Time & Place

The Skyscraper as Symbol

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The skyscraper building type was invented in America during the late 19th century in Chicago and New York. By the 1910s, so many high-rise buildings were being erected that authorities in Manhattan feared sunlight would eventually be unable to reach the streets below.

The Impact of Cubism on Art Deco and Streamlined Modern

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Between 1908 and 1913, Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and French painter Georges Braque developed a new style of painting now known as cubism. Breaking with traditional representations of space and perspective, cubist artists depicted objects from shifting points of view, as if seen from several markedly different angles at once.

Ancient Egyptian historical periods


GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Though there is evidence of settlers along the Nile River dating from almost 120,000 years ago, the history of ancient Egypt is generally divided into three major periods of stability: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. These were separated by intermediate periods of political instability and followed by the Late Period.

Abstraction and the Applied Arts

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
During the interwar years, movements developed that promoted extremely abstract styles. Among the most important of these was the Dutch De Stijl (“The Style”) movement and the Russian constructivist and suprematist movements. Founded in the wake of world warfare, and in the case of Russia a major political revolution, these movements looked to a utopian future for inspiration.

Streamlined Modern

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Although some American designers worked in a style closely akin to French art deco, many more embraced the concept of streamlining. Giving objects, even stationary ones, streamlined shapes was seen as a sign of progress and dynamism in the Depression years of the 1930s. Thanks to the emerging profession of industrial design and the need to enhance slumping sales figures, streamlined silhouettes were given to everything from buildings to buses and from cocktail shakers to vacuum cleaners.