Art deco The term art déco is derived from the expression art décoratif and has a history all of its own. When one talks about art déco, the art of the 20s and 30s, what is meant is the period between 1919 and 1938. These years, between the two world wars, belong to one of the most difficult epochs in history. And so it seems all the more incredible to us today that art déco could evolve and survive, eventually to emerge as the style of the epoch. But what is it that makes art déco so special and why was it that this style of art in particular was able successfully to establish itself? There are several reasons for this. Art déco was a style that impacted on all aspects of life: arts and crafts, films and engineering, advertising and fashion. As the style of an era during which every day was different, art déco was flexible enough to accommodate any change. The style could be applied to any object created by mankind, whatever its use or manufacturing costs. The spirit of art déco was the spirit of the modern. Even when it assimilated older styles, it still remained the spirit of the new. One can love an art déco object because of its form and its skilled craftsmanship, or because of its Zeitgeist, because history is embodied in each piece of artwork. Ultimately, and this was surely crucial, art déco was the last universal stylistic movement. Nothing since then has succeeded in filling our lives so completely with colour and aesthetics.