The Modern Interior

lights, its use of Macassar ebony, its dramatically draped curtains, the
highly patterned wallpaper on its curved walls, designed by Stéphany,
its rugs and tapestries created by Gaudissart, its grand piano, its items of
lacquered furniture designed by Jean Dunand, in addition to other pieces
by Jallot and Rapin, and its works of contemporary art, the hôtel’s grand
salon was possibly even more luxurious.
The international impact of what came to be called the ‘Art Deco’
interior was unprecedented and lasted right up to the outbreak of the
Second World War. Its strong message to all social classes about the
possibility of participating in what had become by the mid-1930s a massproduced
modernity, which valued the experience of the individual and
offered the potential for modern luxury, glamour, leisure, pleasure and
escape (and which was, above all, accessible), was hugely appealing in
those years. It quickly found its way into cinemas, hotels, clubs, beauty
salons, small select shops, leisure centres, cafés, restaurants and ocean
liners across the world. 29 It was especially well received in the us, where
department stores made it available to almost everyone who wanted it. 30
In that country it encountered the indigenous streamlined style and the
term ‘streamlined moderne’ began to be used. The film industry inevitably
recognized its appeal and, as we have seen, Art Deco sets featured in count -
less Hollywood movies (see p. 71). 31
More than any other modern decorative interior styles, French Art
Deco and the American ‘streamlined moderne’ aesthetic penetrated the
mass market and, for the first time, made ‘modern’ a real choice for many
home decorators. That was facilitated and encouraged by a vast number of
decorating advice books which demonstrated ways in which the modern
look could be achieved. An English publication of the mid-1930s, for
example, The Home of Today, illustrated a ‘delightful’ modern kitchen
which featured a ‘novel “porthole” window’, clearly influenced by the
glamorous liners of the era – the French Normandie leading the way – as
well as an ‘unusual hall’ with a dramatic black and white striped floor and
‘new propeller lights’. 32 An American book from 1936, What’s New in Home
Decorating?, contained an image of a modern bedroom-cum-office, which
also showed signs of Art Deco treatment. Decorated by Hazel Dell Brown
the room was described as ‘one of those rare rooms which seem to have
everything – decoratively speaking. From the smart, cork-veneered furniture
to the checked upholstery material and such up-to-the-minute details
as the white porcelain mask and unframed circular mirror, it is the perfect
setting for the dashing young Modern for whom it was designed.’ 33 A 103