[.ca] Euro Deco: Graphic Design Between the Wars (ISBN 081184532X)

Graphic nostalgia:
The origins of this book were six from the Chronicle Deco series. They covered European commercial art (1920 to 1940) from Britain, France, Germany, Holland Italy and Spain and about half of each is reproduced in this excellent and beautiful looking book. Fili and Heller write in the introduction that Art Deco would have been launched sooner had it not been for the First World War interrupting the plans of the French to stage a huge trade fair to showcase their commercial creativity. The world had to wait until 1925 for the Paris 'Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderne' to kick-start a new visual culture. The six nation chapters are sub-divided into graphic sections like: culture, fashion, beauty, industry or typography. There are also sections unique to some countries, Germany has samples of paper money printed by local authorities because inflation had made the Deutschmark worthless, Britain has a section devoted to the lovely graphics promoting the London Underground. Each chapter starts with an interesting and comprehensive overview explaining how each countries existing design styles and designers were influenced by Deco and then the following pages reproduce printed examples, more than two thousand color illustrations in all. There is an American edition in the Chronicle series: Streamline: American Art Deco (ISBN 0811806626) following the same subject format over 132 pages. Also worth checking out is Patricia Kery's 'Art Deco Graphics' (ISBN 0500283532) a big book with 476 illustrations which looks at magazines, posters, fashion and books rather than commercial print and packaging which is the main strength of the Fili and Heller book. For the money though I don't think 'Euro Deco' can be beat.