The Beginning of Modern Art Can be Tracked Back to 1930s Art Deco.

While we tend to think of art deco primarily in terms of architecture or interior design, the 1930s art moment had a much bigger impact than on just those two art genres.  The evolution of what we think of as 1930s art deco began as far back as 1925.  But this phase of art history lasted close to 15 years, which is phenomenal in light of the shelf life of current modern art movements. 

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The 1930s and the Great Depression

As is true of any century, the 20th century is memorable for some phenomenal events and times that will always stand out in any history book of the era.  Along with the two world wars and other significant conflicts, the sixties revolution, the moon landing and the development of the internet might rank as such … Read more

Jazz Music in the 1930s Goes from Great to Greater

Jazz is a style of music that spread in popularity like wild fire in the 1920s and virtually redefined culture in that time frame.  But is was the 1930s when we saw jazz begin to “grow up”, diversify and become a mature art form that could adapt and spread into all other genres of music as well.  Some have called jazz the premier unique musical art form of American culture.  The jazz musical genre certainly deserves that title because it is a music that brings with it the history of not one people but many people and a music that creates culture wherever it goes.  That is certainly a very American trait.

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Jazz Grows up in the 1930s

The roots of American jazz can be traced back to some if it’s influences in some very old musical traditions.  But if there ever was a “jazz age”, it may have been the 1920s when jazz was the fuel that set off a firestorm of social change in that decade.  The way that jazz caused cultural and ethnic communities that were completely separate to merge and the way that it generated such a huge amount of outrage and change reflects on the fact that jazz is and was much more than just a musical force.

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Big Changes Came to Fashion Trends in the 1930s

The 1920s era was one of such tremendous social change and wild experimentation in art, music and fashion that it is hard to imagine that kind of drastic change continuing for very long.  Indeed, if anything could bring the eccentricity of the 1920s to a screeching halt, it was the Great Depression that arrived in … Read more

1930 Hairstyles Let a Girl be a Girl

Like other aspects of fashion in the 1930s, hairstyles swung the opposite direction that they took in the 1920s.  They styles of the 1920s had two distinctive characteristics.  They were bold, flamboyant and “sinful”.  And because the 1920s saw the beginnings of the movement to assert woman’s rights, clothing and hairstyles for women were predominantly … Read more

1930s Clothing Announced the Return of Femininity

The 1920s was a time of radical change and the dawn of women’s independence in how women thought, acted and dressed.  The androgynous look of the 1920s was part of that revolution because it allowed forward thinking women to make a statement about their individuality and their demand to be treated with respect in the world.  This kind of social extremes was the norm in many areas of culture in the 1920s.  But like most times of drastic social change, that era passes to be followed by another era where the changes are tamed and made part of the norm.

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1930s Cars – Great Innovation Despite Tough Times

When we think of the 1930s, the images of the Great Depression leave the impression that nothing good happened because the entire country was focused simply on survival.  But in the area of automobile development, car designs of the 1930s developed some of the most significant new features for automobiles despite economic hard times. As … Read more