Art Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, glamorous, functional and modern.
The movement was a mixture of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Art Nouveau, and Futurism. Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.
The structure of Art Deco is based on mathematical geometric shapes. It was considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources. The ability to travel and excavations during this time influenced artists and designers, integrating several elements from countries not their own. Among them were the so-called "primitive" arts of Africa, as well as historical styles such as Greco-Roman Classicism, and the art of Babylon, Assyria, Ancient Egypt, and Aztec Mexico. Much of this could be attributed to the popular interest in archeology in the 1920s (eg, the tomb of Tutankhamen, Pompeii, the lost city of Troy, etc). Art Deco also drew on Machine Age and streamline technologies such as modern aviation, electric lighting, the radio, the ocean liner and the skyscraper for inspiration.
- How are stained glass creations made? See a brief video here
- What do you see first in this window? The sun in the center.
- Why is our attention drawn to this area? It is the lightest part of the window and contains the strongest contrast of light and dark.
- How would this window feel if you ran your fingers over its surface? It would feel rough in some areas and smooth in others.
- Where do you see rough textures? These are found in the trees and rocks.
- Where do you see smooth textures? They are located in the pool and the light sky.
- Tiffany used a variety of techniques to create special textures and colors of glass.
Mottled glass: It is located in the dark parts of the sky.
Confetti glass: We see it in the foliage.
Marbleized glass: It is found in the boulders.
Rippled glass: It occurs in the closest pool.
- What time of the day is depicted? Because the sun is near the horizon, it is early morning or late afternoon.
- Why will this art look different at different times of the day? The light shining through it will be different depending on how high or low the sun is in the sky and whether it is a bright or overcast day.
- Stained-glass windows are commonly seen in churches, but this window was created for a stairwell in a man’s private home. Why would someone rather have a stained-glass window in a house than clear glass? The window is beautiful, and provides privacy or blocks unsightly views.
- How would this landscape make the space of a small stairwell feel larger? Instead of a wall at the top of the stairs, the window would open up a deep vista and make the inside space look as if it continues outside into the landscape.
- Because the man who commissioned this window died before it was installed, it seemed like a memorial for him. Why are autumn scenes and sunsets often featured in memorials to the dead? Sometimes a year is a metaphor for a lifetime. The autumn of a person’s life refers to a later stage of life and the sunset marks the end of a day.
Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. He illustrated collections of stories such as fairy tales of Anderson and Perrault and Edgar Allen Poe.
Stained glass is central to Clarke's career. His glass is distinguished by the finesse of its drawing, unusual in the medium, his use of rich colors (inspired by an early visit to see the stained glass of the Cathedral of Chartres, he was especially fond of deep blues), and an innovative integration of the window leading as part of the overall design (his use of heavy lines in his black and white book illustrations is probably derived from his glass techniques). 
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