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Books & Reviews
The following reviews are more like summaries. I haven't supplied an exhaustive review, but instead just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect in each book. Such as... which books cover architecture... which ones cover furniture and home interiors... which ones cover the visual arts... which ones have lots of color photos and which don't... which ones cover the whole Deco movement and show something about everything. If there's one thing I don't like, it's buying a book sight unseen and finding out it doesn't have the content I desire. I hope to help future buyers in this regard by informing them before they buy.
BOOKS I OWN:
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Art Deco 1910-1939
Authors: Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton and Ghislaine Wood
Review: This book is huge and gorgeous! A coffee-table type book. Lots and lots of photos (most in color) and informative writing. Book is published in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum who held a travelling exhibition called Art Deco 1910-1939. Here is a link to their site http://edward.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1157_art_deco/. I saw this exhibition while vacationing in San Francisco at the Palace of the Legion of Honor museum in April 2004. (This was actually the start of my obsession with Art Deco). If you didn't see the exhibition (as it only exhibited in Toronto, San Fransisco and Boston - 2003 into 2005), you should pretty much see most of the items used in the exhibition in this book. It has some architecture, but is primarily focused on the Deco movement as a whole. |
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American Art Deco
Author: Carla Breeze
Review: This book is large and beautiful! A coffee-table type book. It has lots and lots of color photos and informative writing about Art Deco architecture throught the United States. |
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Art Deco
Author: Victor Arwas
Review: This is another large and beautiful item! A coffee-table type book. There's no architecture included at all, but it does a great job of covering everything else related to the Art Deco movement . |
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Art Deco Architecture:
Design, Decoration and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties
Author: Patricia Bayer
Review: This is all about Art Deco architecture! It's a large format book, but because of the softcover it isn't quite the "display quality" of other coffee-table-type books. 376 illustrations (146 in color). A wonderful book. |
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American Art Deco
Author: Alastair Duncan
Review: Another very good book about the Art Deco movement as a whole. A coffee-table type book. Over 500 photographs, both color and black and white. |
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Art Deco
Author: Alastair Duncan
Review: A smaller format book with fewer color photos than I'd like to see, but still contains good information and visuals. 194 illustrations (44 in color). |
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American Art Deco
Author: Eva Weber
Review: A large format coffee-table type book. Besides the introduction, there is essentially no other text except the captions for the photos. So, even for a large footprint, thinner book, it packs a nice amount of large photos without encumbering it with writing. Which could be both good and bad, depending on your outlook. I have two copies of this, both with different dustcovers, but identical content. One dust cover has a laminated wood elevator door from the Chrysler Building. The other has a decorative Frank Lloyd Wright window design. They are the same book. |
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Rediscovering Art Deco USA -
A Nationwide Tour of Architectural Delights
Authors: Barbara Capitman, Michael D. Kinerk, Dennis W. Wilhelm, Photos by Randy Juster
Review: 281 photos (236 in color). This book is about Barbara Capitman's trip around the US with colleagues to visit, record information, and photograph Art Deco architecture in all the recognized cities of the time (early 1990s). She was the main driving force of Art Deco preservation, working originally in the Miami area and helping other Art Deco societies around the country to fight for historic building preservation. The research for this book seems to be quite exhaustive! It breaks buildings down by type, then indicates how many of them were surveyed (visited), etc. There aren't as many photos as there could be, considering all the authors saw. However, I assume since they include a wealth of written information about the various locations in each city, it was just space- or cost-prohibitive to show one or more photos of each and every building. Still, this is an incredible resource if you ever plan to visit a city and want to hit the Deco highlights! |
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Essential Art Deco
Author: Ghislaine Wood
Review: This small format book is authored by one of the people involved in the Victoria and Albert Museum travelling exhibition called Art Deco 1910-1939. (http://edward.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1157_art_deco/). You'll see many of the same items that are in the Art Deco 1910-1939 book, above. This one has less text to it and will fit on your bookshelf easier. |
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Discovering South Beach Deco:
Walking Tours in the Miami Beach Art Deco District
Author: Richard & Valerie Beaubien
Review: I bought this book at the South Beach Art Deco Museum & Visitor's building (museum was closed or defunct, I couldn't tell). The bookstore was open though, and my wife and I picked this up to get a more informed tour of the tropical deco South Beach area. There are seven different walks covered in this book. Each has an easy to read map, with numbered locations. Each location gives you a description and history of the building. Many of the buildings have small black and white photos too (but not all). If you plan on doing the walks, they get pretty long - particularly when you stop at each site and read about it. We ended up growing weary in the heat, and so we walked the rest of the way not bothering to read all the details. I would allow one tour per day unless you are very fit and resilient to the heat. |
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The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America
Author: David Gebhard
Review: This book about Art Deco architecture goes state by state within the chapter regions and discusses Art Deco and Streamline Moderne buildings in each. There are scattered quarter- to half-page photos in black and white throughout. |
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The Metropolis of Tomorrow
Author: Hugh Ferris
Review: I was so very happy to find and purchase this architecture book! I had seen various sketches of Art Deco designed buildings by Hugh Ferris and was impressed with their artistic, engineered appearance. They are all architectural sketches, of both buildings that were built, and ones that were only dreamt. I love this book! |
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 This book is not available through Amazon. Click this image or the link in the review. |
A Romance With the City
Author: Irwin S. Chanin (edited by: Diane Agrest)
Review: Another book that I was thrilled to find! It met my expectations too. One of my fixations in Art Deco architecture is the art used in the building. The marriage of art and engineering fascinates me in all its varied artistic expressions. The sculptures (usually in limestone) and the decorative metalwork (grill covers, relief sculptures, gates, etc.) are a major focus for me. At a later date I will be adding a feature page on this focus. One of my favorite artists from the period is Rene Paul Chambellan. He did a lot of relief sculptures and decorative grills for the Chanin Building in New York City. I wanted to see more pictures of his work, and this book gave it to me! The book was apparently something printed for a 1982 exhibition. The book shows period photos of each of the buildings that Irwin S. Chanin built (lots of the Chanin Building, thankfully!). The last few chapters show what some of those buildings look like in 1982. These later photos are the only ones in color. The photos from the period of construction completion are all in black and white (which I would expect). Being a Rene Chambellan and Irwin S. Chanin fan, this is a treasured prize for me!! Here's a link to a place to purchase this: |
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Art Deco Ornamental Ironwork
Author: Henri Martinie
Review: This book contains 197 black and white photos of French onramental ironwork from the 1920s. It actually is a collection of photo plates from two sources:
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Art Deco Decorative Ironwork
Author: Henri Clouzot
Review: This book is very similar to Art Deco Ornamental Ironwork. It contains 320 black and white photos of French onramental ironwork from the 1920s. It actually is a collection of photo plates from La Ferronnerie: Deuxieme Moderne (three series). I ordered this at the same time as the other. Again, I had hoped that this book would feature color photos of currently known pieces. Instead, it was a reprint of 1920-era photos of French works. It seems to have a more varied collection of decorative ironwork (fire screens, etc. instead of primarily gates and larger architectural pieces). Again, no references to whether any still exist. |
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Art Deco:
Flights of Artistic Fantasy
Author: Susan A. Sternau
Review: This book covers the whole Art Deco movement. It covers paintings, furniture, fashion, accessories, fabrics, sculpture, prints, jewelry, bookbinding, architecture - most all of the major elements. Because it's only 128 pages, it doesn't get into too much detail on any one area. It does have quite a few color photos throughout. |
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Brightwork:
Classic American Car Ornamentation
Author: Ken Steacy
Review: While not technically billed as an Art Deco book, it does have some gorgeous photos of incredible streamlined hood ornaments from the 1920s through the 1950s. There are 48 pages of hood ornaments, which was the main focus on my purchasing this book. But it also features of a bunch of color photos of horn buttons, name script emblems and other emblems. Very well done book with a good layout. If you're into Streamline, you'll absolutely love the photos in this book! |
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Christie's Art Deco
Author: Edited by Fiona Gallagher; Contributors: Micahel Jeffrey, Simon Andrews, Nicolette White.
Review: Lots of beautiful color photos and descriptions of Art Deco collectible art objects from Christie's auction house archives. Book includes short biographies of the era's artists throughout its text. No architectural buildings featured (since that's not something you would see at an art auction anyway!). The Architectural Detailing chapter is for items you might find adorning a building's interior (lamps, fire screen, clock, bookends, etc.). Recommended for the collector of Art Deco items. |
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The Chrysler Building:
Creating a New York Icon, Day by Day
Author: David Stravitz
Review: WOW! If you have any interest what-so-ever in the Chrysler Building, this book is definitely for you!! Lots and lots of black and white photo plates taken of the construction site before and during the building's construction. Incredible shots! Highly recommended. |
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Art Deco New York
Author: David Garrard Lowe
Review: This is a very nice book with lots of good reading material and a healthy amount of great deco images (both black & white and color) running the gamut from transportation, hotels, fashion, dining & entertainment, skyscrapers, living spaces, the Rockefeller Center and the '39 World's Fair. |
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The Art of the Rockefeller Center
Author: Christine Roussel
Review: Fantastic book that shows the architectural art associated with all the buildings of the Rockefeller Center. Each artist's contribution is noted and shown, general information about the artist, and some very intriguing photos are included showing them actively working in progress on their commissions. Highly recommended if your a fan of the Rockefeller Center and enjoy learning about the artists involved. Nice mixture of color and black & white photos. |
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Deco Landmarks:
Art Deco Gems of Los Angeles
Author: Arnold Schwartzman
Review: Lots of color photos showing the Art Deco architectural details of buildings around Los Angeles, California. As the table of contents indicate, each section focuses on the type of material of which the features are constructed. The photos are very rich in color and detail, however, in most instances you don't get to see the whole building to which they belong. If this fact doesn't bother you, or you don't mind looking in another book (or the internet) for a glimpse of the entire structure, then you'll savor the uniqueness of that era's architectural ornamentation. |
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The Machine Age in America 1918 - 1941
Author: Richard Guy Wilson, Dianne H. Pilgrim, Disckran Tashjian
Review: Huge book produced to accompany an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1986. Many photos, mostly black & white accompanied by supporting text. Painting, photography, architecture, interior design, industrial design, transportation...this book has it all. This is a great sudy of the influence of the machine age between the World Wars.
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Art Deco Interiors:
Decoration and Design Classics of the 1920s and 1930s
Author: Patricia Bayer
Review: Mixture of photos and artist sketches of 20s and 30s interiors. Some great images and a lot of so-so images. I personally don't get much out of looking at artist sketches of interiors - even though most are in color. I find more pleasure in looking over photos of room arrangments and actual furniture pieces that were designed and built in that time period. I would presume that photos of actual deco era home interiors might be hard to come by. Still, there are a lot of great examples if you're interested in looking for interior design ideas.
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The Art Deco House:
Avant-Garde Houses of the 1920s and 1930s
Author: Adrian Tinniswood
Review: Great book with about two to four pages on each house listed in the table of contents, including both vintage and contemporary photos. There are examples from all over the globe, and including both individual family dwellings and apartment buildings. Thankfully, it also has four pages on my favorite Art Deco era home, the Butler House in Des Moines, Iowa!
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Art Deco House Style:
An Architectural and Interior Design Source Book
Author: Ingrid Cranfield
Review: This book is a hodge-podge of sometimes seemingly disparate content. While much of it indeed shows what one would expect to see in Art Deco house style, there is also a mixture of design elements throughout parts of it that quite frankly belong in a book on Tudor house style. Broad mixture of photos and design sketches, mostly black and white.
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Art Deco Furniture:
The French Designers
Author: Alastair Duncan
Review: Based on the cover title of the book, I was a bit disappointed to find the subtitle on the frontispiece which indicated that it would only be covering the French Deco era furniture designers. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's only that I didn't realize it when purchasing the book strictly by its advertised titled (which does not indicate the subtitle). Lots of photo plates showing all types of furniture with write-ups on each item, as well as a very full section on the biographies of the designers. (312 photographs, 69 in color)
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The Streamline Era Greyhound Terminals:
The Architecture of W.S. Arrasmith
Author: Frank E. Wrenick
Review: If you're interested in the streamline designed Greyhound bus terminals of the 30s through the 50s, then you must get this book! Frank Wrenick took a topic never before covered, dug and researched, and has produced a thorough treatise on not only the man who designed them, but also tons of information and vintage photos of the terminals Arrasmith designed. You'll find material in this book that you'll never find anywhere else! You can see my interview with the author here: |
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BOOKS I DON'T OWN (yet!): |
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Los Angeles Art Deco
Author: Suzanne Tarbell Cooper | |
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Deco & Streamline Architecture in L.A.
Author: Elizabeth McMillian | |
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Art Deco in Detroit
Author: Rebecca Binno Savage | |
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Tulsa Art Deco
Author: Carol Newton Gambino | |
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Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots, and Post Houses
Author: Dylan Frautschi |
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The Streamline Era
Author: Robert Carroll Reed | |
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