Believe it or not, there was a time when the style we know as Art Deco had been deemed old fashioned and was largely eclipsed by modern post-WWII design that rebuilt war torn cities and expanded those that experienced prosperity in the mid-20th century. A World War, a Cold War and a counter-culture revolution had irrevocably changed the world in the years between the debut of the elegant style in 1925 and 1968 when an English journalist published a book simply entitled “Art Deco of the 20s and 30s.”
We’re excited to announce that Bevis Hillier, the writer who brought Art Deco back into the culture with new insights and appreciation, is joining ADSLA from London, for a Zoom talk with Arnold Schwartzman, a filmmaker, designer, prolific Art Deco author and old friend.
BEVIS HILLIER is an author, journalist and critic, a former editor of The Connoisseur magazine and of The Times Saturday Review. He has written frequently on the Art Deco style, including the first book on Art Deco (1968) - which effectively gave the inter-war style its name. He went on to write text for the Minneapolis Institute of Art catalog for their 1971 exhibition. He regularly reviews for The Spectator. His three-volume biography of English poet and writer John Betjeman remains the standard work.
ARNOLD SCHWARTZMAN is a renowned British designer, author, and film director who in 1982 won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, for his film of the reminiscences of Holocaust survivors titled Genocide. He has written numerous books about the Art Deco Style.