In the Deco style

In the Deco Style unashamedly celebrates the most deliberately elaborate of twentieth-century decorative styles: Art Deco. The sheer diversity and brilliance of the achievements of both interior designers and architects who have contributed to the Deco style are beautifully illustrated in a visual history linked by the commentaries of leading experts from London and New York.

Art Deco developed from a characteristically French image of luxury and refinement. Like Art Nouveau, it was not a totally homogeneous style and a number of design characteristics which came later to be known as 'Deco' were subsequent developments of the essentially French style; most interesting among these was the burgeoning Streamline Moderne in the United States, in which Modernist and Deco elements mingled dramatically.

In its purest forms, however, Art Deco was essentially a pursuit of refinement, often through the use of exotic and unusual materials: rich woods, novel veneers or inlays and lustrous lacquers. Later American designers were also to bring similar elaboration to the use of metal in some of the most notable interiors of thirties New York. Indeed the Deco phenomenon, far from declining after the famous 1925 Paris exhibition, continued through the thirties and forties in America and received the accolade of a revival on both sides of the Atlantic in the early seventies. This is the first book to treat Deco as an ongoing phenomenon, as susceptible to revival and adaptation as all the great decorative styles of the past.

With 346 illustrations, 236 in colour

Dan Klein is Head of the Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts Department at Christie's, the London auction house. He previously owned a gallery in London, and is a collector of contemporary European studio glass. He is author of a number of publications on aspects of twentieth-century decorative arts.

Nancy McClelland is Vice-President in charge of Modern Decorative Arts at Christie's, New York.

Malcolm Haslam was formerly a dealer in decorative arts in London. He has written extensively on the subject and his books include Marks and Monograms of the Modern Movement and a major work on the surrealists.