Appropriately presented within the Frist’s own art deco interior during the museum’s twentieth-anniversary year, this exhibition offers an overview of an international style that manifested stateside in decorative arts, fine arts, architecture, and design during the 1920s and 1930s. Featuring approximately 140 objects, American Art Deco explores the movement between 1918 and 1939 and highlights not only the glamour and optimism of the 1920s but also the impact of the Great Depression in the 1930s. An array of works, from a stunning 1925 René Lalique glass vase to a 1930 Ford Model A, will immerse guests in this period of much social, political, and cultural change.
Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, and Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska
Exhibition panels and labels
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Exhibition gallery
![Silver vacuum on thin pegs with a handle on top. “Electrolux” label is in the middle in silver lettering with a red background.](https://fristartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/American-Art-Deco-Electrolux-Vacuum-Cleaner.jpg)
Lurelle Van Arsdale Guild, designer (American, 1898–1985); Electrolux Corporation, manufacturer (Dover, Delaware, founded 1919). Electrolux vacuum (Model 30), designed 1937. Chrome-plated steel, aluminum, vinyl, and rubber, 8 1/2 x 23 x 7 3/4 in. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, 2004.3466. Image courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo: Wes Magyar
![Translucent yellow glass bowl with geometric sides of different shapes and sizes.](https://fristartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Art-Deco_RubaRombicFishBowl_01-e1628197948878.jpg)
Reuben Haley, designer (American, 1872–1933); Kenneth R. Haley, designer (American, 1905–1987); Consolidated Lamp and Glass Company, manufacturer (Fostoria, Ohio, 1893–1932). Ruba Rombic Fish Bowl, 1928. Glass, 8 x 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, 2008.0521. Image courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo: Wes Magyar
![Sky-blue radio with three silver horizontal lines trisecting two silver concentric circles. The smallest circle indicates radio frequency. The radio sits on two black pegs.](https://fristartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Art-Deco-SpartonBluebirdRadio.jpg)
Walter Dorwin Teague, designer (American, 1883–1960); Sparks-Withington Company, manufacturer (Jackson, Michigan, founded 1900). Sparton Bluebird Radio (Model 566), 1934. Wood, glass, and metal, 14 3/4 x 14 5/8 x 6 in. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, 2004.1850. Image courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo: Wes Magyar
![White ceramic bowl sits atop a silver bottom. The long-handled ladle rests on the bowl’s rim. Small white cups with matching silver bottoms surround the bowl.](https://fristartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Art-Deco-Punch-Bowl-Ladle-Cups.jpg)
Paul Schreckengost, designer (American, 1908–1983); Gem Clay Forming Co., manufacturer (Sebring, Ohio, 1907–1960s). Punch bowl, ladle, and cups, 1938– 39. Ceramic, bowl: 4 1/2 x 12 x 12 in.; ladle: 1 1/4 x 12 x 3 in.; cups: 2 3/4 x 5 x 3 3/4 in. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, CG0718; CG0719–CG0722; 2004.3040. Image courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo: Wes Magyar
![Rectangular clock with fat black and cream-colored rays radiating from the clock face with black numbers. Blue triangles adorn the top and sides.](https://fristartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Art-Deco-Modernique-Clock.jpg)
Paul T. Frankl, designer (American, born Austria, 1887–1958); Warren Telechron Company, manufacturer (Ashland, Massachusetts, 1926–1992). Modernique Clock, 1928. Chromium-plated and enameled metal, molded Bakelite, and brush-burnished silver, 7 3/4 x 6 x 3 1/2 in. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, Gift of Michael Merson, 2010.0670. Image courtesy of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver. Photo: Wes Magyar
![A swarm of faceless workers, some busy using tools, toil on a construction site that includes a large wooden scaffold. Steam wafts over the site as a small plane and white dirigible fly overhead.](https://fristartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Art-Deco-Construction-e1628192891169.jpg)
Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889–1975). Construction, 1923. Ink oil wash on canvas, 27 3/4 x 23 3/4 in. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Bequest of the artist, F75-21/42. © T.H. Benton and R.P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York