Streamlining influenced automobile design in the Deco age, and changed the appearance from the old rectangular transporters into sleek vehicles with sweeping lines, symmetry and V-shapes. It didn’t matter that the decorative elements could hardly influence speed and efficiency; it was enough that these elements suggested speed and efficiency. Muscular and forceful elements, like high prow hoods, art-deco speed lines for chrome grilles and parallel bar trims were the rage in Deco cars!
Two examples can show us how the exterior and interior of a deco classic appeared Examine the
Cadillac Sedanette from the outside, then have a look at the interior. And see the walnut dashboard of the 1938
Bentley.
desk, Louro Preto and chestnut burl veneer, Brights of Nettlebed. Date?
I liked the car
reviewer who acknowledged that more than exciting dials and switches alone, the dashboard was (and is?) also an important statement of personal style. The best dashboards were works of art where engineering met styling, and fact balanced fantasy. In his 1934 MG PA Midget, for example, the Art Deco dashboard made a pronounced play of MG's famous octagon badge: dials and switches were encased in chunky chromed octagons. And the speedo and rev counter were combined in one delicious looking dial. Can we say boys with their toys?
But not just cars. Soon designers were including speed lines and V shapes in other, totally unrelated objects eg clock faces. Monumental architecture and small art objects alike adopted the use of stepped forms, geometric shapes, chevrons, ziggurats and other motifs of the Art Deco era.
Cadillac Sedanette exterior and dashboard, owned by Cars for Films
Brights of Nettlebed photographed an amazing Louro Preto and chestnut burl veneered pedestal
desk, shaped just like a classic car. Coming from Central & South America, especially southern Brasil and Venezuala, Louro Preto veneer was used for interior design, furniture pieces and boat building.
The angled sides encloses a vintage leather inlaid hood with a car clock inset into the dashboard and recesses, above a steel detailed drawer, push action drawers with engine turned fronts. Each pedestal has two drawers with steel handles, while the side and front have grille bases. I know the width (212 cm wide) but I wish I knew who the designer was and in which year this amazing desk was made.
If this pedestal desk, by itself, doesn’t inspire memories of the vintage racing era, classical cars and stylish timber dashboards, the collector could simply add a painting of a 1930s car on the nearest wall.
Dashboard of a 1938 Bentley
28 comments:
Fascinating to see it from a car's perspective. Rather than architecture.
Glamour Drops
Great to hear that.
In almost every art style that I can think of, architecture spread the style from one art medium to another and from one society to another. Consider romanesque, gothic, neo classical, Islamic etc etc.
With Deco, the applied arts did the distributing, not architecture.
My husband, who thinks 1930s cars were speedy and sexy, would love that desk.
I'm always amazed at how the shape of cars has changed so drastically, yet at every stage men who like cars can weep for joy at the newest product. It is a special case of the changing perceptions of beauty. As a non-driver I find this particularly fascinating.
My, that Cadillac Sedanette is just exquisite. I could fall in love with a car like that but might personally prefer it in grey.
The desk looks quite imposing. I'm not sure if I could see it as anything but imposing though - I can't imagine studying, working or blogging on it!!
I think I would confine myself to Art Deco jewellery. The desk is stunning but would "work" me rather than the other way round.
Great car!
Deb,
"speedy and sexy"... exactly. The desk looks as if it is leaning forward, about to take off :)
Paul and foto fanatic,
I can almost understand adult men weeping for joy at the sight of new cars in the show rooms. So there is a clear gender issue.
But there also is a styling issue. Of all the cars ever designed, streamlined deco cars seem to excite car lovers the most, even 75 years later.
Chris
welcome back :)
Deco was largely a surface decoration. A Deco building, for example, was an ordinary building with a plain white rendered facade, and ziggurats on or around the doors.
Where Deco worked superbly was in small items where there was nothing BUT the surface decoration eg small pieces of silver art, porcelain and especially jewellery.
Emm
imposing is a good word. I wonder if people were judged by the quality of their library/office in general and of their desk in particular.
I love the car clock that was inset into the desk dashboard but I would have liked more chrome, more gizmos and a matching deco chair.
artlover
it would seem from what I can find that in the early 1930s and in European cars, dashboard were symmetrical and had few chrome ornaments on the timber. Asymmetry and over-the-top chrome doodads crept in by the end of the 1930s and particularly in the USA.
I wonder if our desk was based more on the Bentley and less on the Cadillac.
At a furniture auction a woman said that an old club lounge suite reminded her of an FJ Holden, and I immediately saw what she meant. It was the times, the thinking of those times, the fashion.
Anonymous RH
I know exactly what you mean by the old club lounge suite, Holden and deco. Once you get your eye in, it is possible to pick Deco at 500 ms away, in the dark!
Thank you. I am still fascinated by my newly discovered connection between cars and furniture
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Leon
I always admired Deco but I don't think I realised how influenced it could be by modern cars until I saw your post. I thought it was all ocean liners and streamline trains.
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Leo
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What a fascinating journey through design history! 'From Deco Cars to Deco Furniture' showcases the timeless elegance of Art Deco in both automotive and furniture design, celebrating the artistic spirit of the era.
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leo
Welcome aboard! The style of many eras was fantastically popular for a limited length of time, before the art and architecture world moved on to something newer and more exciting. But there is something about Deco that is still very appealing now, 100 years later.
Smart Auto
more true about cars than furniture, I suspect :) After all, Deco represented modernity, speed and a mechanical era (eg cars, trains) but furniture had no such connection to movement.
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