Jean Carlu and Art Deco

Art Deco is a post WWI style that very much tried to be modern. In a time where industry is beginning to rise and new materials and technology are being used, massive change was happening in society and this style reflected that. Its predecessors being styles like Art Nouveau, Art Deco was very much on the complete other side of the aesthetic spectrum. While Art Nouveau was characterised by organic shapes, curvilinear forms and often times asymmetry, Art Deco was characterised by strong geometric shapes, industrial imagery and a very prevalent sense of symmetry.  Much like Art Nouveau, Art Deco did not only encompass art but it also made its way to architecture, craftsmanship, and graphic design.

Art Deco in posters and other graphic design mediums very much followed the core style. These posters often feature strong geometric yet dynamic lines throughout the composition. Industry or technology is also common theme that can be seen in these posters.

Jean Carlu aptly visualises what the Art Deco style was all about.  His posters have a very strong sense of linearity which was a key component to the Art Deco style. 

In this poster here we can see an example of this linearity. A profile of a human face is depicted here and it is made to seem like its silhouette is made with solely one continuous line. This makes the figure stand out and look very clean and geometric. While there is the inclusion of curved lines in this piece, they do not detract from the artificial and geometric nature of the piece as a whole. The curved lines seem to be made with mathematical precision and lack the carefree nature that was seen in the Art Nouveau style.  Another thing of note is his use of typography. Big and bold typography was very common in Art Deco and in this case, the typography seems to mirror the style of the figure in an interesting way with its strong geometric nature.

This next image relates to his work with America and their war effort. Jean Carlu has a series of posters of this sort but I feel that this one really brings out the industrial and ‘machine age’ side of the Art Deco style. While the subject matter of this piece is very blatantly industry driven, I feel like the choices he made in the design of this also lend itself to that style. If we were to look at the hand, we can see very gritty, dark colours being used which remind us of the roughness of machines. We can also see that there is a play with the typography to further lend itself to this new industry age art style.

Personally, I feel that Carlu’s work has had an immense effect of the poster we see today. Minimal abstracted figure, harsh geometric lines are all things that have become very popular in the graphic design world of today and I hazard a guess that the work of Jean Carlu plays a big part in it.

References:

• americanart.si.edu-americanart-2014 [http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=749][Last accessed on 05/11/2014]
• Carollyn Mcdowall-thecultrueconcept.com-2013 [http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/art-deco-a-revolution-of-design-style-for-the-modern-age#sthash.BJvjE9DM.dpbs][Last accessed on 05/11/2014]