The roaring 20s have returned, and among Twitter’s cries for the comeback of elaborate parties straight out of The Great Gatsby are a multitude of reactions to the new set of problems facing us in this decade. Political strife, rising sea levels and uncertainty of the future plague us all. As everybody knows, life imitates art and art imitates life, so upon the turn of the decade it is worth looking back on some of the art and design movements behind the most iconic imagery of the 1920s and their relevance to the present day. So where does the world stand a century on from the original roaring twenties? I have selected the four most noteworthy movements in visual culture during the 1920s, ranging from architectural design to political artistic movements.
- Art Deco
One of the most iconic design trends of the 1920s, the influence of the art deco movement can still be seen today, with many of the most famous art deco buildings still standing. Think of the Chrysler building in Manhattan, the Delano hotel in Miami, even Trinity’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. Rooted in modernism and featuring geometrical patterns and new metallic materials, this type of architectural design epitomises the idea of the Roaring Twenties. Art deco is associated with lavishness, splendour and modernity— a glimmer of hope from the past that now serves to remind us of former glories.
- Bauhaus
The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 with the aim of using an ideological approach to combine form and functionality in fine art. Asymmetry was favoured over symmetry, as was functionality over embellishment. Its principles of design are still followed to this day and are applied to virtually every corner of visual art— architecture, interior design, painting and sculpture. Given the success and incredible prominence of the Bauhaus over the past century, even despite the Nazi shutdown of the School in 1933, it is likely that this revolutionary approach to design is here to stay for the next century.
- Surrealism
Derived from expressionism and with links to the Dadaist movement, surrealism is an artistic movement that pushed the boundaries of human consciousness. Surrealism is most commonly personified by artists like Salvador Dali. Surrealist imagery has a dreamlike, unbelievable quality, depicting scenes far beyond the realm of possibility. Outlined in the 1924 ‘Surrealist Manifesto’, the movement had roots in political, psychological and philosophical ideology, drawing from Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud’s theories regarding the human psyche. This seems very relevant to the new 20s. The current state of the world, with all of its climate anxiety and growing tensions, is beginning to feel like a fever dream. Surely there is a place in this century for surrealism to make a comeback and remind us that all is not what it seems.
- Dadaism
Finally, Dadaism was a leftist movement that opposed manufacturing capitalism. In line with visual art’s role as a vehicle for political and social movements, it evolved into an artistic movement depicting things in a nonsensical and disordered fashion, drawing on elements of surrealism and, more often than not, manifesting visually through collage. Dadaist art is encapsulated by the works of those such as Max Ernst, Hannah Hölch and Hans Arp. Nowadays more than ever we are questioning our social, political and economic structures, just as the pioneers of the Dadaist movement before us.
Conclusion
Tied together by the artistic world’s anxiety over the increasing industrialisation of society, the artistic trends of the 1920s share a primary aim— modernisation. From the glitzy new materials of art deco architecture to the unconventional methods and subject matters of the dadaist artists, the 1920s were a time of artistic revolution and the challenging of boundaries, exactly the type of spirit we would like to see reemerge during the 2020s.
