Art Deco and Ellington

What is Art Deco?
ART DECO is a term derived from the title of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris and made popular in the 1960's. The 1925 Exposition Internationale  celebrated living in the modern world and used the term as expressive of the modern. The use of the term in the 1960's described identifiable design characteristics that were part of the popular modern movement of the 20's, roughly the period between World War I and World War II.  

Art Deco is an international style. The characteristics of the style are diverse and far-ranging and include elements pulled from Modernism, Russian Constructivism, the Vienna Session Movement, the Art Noveau Movement, industrial design, Greco-Roman classicism, and a myriad of exotic cultural influences, including American Indian and African typology and motifs. Though it was a contemporary of Bauhaus Modernism, Art Deco distinguished itself by its romantic and elegant notions that opposed the plain, unadorned, "form follows function", of the later modernist style. At times the style is contradictory. The populist evocation of a simpler time, a less industrial world, was often at odds with the technological form of the object which evoked the raw energy of new technology and the speed of new transportation with its sleek and energized lines. "Streamlined" is a term often used to describe the Art Deco object and its design and frequently appears in discussions of the later work of Ellington. 

The contradictions of form in Art Deco and in Ellington's work are echoed by the contradictions found in the social climate between the two World Wars. The boisterous exuberance of the Roaring 20's so dramatically played out in Asheville, was brought to a dramatic halt in the Crash of of the 30's that ushered in the Great Depression. Much of Ellington's work in Asheville was executed in the dynamic period of transition between the 20's and 30's and reflects the shift from a more ornate style, grounded in Greco-Roman typology,  to the sleeker ornamentation found in the later Art Deco period, particularly that seen in the so-called Futurist movement. 

The architectural motifs of Ellington shows a strong regionalist interpretation of the international movement that Ellington evidently followed with enthusiasm. The City Building is the signature work of Ellington in Asheville. The typical stepped summit of the building dominates the skyline of the city and is found in other Art Deco buildings from Sydney to Paris but here in Asheville it is intended to echo the stepped sequence of mountains so typical of this Appalachian city.  The chevron patterns found on the exterior of many Art Deco buildings is given its own regional imprint by Ellington. The chevron is a stylized feather, a reference to Cherokee culture, and can be seen as a repeated motif in many parts of the City Building decoration. While subdued in color, the pink and alabaster tones of the City Building and the blues, aqua, and yellows found in the S & W Cafeteria are not unlike the rich colors found in numerous other Art Deco buildings throughout the Western world. Here in Asheville they beautiful tones of the City Building and the startling blue of the S & W Cafeteria are a visual relief to the predominant grey and browns of the surrounding buildings. 

 Experimentation with new materials and colors was characteristic of the Art Deco language and Ellington knew the vocabulary and delighted in its expression. The use of pink granite, gold leaf, glazed terracotta, metal, and polished marble is exuberant and playful in both the City Building and the S & W Cafeteria, the most expressive of Ellington's buildings. As Asheville sought to join the ranks of progressive modern cities, it fell on Ellington to give the youthful city's  ambition its form. That he was unable to carry his plans to full fruition is another story, expressed not in the language of aesthetics, but in political language. See :  Asheville City and Buncombe County Civic Center Conflict of 1926.  hw
Bibliography:

Hillier, Bevis, 1940-; Escritt, Stephen. Art Deco Style. London: Phaidon, 1997.
 Breeze, Carla. American Art Deco: Architecture and Regionalism, New York : W.W. Norton, 2003
Bayer, Patricia. Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1992.
Gebhard, David. The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America, New York: J. Wiley, 1996.
Benton, Charlotte.; Benton, Tim. Art Deco 1910-1939,  Boston: Bulfinch Press/AOL Time Warner Book Group, 2003.
Author: Duncan, Alastair, 1942- . American Art Deco, New York: Abrams, 1986.