1930s superheroes like Superman and Batman also inhabitedworlds of forthright color, as they kept the forces of evil at bay.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelts Works Progress Administration kept the forces ofunemployment at bay for hundreds of thousands of people who had nowhere else to turn. The WPA,

FDRs far-reaching response to the Great Depression, created public buildings, roads, bridges, tunnels,and a system of public parks that remain treasured national assets to this day. A division of the WPA,the Federal Art Project, employed thousands of artists, some of them destined to become leaders ofthe postWorld War II modern art scene. One of the FAPs accomplishments was a series of posterspublicizing the new parks, and the grounded but vital palette they used reveals something importantabout the resilience of Depression-era America.

The softer palette of Roseville Pottery, an important player in a 1930s vogue for American artpottery, revealed a marked departure from brighter hues popular in the 1920s. Roseville became mostsuccessful when it offered affordable goods in warm neutrals and earth tones, accented by the colorsof leaves and flowers. Nature, said to be the ultimate source of all good design ideas, also proved to bea source of colorful comfort to homemakers across America.

As the 1930s came to a close, some hope appeared. Unemployment rates began to come down.Tensions in Europe notwithstanding, people began to feel that there was light at the end of the tunnel.When the New York Worlds Fair opened with its theme Building the World of Tomorrow, itspromise of a pristine, logical, orderly future seemed like a dream after the nightmare of the GreatDepression. The millions who attended the Fair were entranced by its promises of one-hundredmiles-per-hour highways, super-efficient factories producing gorgeous futuristic cars, air conditioners, andvacuums, and lives made easier by technology. Tomorrow couldnt come fast enough if it looked asbeautiful as the Fair itself, resplendent in the blues of sky and outer space, and the white and yellow ofsunshine.

Also in 1939, The Wizard of Oz movie debuted. Its celebration of humble Americandetermination was, like the Worlds Fair, a fitting end to the Depression. Dorothy Gales journey toOz gave Americans a glimpse of an unpredictable Technicolor world, and her efforts in the face of thestrange and unknown resonated profoundly with moviegoers. For a country on the brink of recovery,Somewhere Over the Rainbow finally looked to be within reach.

Deco Architecture

Art Deco cathedrals of commerce and entertainment radiated glamour into the economic gloom of the1930s. Two of the most enduring examples of Art Deco architecture were completed early in thedecadein spite of the Wall Street crash of 1929. The glorious Chrysler Building opened in 1930thanks to automobile mogul Arthur P. Chryslers personal backing. Not coincidentally, formerGeneral Motors vice president John Jakob Raskob headed the group of industry titans who financedthe construction of the Empire State Building in 1931. Both buildings were immensely popular fromthe start and, even without the motivation of Motor City rivalries, Art Deco as an idiom for modernarchitecture became a global phenomenon. From Shanghai all the way around the world to SanFrancisco, sensuous machine-age curves blended with stylized references to nature and historicalstyles with gorgeous results.

The ability to accommodate a vast range of influencesfrom ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia toelectricity or local flora encouraged both architects and designers alike to experiment with ArtDecos gleaming geometries. What was good for skyscrapers turned out to be just as good for toastersand costume jewelry. Where Walter Chrysler spent lavishly on red Moroccan marble in his buildingslobby, a clever designer substituted a bit of enameled brass on the housing of an electric shaver. WhileJohn D. Rockefeller spent a bundle on costly bronze hardware at Rockefeller Center, machinedaluminum would do nicely at home. Art Deco worked at most price levels, and helped nontraditionalproducts and materials gain acceptance.

The Deco palette of the 1930s fulfilled its mission as an antidote to the Great Depression withluscious tones. The silver of 1920s Deco remains, but the obvious luxury of gold becomes moreimportant. Precious metals are layered against smooth chocolate, misty jade, and satiny mauve.

Left (top): Art Deco clock ca. 1920s1930sLeft (bottom): Schick razor ca. 1931, designed by Raymond Loewy

Right: The pinnacle or Vortex of the Chrysler Building in New York 19271930

Left: Art Deco elevator door in the Chrysler Building in New York 19281930Right: Pantone Swatches (top to bottom) Silver; 10366; 7533 ; 5635; 4725

Illusions

Approximately 28 percent of Americans were without income in the early 1930s. The world economywas dismal. The Dust Bowl, breadlines, and the tensions that would eventually escalate into WorldWar II, provided a stream of bad news. But fifteen cents entitled a moviegoer to a comfortable seat, anewsreel, a short film, and a star-studded feature film with John Barrymore, Barbara Stanwyck, orCarole Lombardor Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, or dozens ofothers. The movies provided an escape in a time that badly needed one, and between sixty and seventymillion Americans every week went to the movies.

Many films of the 1930s explored American ideals of individualism, classlessness, and progress.Their happy endings represented the righting of wrongs, the rebalancing of social and economicinequities, and the triumph of hard work and determination. Womens big screen roles, particularly,highlighted the backbone and strength needed to get to the last scene and its satisfying denouement.Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, and Bette Davis became stars in the 1930s,