The industrial revolution transformed the world like none before, bringing to us a generative and productive world of machines and engines. This shaped the world as we know it today.
Machine Industry to Art Deco
Ever wondered what gave rise to something so fascinating that it shaped cities, redefined luxury, and became a symbol of progress itself?
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During this time, we were introduced to new technology such as the steam engine, spinning jenny, and more. Changes in society, including production habits, influence the art and commerce of its times.
1890
The Industrial Revolution played a significant role in the world of art
1910
SYMBOLISM
VIENNA SUCCESSION
NOUVEAU
These were some of the prominent art movements of the time which were a reaction to the late 19th-century industrial progression.
FROM THE SUCCESS OF ART Nouveau EMERGED
ART DECO
Exposition Internationale des
arts decoratifs
et insutriels modernes
Art Deco is an amalgam and blend of different art movements like cubism, art nouveau, arts and crafts movements, constructivism and more. It officially got its name during the exhibition of modern decorative and industrial arts (Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes), and was short for Arts Decoratifs. Thus Art Deco.
1902
The infusion of Art Deco in the field of applied arts was first evidenced in Paris
1903
Auguste Perret
(1874 - 1954)
Its architecture story started with apartment buildings designed by two French gentlemen.
Henri Sauvage
(1873 - 1932)
Art Deco represented scientific progress and the consequent rise of commerce, technology, and speed, in contrast to art nouveau. It drew its characteristics from Greek and roman geometry, architectural forms of Babylon, Ancient Egypt, and Aztec Mexico — notably ziggurats, pyramids and streamline designs from aviation, the radio, automobiles, etc. Smooth line, geometric shapes, streamlined forms, bright colors, polished surfaces, chevron patterns, stepped forms, sweeping curves and sunburst motifs were some of the elements of the art form.
1910
Art Deco was an explosion of colors, featuring bright and often clashing hues, frequently in floral designs, presented in furniture upholstery, carpets, screens, wallpaper, and fabrics.
1914
However soon it started being seen as a form and design for denoting wealth, sophistication and the symbols of the good times seeping into architecture and product design, while working with expensive materials – jade, gold, ivory, silver.
THE ROARING 20s
It also spread to major cities in the U.S. like
New York
Catching in popularity it soon spread to all of Western Europe by 1920, after the exhibition was held in Paris
Chicago
Miami
The Style was used on
Commercial Buildings
Theatres
Skyscrapers
and everything that represented the good grand times
the
great
Gatsby
is set in the fictional West Egg and East Egg on Long Island in New York, taking place during the Roaring Twenties. The era was characterized by a fascination with modernity and luxury, which are central themes in Art Deco.
Gatsby Inspired Art Deco
Geometric patterns
Bold, repeating patterns are a hallmark of Art Deco, adding a sense of movement and energy to your space. They found their place on everything from wallpaper and rugs to furniture upholstery.
Mirrors
These magical portals in Art Deco design bounce light around the room, creating an illusion of spaciousness and brilliance. Imagine stepping into a grand ballroom, with light reflecting off of every surface, creating a dazzling spectacle!
GLEAMING FINISHES
Polished chrome, shimmering gold, and smooth surfaces are characteristic of Art Deco design. Whether it’s the legs of a sleek coffee table or the frame of a stunning mirror, these details exude sophistication.
However, even art is not immune to human action.
The Great Depression of 1929, which lasted until 1939, and then World War II (1939–1945) significantly slowed the movement. People were scrambling to survive as basic necessities became scarce. In these bleak times, Art Deco was considered extravagant and inconsistent with the economic hardships and wartime austerity.
The Great Depression
1939
World War II significantly slowed the Art Deco movement
1945
The Depression Era and the austerity of the second world war brought a slow down and was perceived to be too flamboyant for its times. Many Art Deco projects, especially in architecture, were simplified or worse, abandoned. While it did make a comeback, Art Deco did not experience a major revival immediately after World War II, as mid-century modernism and functionalist design became more popular.
The focus was on practicality rather than on opulence as people struggled to recover from the impact of both The Great Depression and the Second World War. The resurgence of Art Deco happened again in the post-war prosperity phase, revving up in the 60s.
1960s
However, there was renewed interest in Art Deco in the late 20th century, when it was recognized as a historic and collectible style
1980s
CIRCAs
Art Deco accompanied the colonial march into India
1930s
- Bombay
- Mumbai
Art Deco entered India from Bombay (where the British were setting up trading establishments across port cities), making it the world’s second-largest collection of Art Deco buildings.
In 1929, The Backbay Reclamation scheme cleared up 439.6 acres of land which coincided with the period when Art Deco was spreading to different parts of the world. It marked the arrival of modernity in contrast to all the revivalist styles.
- Calcutta
- kolkata
why calcutta
More or less overlapping the above, was the building boom in South Kolkata that occurred when large numbers of people moved out of the North. These were middle-class families, who had some money but not nearly enough to build the grand mansions of North Kolkata which then tended to follow the model of rooms arranged around a central courtyard. Having communal space for larger, wealthier families was less appealing to the crowd that settled in the South, wanted more personal space and also had less deep pockets.
Amake Metro style
baadi baniye dao
baadi baniye dao
To add to this, the contractors weren’t exactly architects and were happy to follow a single prototype with individual ‘design tweaks’ for all the construction that was going around, at roundabout the same time, using similar techniques, resulting in the creation of entire neighbourhoods that ended up looking like ‘versions’ of ‘Metro style baadis’!
Though these homes are genetically similar
none are identical
They share commonalities but these homes, built by the middle-class Bengali, are a unique take on the original Art Deco prototype. As Amartya Sen said about these structures, “eccentric” and beautiful, and entirely the Bengali middle class’s.
The city of Kolkata is amply
dotted with Art Deco buildings
dotted with Art Deco buildings
They lie in the form of once glorious theatres, government offices, and commercial structures. The most notable Art Deco style homes are in South Kolkata.
Gariahat RoadSouthern Avenue
BeliaghataTollygunge
and in several more locations across this ‘city of joy’ where some Art Deco delights happen to have withstood the wrecking ball.
First on the list of public Art Deco edifices is the Metro Cinema, a star of the urban landscape of Kolkata whose regal façade became the blueprint for many Art Deco style structures in the city. It was opened in 1935 and belonged to the era of jazz on Park Street, ‘English-style’ club parties and cakes at Flurys.
Metro Cinema was designed by Thomas W. Lamb, a Scottish-American architect of several cinemas in the United States.
With its water-fall style columns, stepped facade, vertical signage, lavish foyer and grand staircase, Metro became the place for movers and shakers of society to be seen, and represented the lifestyle that the upcoming class of Bengalis wanted to ape. Today Metro Cinema is a cinema hall and mall, and though its former glamour has faded, it continues to symbolise the city’s architectural heritage.
Roxy Cinema has suffered a worse fate than Metro. It had all the makings of a very handsome Art Deco building with the right lines, curves and balustrades but found itself covered in glass sheathing and caught in the throes of developmental neglect over the past few decades. In 2005 the theatre was renovated and lost much of its former grandeur and in 2011 the Kolkata Municipal Corporation seized the theatre.
OPERA HOUSE TO CINEMA HALL
Also on the list of public Art Deco buildings in Kolkata are
Reid House on Red Cross Place
built in 1941
VICTORIA HOUSE
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, built in the 1930s
Hindustan Building on Central Avenue
Former US Army, now LIC India offices.
Garden House and Lighthouse Cinemas
which suffered the worse fate of them all
W.M. Dudok
The architect of the Garden and Lighthouse cinemas, was a Dutch modernist professional who was commissioned by the project developer Humayun Properties Ltd. to design a recreation centre for Kolkata, on Humayun Place. The seven-storey complex consisted of a hotel and two cinemas, built in two parts, connected by a lower connecting piece.
Famed for his brick Hilversum Town Hall (1931), Dudok was to develop similar styled buildings in India. However, after visiting Kolkata in 1936, Dudok declared that due to the ‘conditions’ of the Tropics, though the buildings would look like a Dudok creation, he would have “to process and interpret the colonial desirability in his own way.” Dudok had to take the high temperatures and humidity in Kolkata into account in his design, but the signature Dudok style was clearly recognizable in the end product.
When completed in
1938
The cinemas were praised as
the most beautiful and modern in all of Asia
Unfortunately, the complex fell to despair and ruin. It was used as a department store and, after a major fire in 2014, it was demolished.
LIKE
IN MOST INDIAN CITIES
Heritage
Conservation
Art Deco structures in Kolkata are realised as a reprise. There are many more beautiful Art Deco buildings in both South and North Kolkata than are immediately or evidently visible today. Several of these buildings were demolished as the city ‘developed’, and the rest, you might perchance discover as rundown structures identifiable only by remnants of their original design elements of semi-circular balconies, porthole windows or sunray motifs.
Some of these buildings are still standing because they escaped demolition by real estate lords, and some others have been restored or converted for ‘hipper’ use because they caught the eye of conservators.
HOUSES OF CONSERVATION
The fate of several of the public Art Deco buildings is sealed in glass, plastic or ruin but the Art Deco homes of the middle-class Bengali professionals that share common elements of the Art Deco legacies of Kolkata, have a more uncertain and perhaps hopeful future.
In 2015
Author Amit Chaudhuri spearheaded a movement to preserve ‘ordinary’ Bengali homes in South Kolkata and created Calcutta Architectural Legacies, which brings into the spotlight buildings that Kolkatans might not think of as ‘heritage structures’ worthy of saving.
READ MORESome of these homes have been refurbished as fancy shops, restaurants and hotels
all of which come under the larger umbrella of gentrification.
Fort
colaba
KALA GHODA
boutiquification
touristification
While you might be more familiar with the Bombay Art Deco landmarks, Kolkata might be no different.
The ‘fications’ are certainly better than houses being torn down and lost forever. Although Mumbai Art Deco buildings on Marine Drive and Oval Maidan are more 'famous', what makes South Kolkata’s Art Deco homes unique is the fact that they are more a result of “jugaad than formal architectural decisions, and that most people are intimately familiar with them without even realising it”.
Perhaps the onus to save these structures lie within communities that inhabit these homes… but economics dictate otherwise. We can cite the ‘renewal’ of NY, Berlin and Amsterdam but once again the economics are hugely different, both at the personal level as well as the government and municipal level.
In recent times, the trend of younger generations having to move out in search of work and older homeowners not having the means to maintain the houses they are living in, is a real one.
Photographer Manish Golder
Founder of Calcutta Houses, documents Kolkata’s old residences in an attempt to preserve their memories and records before they disappear.
in 2014
Golder and friends decided to walk the streets of Kolkata, photographing old homes on their phones, thus giving birth to Calcutta Houses, which has gone on to become a resource for families in search of photographs of their vanished ancestral homes. Team Calcutta Houses is also called to document some homes before they are torn down, making Golder and team custodians of Kolkata’s history.
James Simpson
Restoration architect says, the greatest challenge is to get Kolkatans to think of 'these buildings’ as special. Simpson, who was also a part of ICOMOS walk, says that often locals simply don’t see these buildings because they are so used to them.
Kolkata
The Kolkata Art Deco Chapter has been authored by Tasneem Hatimbhai (Art Writer and Founder SAC Art Amsterdam)
For this story we have relied on images and references that have been sourced online and from many quarters - all sources who we are sure share a love for Art Deco. In case we have missed out on any credits inadvertently our apologies and a few warm hugs.
For this story we have relied on images and references that have been sourced online and from many quarters - all sources who we are sure share a love for Art Deco. In case we have missed out on any credits inadvertently our apologies and a few warm hugs.
While Art Deco shaped Kolkata’s skyline, Kalighat shaped its soul — uncover another side of the city through our Kalighat story
