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Art Deco was different from other art movements because it wasn’t a movement. An art movement

is generally conceived or initiated by an individual or group that needs to demonstrate or validate its own artistic expressions. That concept may be accepted generally by the artistic community, or even a broader sociological community, and at some point is recognized as a movement. Art Deco, by contrast, had no initiator, was accepted by an extremely broad social community, and was not even recognized and named for what it was until it had been extant for over forty years. It’s fair to say that what became known as Art Deco was, in fact, a social development that found expression in the artistic community: in the fine arts, the decorative arts, the graphic arts, architecture, interior design, industrial design, fashion and textiles, and film and photography. At some time between the two world wars most products reflected Art Deco influence in their form, marketing or production, and city skylines, from Rio to Shanghai, were forever changed.

In 1918, the Great War was over, a large part of the developed world was devastated, populations had been decimated, industrial potential had been destroyed, nations had been abolished and created, empires and social structures changed forever. By 1919, in the midst of such devastation, the natural optimism of the human race anticipated a future when none was obvious, and that hope was based, to a great extent, not on the ability of political leaders to resolve their differences, but on the power of technology to provide options for a better life.

Art Deco1

1935 Art Deco poster for the Monaco Grand Prix.

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Streamlining in car design

Swage line separating two-tone colours

15 degree slope

Large radius blend betweenroof and back

Pillarless window with falling waistline

parallel angle for the door leading edge, and/or the bonnet side vents.• Two-tone paint schemes that often follow a sweeping dividing line across the bonnet or down the body sides.• Front and rear wings that follow a single sweeping parabolic curve, or an ogee curve incorporating both convex and concave surfaces. Wings may or may not have valances or skirts.• Horizontal elements incorporated into the overall design. For example, bonnet vents, waistlines, etc.

In Britain, these styling techniques were applied only to the rear and sides of the bodywork, while radiator shells retained their gothic verticality, and headlights made no attempt to hide in the bodywork. The styling was generally accomplished with an overall elegance of form in the fine tradition of British coachbuilding. It was this styling distinctive that, in Britain, evolved as the ‘airline’ cars, and contributed greatly to the standard forms of British car design in the later 1930s and on into the post-war period.

Sweeping wing lines front and rear

Tapered trim lines

Step-down tailHorizontal bonnet vents

Typical airline coupé with wash-down back.

Typical sports saloon influenced by airline styling.

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Art Deco and British car design

the little details that set it apart from other examples. The rear wheel spats and wheel discs certainly added to the streamlined effect, but the horizontal bonnet vents, with their repeated design on the wheel spats, were pure Art Deco. Gurney Nutting’s offering on a Lagonda showed similar horizontal bonnet vents, but the falling

waistline was more pronounced, and a prominent fairing had been added to the roofline to allow for a more vertical rear window. The overall effect was very Art Deco, but not as graceful as the Thrupp and Maberly Bentley. Park Ward exhibited Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, showing developments of its 1934 ideas. The most distinctive

An unusual treatment of the rear window is shown on this 1934 Lagonda 4.5-litre by Gurney Nutting.

Park Ward integrated Art Deco styling into its range very effectively, as illustrated by this Phantom 2 Rolls-Royce.

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Singer Le Mans Coupe and Airstream,

own design. This car was exhibited at the 1933 London Motor Show but failed to sell, and no further copies were made. After the Singer Airstream project, Fitzmaurice continued his streamlining concepts with a series of designs that were registered as design patents, and illustrate clearly the continuity of design ideas from the Tatra and the Singer to his final design. The conclusion of this series was a one-off built on a Ford V8 chassis in 1936, and is thought to be the only other Fitzmaurice design that ever achieved prototype status. Captain Douglas Fitzmaurice died of a heart attack in 1938.

The Singer Airstream was announced at the 1934 London Motor Show and was marketed as ‘The Car of Tomorrow – Today.’ The public, however, was not yet ready for tomorrow, and, as with so many other ‘Airline’ cars, sales failed to meet forecasts. Singer had allocated

A sequence of designs by Captain Douglas Fitzmaurice between 1933 and 1936, linking his concepts for the Singer Airstream to his later Ford V8 project.

1935 Singer Airstream – ‘the car of tomorrow, today,’ and soon to become the car of yesterday.

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AC and Alvis saloons

1934 sales brochure for the AC 16/56 Ace four-door Family Saloon.

1934 AC Ace Family Saloon showing the four-door pillarless body construction.

Approximately 40 Aero Saloons were built, but company records describe them as either Aero Saloons, Aero Sports Saloons, Long Aero Saloons, Short Aero Saloons, two-door Aero Saloons, or Special Sports Aero Saloons.

No comprehensive photographic records exist identifying the differences between these specific models. The Long Aero body differed from the Short Aero by an increased rake of the tail of about 15