Skip to main content

Art Deco Paintings

ART DECO STYLE

Art Deco furniture is characterized by its celebration of modern life. More than its emphasis on natural wood grains and focus on traditional craftsmanship, vintage Art Deco dining chairs, tables, desks, cabinets and other furniture — which typically refers to pieces produced during the 1920s and 1930s — is an ode to the glamour of the “Roaring Twenties.” 

ORIGINS OF ART DECO FURNITURE DESIGN

CHARACTERISTICS OF ART DECO FURNITURE DESIGN

  • Bold geometric lines and forms, floral motifs
  • Use of expensive materials such as shagreen or marble as well as exotic woods such as mahogany, ebony and zebra wood
  • Metal accents, shimmering mirrored finishes
  • Embellishments made from exotic animal hides, inlays of mother-of-pearl or ivory

ART DECO FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

VINTAGE ART DECO FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

Few design styles are as universally recognized and appreciated as Art Deco. The term alone conjures visions of the Roaring Twenties, Machine Age metropolises, vast ocean liners, sleek typography and Prohibition-era hedonism. The iconic movement made an indelible mark on all fields of design throughout the 1920s and ’30s, celebrating society’s growing industrialization with refined elegance and stunning craftsmanship.

Widely known designers associated with the Art Deco style include Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, Maurice Dufrêne, Paul Follot and Jules Leleu.

The term Art Deco derives from the name of a large decorative arts exhibition held in Paris in 1925. “Art Deco design” is often used broadly, to describe the work of creators in associated or ancillary styles. This is particularly true of American Art Deco, which is also called Streamline Moderne or Machine Age design. (Streamline Moderne, sometimes known as Art Moderne, was a phenomenon largely of the 1930s, post–Art Nouveau.)

Art Deco textile designers employed dazzling floral motifs and vivid colors, and while Art Deco furniture makers respected the dark woods and modern metals with which they worked, they frequently incorporated decorative embellishments such as exotic animal hides as well as veneers in their seating, case pieces, living room sets and bedroom furniture.

From mother-of-pearl inlaid vitrines to chrome aviator chairs, bold and inventive works in the Art Deco style include chaise longues (also known as chaise lounges) and curved armchairs. Today, the style is still favored by interior designers looking to infuse a home with an air of luxury and sophistication.

The vintage Art Deco furniture for sale on 1stDibs includes dressers, coffee tables, decorative objects and more.

1
63
2
to
48
428
195
634
634
634
2,665
1,652
634
398
369
299
234
183
110
87
68
60
51
47
44
34
34
25
4
630
194
383
21
2
12
121
239
91
20
3
5
5
7
Height
to
Width
to
357
166
158
121
68
350
245
234
164
33
11
10
8
7
6
Item type: Antique and Vintage
Style: Art Deco
"Western Ceres, " Art Deco Painting with Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A color-rich reimagining of the mythological tale of Ceres, the Goddess of fertility and agriculture, this marvelous Art Deco painting shows a modern Ceres holding a pineapple in one...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"At the Bar", Watercolor on Paper by A. J. Kristians, France, Art Déco, 1920's
Located in Paris, FR
Watercolor by Antonius Johans Kristians (1883-1957) "at the bar". Watercolor on paper. Signed bottom left. Dimensions: without frame : 49x65cm; with frame : 61x78cm JK Kristians i...
Category

1920s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paper

"Parrots and Trees, " Art Deco Painted Advertising Panel for Poll Parrot Shoes
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Brilliantly painted by a commercial artist, this large, rare sign panel may have been the most ambitious marketing piece ever created by the Poll-Parrot Shoe Company, one of America’s leading purveyors of children’s shoes...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Cubistic Painting of a Boy Reading, 1930s
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Cubistic painting of a school boy reading. Oil on canvas. Faded signature of lower left hand corner. Newly framed in grey and gold leaf.
Category

1930s Dutch Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

"Timur 'Imu, " Exotic Asian Fantasy, Art Deco Painting with Male Nudes
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Mysterious, jewel-toned and sensuous at the same time, this gorgeous gouache painting by Dooley Dionysius depicts a circle of nude men on a sculpted platform, linked together arm in ...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Gouache

"Circus Scene, " 1930s Painting with Barker in Orange & Green, American Flags
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A riot of color and movement, much like the experience of walking around the circus in its heyday in 1930s America, this scene by Iver Rose depicts a barker at his podium, positioned...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Guinea Baboon, " Masterpiece of Art Deco Painting in Lacquer by Margat, 1938
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A year after André Margat received a gold medal for his lacquerwork at the Exposition Universelle of 1937, the artist painted this beautiful and expressiv...
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Lacquer

"Morning Chat, " Moody, Atmospheric Painting by Daniel Koerner, WPA Artist
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Clearly showing the influence of German Expressionism and American film noir, this deeply atmospheric, moody painting depicts two male figures in the foreground, deep in conversation...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Lunchroom Conversations, " Glimpse of 1920s Black Social Life in Philadelphia
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of energy and elegance, this genre scene of African Americans eating and chatting in a 1920s lunchroom -- dressed to the nines in furs, fashionable hats...
Category

1920s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Whiskey Sours, " Cubist-Art Deco Painting with Bottle and Jigger
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Taking its cues from the broken planes and tilted objects of Cubist masters such as Braque and Gris, as well as the polished art of the Art Deco movement, this brilliant painting sho...
Category

1940s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Satyr and Nymph, " Gorgeous Art Deco Ballet Scene, Painting on Silk
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Beautifully painted in fresh, lovely colors on silk, this depiction of nymph and satyr, clothed in gauzy costumes like a scene from a Ballets Russes production, was painted by Stephe...
Category

1920s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Silk

Frederick Golden Short New Forest Woodland Signed and Dated 1920 Oil Painting
Located in GB
We are delighted to offer this stunning Frederick Golden Short 1863 – 1936 oil painting which dated 1920 and signed of the new Forest Woodland This piece is exceptionally well exe...
Category

1920s English Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas

"Above the Beach, " Art Deco Painting of Bather and Rower, Emerald & Cobalt Hues
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Brilliantly painted in rich jewel tones -- emerald, sapphire and canary -- this high style Art Deco-cum-Fauvist painting depicts a female bather, swathed in a large towel, in conversation with a muscled male rower, high above the beach below. Sunbathers under their umbrellas can be seen in the distance, and above the couple is a vivid sky with bolts of blue and coral above hills of green, yellow and pink. The artist, Marius Woulfart...
Category

1920s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Fruits of Land and Sea, " Pair of Art Deco Mural Studies with Mermaids by Briggs
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Classic and beautiful examples of Art Deco allegorical painting, this pair of mural studies depicts nude mermaid figures, each holding symbols of the fruits of land and sea. One is holding ears of corn and other produce from the earth, while the other is holding a strand of pearls and a cornucopia with coral and other living things from the ocean. Both figures are surrounded by the undulating waves of the ocean in a lovely blue. The paintings are by Adelaide Briggs...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Art Deco Painting of Spanish Dancer by Yves Diey
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Art Deco painting of Spanish dancer by Yves Diey.
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Large Oil On Canvas "Best Friends", Signed G. Hoy, 1930
Located in Lichtenberg, AT
Lovely large oil on canvas "Best Friends" signed by the artist G. Hoy, 1930, depicting a young noble boy having a rest aside his best friend - a big Landseer dog...
Category

Mid-20th Century English Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas

"Siamese Twins, " Fabulous Art Deco Portrait with Siamese Cat and Female Figure
Located in Philadelphia, PA
The artist behind this striking and original Art Deco portrait -- Agnes Tait -- is clearly emphasizing the parallels between a female figure and her Siamese cat, both shown with heavily-shadowed blue eyes and short, dark hair, the feline crouching familiarly on the shoulder of her companion. Because Tait painted a series of portraits for Florenz Ziegfeld of the young women who performed in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1932, it's possible that the figure here was one of her subjects. The woman is wearing an elegant black gown that bares her upper chest, and the background is a lovely shade of reddish purple. Tait was a native New Yorker, studying in her youth at the National Academy of Design under Leon Kroll and others, before becoming a WPA painter in the 1930s. She painted a series of tropical scenes for the United Fruit Company...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Lifeguard and Bather, " Stylized Art Deco Beach Scene by MacGurrin, 1938
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Reminiscent of the work of Gerald Murphy in its use of strong colors and flat, highly-stylized forms, this depiction of a lifeguard in profile, a female ...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Man in Black and White, " Remarkable Portrait of Young Man by Cohen
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Bold and intense, this portrait -- or perhaps self-portrait -- of a young man with pale skin, dark, flowing hair and a direct stare was painted by T. Cohen in the first decades of th...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Golden Fields, " Allegorical Mural Study with Laborer Embracing Wheat Sheaf
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Painted by one of America's most important mural painters in the 1930s, this allegorical celebration of American agriculture was made by Edwin Boyd Johnson for a larger work that may never have been executed. Johnson is best known for a series of murals in Chicago; Melrose Park, East Aurora, and Tuscola, Illinois; Dickson, Tennessee; and Sioux Falls...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Blonde Youth, " Impressionist Portrait of Staffan Nyblom by Swedish Painter
By Ture Lennart Nyblom
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This handsome and affectionate portrait of a young man, his tousled blonde hair glinting in the light, was painted by the subject's father, the Swedish artist Ture Lennart Nyblom. The artist's brushstrokes are loose and confident, and he beautifully captures the ruddy complexion, blue jacket and white collar of his subject, Staffan. The youth's appearance suggests that he sat for his portrait in his school uniform...
Category

1920s Swedish Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Impressionist Oil Painting Industrial Tugboat Scene by Hayley Lever
By Richard Hayley Lever
Located in Toledo, OH
Impressionist oil painting industrial tugboat scene on board by Hayley Lever, 1875-1958. Australian American who studied in London and moved to America in 1911. Exhibited primarily i...
Category

20th Century North American Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Wood

"Blond Youth w/ Lederhosen, " 1928 Portrait by Reyl-Hanisch, Renaissance-Inspired
By Herbert von Reyl-Hanisch
Located in Philadelphia, PA
One of the great masterworks of Herbert von Reyl-Hanish and clearly inspired by Renaissance portraits which show a dignified personage with an idyllic landscape behind, this portrait of a young, blond youth in traditional lederhosen is striking and powerful. The intense, open gaze of the young man, and his fresh, ruddy countenance, contrast dramatically with the jagged peaks and cool colors of the sky and mountains behind him. Reyl-Hanisch is sometimes described as a Magic Realist...
Category

1920s German Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

ALFRED COUTURAUD Large 19th Century French Seascape Oil on Canvas Painting
Located in Miami, FL
A fine original seascape painting in its original hand carved gilt wood frame. This large work of art is painted on canvas and has recently been cleaned to display its delightful det...
Category

Late 19th Century French Antique Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Giltwood, Paint

French Art Deco Oil on Canvas Painting, Signed
Located in Miami, FL
Artist Charles Ventrillon-Horber (1899-1977) has created a beautiful Madonna scene of a mother and child, with a beautiful floral background, circa 1930s, with original gold leaf frame.
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas

1930s "English Toy Spaniel" Oil on Canvas in Burl Frame
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Attractive oil on canvas depicting an English toy spaniel, circa 1930s. Original frame is a handsome walnut burl. Light wear consistent with age / use. Si...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Burl

"Through the Archway, " Atmospheric Watercolor Scene in Gray and Red by Storck
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Atmospheric and full of depth, this view of an old European archway, with high-chimneyed houses beyond and crowds of people below, was painted in the 1930s by J. Alvin Storck, a Chic...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

1930s Futurist Watercolor of a Motorbike Race by Italian Artist Aris Bacci
Located in London, GB
A 1930s futurist watercolor painting of a motorbike race by Italian futurist artist Aris Bacci. Mounted in original geometric cream mottled frame, with stun...
Category

1930s Italian Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Wood, Paper

Bouquet of Roses by Hermine David, Oil on Cardboard Linen, Signed
By Hermine David, Jules Pascin
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Bouquet of Roses by Hermine David, oil on cardboard linen, signed. Framed. Hermine Lionette Cartan David (19 April 1886 in Paris – 1 December 1970 in Bry-sur-Marne) was a French painter and the wife of Jules Pascin, also a painter. She became one of the Ecole de Paris artists...
Category

1930s European Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Wood, Paint, Canvas

"Lying on the Sand, " WPA-Era Atmospheric Beach Scene with Male & Female Bathers
Located in Philadelphia, PA
In an era when Reginald Marsh, Paul Cadmus and many other painters loved to capture the joy and energy of crowded beach scenes in America, John Winters created this lovely genre scene of a male bather in his one-piece swim suit reposing on the sand (probably the Lincoln Park beach in Chicago...
Category

1940s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"The Fields, " Magical View of Moroccan Landscape with Male Nude by Jacques Azéma
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Suffused with the soft, rich colors that Jacques Azéma was known for, this view of a Moroccan landscape ("Les Champs" in French) includes a seated male y...
Category

1940s Moroccan Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

'The Animal Kingdom, ' Art Deco Mural Study with Male Nudes by John Garth
Located in Philadelphia, PA
To our knowledge, this study is the only known image of this mural, created by John Garth to show an idealized Man at work and at play, all nude or semi-nude, and accompanied by anim...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Alfons Verheyen, "la mort du poète", circa 1930
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Alfons Verheyen, (1903-1990) "la mort du poète", circa 1930.
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Lion and Gazelle, " Fabulous Art Deco Mural Study in Black and Rust
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of color and movement, this detailed study for a room dominated by a monumental Art Deco mural was painted by a French artist, perhaps for an interior design firm in Bordeaux. T...
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Imported Art Deco Quilted Pheasants on Canvas in Walnut Frame
Located in Vancouver, British Columbia
Unique and large frame hand quilted pheasants that stand out in vivid hues. Imported artwork and sold by the heritage Woodwards Store in Canada. Excellent for use in study or bedroom...
Category

1940s English Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas

"Seated Black Male Nude, " Art Deco Watercolor by Brown County Painter
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This painting of a Black male nude, executed in rich, brilliant shades of burnt sienna, reddish brown, blue and green, was painted by a Brown County, I...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Expulsion from Eden, " Monumental Art Deco Painting with Nude Adam and Eve
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of tenderness in a moment of rejection and shame, this major Art Deco painting, masterfully executed, depicts Jophiel expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The two nud...
Category

1920s German Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Nudes with Hats, " Surreal Painting with Male Couple and Sleeping Female, 1949
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Painted during the heyday of American Surrealism, this watercolor depicts a sleeping nude female figure holding a laurel wreath, seemingly disconnected from a pair of male nudes saun...
Category

1940s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Budapest along the Danube, " Vivid 1930s Cubist Painting in Blues and Purple
By Aurel Richter
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Perhaps the finest work of Aurel Richter's (1870-1957) career, this vividly-painted, Art Deco - Cubist view of central Budapest in the 1930s depicts the pinnacled Liberty Bridge, the sparkling blue...
Category

1930s Hungarian Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

French Art Deco Oil Painting on Canvas by Gustave Florot, circa 1930
By Gustave Florot
Located in Houston, TX
Beautifully executed French Art Deco female nude oil on canvas, signed by listed artist Gustave Florot, circa 1930.
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Rare Set of Two Framed Oil Paintings by Ivan da Silva Bruhns
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Rare set of two small framed oil paintings by Ivan da Silva Bruhns, (Paris, 1881-Antibes, 1980). Unique works. Signed. Each panel is 9 in. wi...
Category

1910s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Glass, Wood

Bouquet of Roses by Hermine David, Oil on Cardboard Linen, Signed
By Jules Pascin, Hermine David
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Bouquet of Roses by Hermine David, oil on cardboard linen, signed. Framed. Hermine Lionette Cartan David (19 April 1886 in Paris – 1 December 1970 in Bry-sur-Marne) was a French painter and the wife of Jules Pascin, also a painter. She became one of the Ecole de Paris artists...
Category

1930s European Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Paint

"Love in the Woods, " Rare View of Bucolic, Gay Outing with Male Nudes
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of atmosphere and fresh color, this watercolor painting depicts a group of eight nude male figures in a wooded setting, holding hands, talking, admiring the view, and stealing o...
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paper

"Processional, " Jewel-Toned Mural Study w/ Prayer Under Starlit Sky by Hoeckner
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Although Carl Hoeckner is best known for his sombre prints and paintings protesting the brutality of war, he is also known for a series of murals in public spaces across Chicago and the Midwest, so this brilliantly-hued painting may have served as a mural study. Here the artist depicts a long procession of figures in jewel-toned garments, their faces careworn and bent in prayer, facing toward a priest surrounded by a group of choir boys...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Loïs Hutton "Jour de marché" Gouache on Paper, Dated on the Reverse
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Loïs Hutton (1893-1972) "Jour de Marché" gouache on paper, dated on the reverse. Lois Hutton is above all the emblematic figure of the dancers of the 1920s...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paper

"Dividing His Cloak , " Monumental Art Deco Ptg with Nudes, St. Martin of Tours
By Ernst Georg Martin Hildebrand
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Dramatically illustrating the legend that says that St. Martin of Tours used his sword to divide his cloak and share it with a naked beggar, this large and striking Art Deco painting depicts St. Martin riding a pale gray horse, with the beggar standing beside him, in the midst of a dark forest with starlit sky overhead. The two figures are accompanied by a running hound, and overhead a pair of geese...
Category

1930s Swedish Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Design for 1925 Art Deco Expo Pavilion, " Extraordinary Architectural Rendering
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Although Herbert Hoover did not support the presence of a pavilion for the United States at the famed Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (Internati...
Category

1920s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Loïs Hutton "Promeneurs" Gouache on Paper, Dated on the Reverse
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Loïs Hutton (1893-1972) "Promeneurs" gouache on paper, dated on the reverse. Lois HUTTON is above all the emblematic figure of the dancers of the 1920s. Of...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paper

1986 Lets Fall in Love by Earl Linderman Art Deco Style Oil Painting
By Earl Linderman
Located in Dayton, OH
1986 lets fall in love by Earl Linderman b.1931 Art Deco style oil painting, measures: 49" Born 1931, (American) As a child, growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, Earl Linderman was fascinated by the comic strips and Saturday matinees. He would spend countless hours drawing these characters, forming the foundation of his future as an artist of extraordinary imagination and execution. By the time he was in high school, Linderman was creating his own art, featuring heroes involved in adventurous dramas. Things have not changed much for the man who, since the early 1970s, has been exciting art aficionados with his series, The True and Incredible Adventures of Doktor Thrill...
Category

1980s Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Paint

"Seated Black Male Figure, " Art Deco Watercolor Painting, Brown County, Indiana
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Strikingly executed in rich tones of brown and charcoal contrasting with brighter colors, this watercolor depiction of a seated African American man, with one arm raised to his neck, is beautiful and evocative. The figure's skin tones are captured in a rich array of tans, ruddy browns and gold, and the air around him seems to vibrate in tones of blue, yellow and green. Although not signed, this piece was executed by an artist associated with the famed Brown County Art...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

Anderson Craig American Gothic Portrait Oil Painting of a Man with Red Hair
Located in New York, NY
American Gothic style oil on canvas portrait painting of a young man with red hair. The piece was created by Anderson Craig (American born 1904) in the 1930s and is signed by the art...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Canvas

"Bricklayer at Rest, " Monumental WPA Period Painting of Worker with Landscape
Located in Philadelphia, PA
One of the finest depictions of an American worker from the 1930s that we have seen, this monumental painting of a shirtless bricklayer, resting against a curved brick niche, with a ...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"The Return of Timothy Pickering, " WPA Mural Study Painting, 1939
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Full of atmosphere, rich color and drama, this mural study by Dunbar Beck was executed in preparation for his lobby painting at the US Post Office in Danvers, Massachusetts. Until it...
Category

1930s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Gouache

E. C. Ulnitz, Well Listed Danish Artist. Flower Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Copenhagen, DK
E. C. Ulnitz: well listed Danish artist. Flower painting. Oil on canvas. Signed: E. C. Ulnitz 1927. Measures : 26 cm. x 20 cm. The frame measures 5.5 cm. In perfect condition.
Category

1920s Danish Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Michèle Demedts Large Ooil on Canvas, signed Demedts, circa 1990
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Michèle DEMEDTS (1958-) , large oil on canvas signed DEMEDTS, Circa 1990
Category

1990s Belgian Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Applause for the Acrobat, " Extraordinary Art Deco Painting on Silk, Paris
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Painted on silk velvet fabric in the late 1920s by Rudolf Gowenius, a Swedish painter who settled in Paris, this remarkable scene shows a circus or carnival acrobat at the center, hi...
Category

1920s French Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Silk

"Waiting, " Large Art Deco Painting with Cat and Female Figure in Porthole Window
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A Classic Art Deco painting with a humorous look at domestic life in 1940s America, the scene focuses on a cat waiting for its owner as she arrives home, appearing in the porthole window of the front door. The painter was Karl Gasslander...
Category

1940s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Paint

"Nudes Stepping Forth, " Large Theatrical Sketch by Raoul Pene du Bois
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This very large and energetic sketch, depicting several nude figures stepping forward through a circular opening, was painted by Raoul Pene du Bois, probably as a preparatory piece f...
Category

1940s American Vintage Art Deco Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Art Deco Paintings

Art Deco paintings might not have been as abundant as other decorative art forms when the movement first materialized in the early 1900s, as there wasn’t a painting-specific component of the 1925 Parisian exhibition that gave way to the term Art Deco. But many artists — such as those working as magazine illustrators, glass artists or sculptors — embraced the characteristics of the fashionable style even if painting wasn't their primary medium.

While sculpture and painting were initially secondary Art Deco media, Art Deco paintings were still lively and rich. As part of a reaction against the organic forms and floral motifs that underpinned Art Nouveau, Art Deco painters introduced geometric abstraction and distortion in their work. Painters working in the Art Deco style were inspired by Cubist forms and the bright colors of Fauvism, and an offshoot of Art Deco painting emerged in the 1930s as murals, a way to decorate buildings in the United States after the Great Depression.

Dunbar D. Beck, Witold Gordon, René Buthaud and Emil Fiala are some of the painters associated with Art Deco that you can find on 1stDibs.

Recently Viewed

View All