Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 93

Postmodern Moods of Art Deco

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complemented it with its designs that extended into the metaphors
they were.® The "French Casino" (now Club 1235), whose original
elegance endures to this day, continues to indulge its clientele’s sense
of romance much like European clubs of the 1930s. The grand scale
staircase possessively embracing the club’s focal point, the
chandelier-lit foyer, is a promenade to the voluptuously curved
undulating balconies where even sixty years later, the soft accent
lights discreetly guide the guests to illusive encounters.
While Art Deco was enthusiastically received by the public
seeking that extra dimension of sensory excitement, in intellectual
quarters it was fundamentally regarded as a marketable form of
"low-art." Critics typically described it as a misguided trend in
aesthetic illiteracy, leading the design practitioners to compromise
the integrity of their work.
Art Deco Revival
During the latter part of the 1960s the style, once again, began to
win popularity. Renewed public interest in its visual energy and
appeal was more profound than a brief flirt with nostalgia. Presentday historians and designers, as well as the critics, now much kinder
toward Art Deco, began to dissect, analyze and reflect on the era’s
legacy, explicating their fresh insights about the dynamics of a
cultural trend that, although seemingly different in many respects,
parallels contemporary movements in design and manifestly
influences even the edifices of Postmodern structures.
In the recent past there have been large scale celebrations with
thousands of participants in cities such as Miami and Chicago and a
mushrooming of various historic preservation organizations
empowered to halt demolitions of Art Deco structures, and passionate
power plays among preservationist investors, financial institutions
and quick-profit motivated developers. Many Americans, now
enlightened about the cultural and aesthetic values of Art Deco,
nudged the power players, and the artists, architects, designers, and
crafts-persons went to work. Numerous decaying remnants of the
Machine Age, Streamline Modernism, Tropical Deco, and Classical
Modeme were restored, preserved and dignified to assume their
places among the achievements of other historically honored
traditions representing major American styles.
Noteworthy,