Art
Deco
figurines are those small-scale bronze or spelter
statues produced for home decoration in the 1920s and 1930s
(and originally for sale in many UK jewellers and department
stores) that perfectly capture the spirit of the age. This
romanticised time of luxurious transatlantic ocean liner
palaces such as the SS Normandie and RMS Queen Mary, cocktails
and flappers, wild jazz music, Hollywood
and divine decadence was captured in bronze (with
ivory), ceramic and spelter figurines by now famous sculptors
such as Demetre Chiparus, Ferdinand Preiss, Josef Lorenzl and
Claire Colinet all taking their inspiration from the dancers,
cabaret performers, movie stars and fashion in Hollywood,
Paris and Berlin at that time. Silent footage of Berlin
nightlife from around 1930 can be seen here.
These Art Deco figurines are now sold in
major auction houses throughout the world with many
collectors of the style eager to own statues that appear to
be "frozen in time". There is no doubt that nearly one
hundred years after the sculptors designed these little
works of art, these lively sculptures of exotic females
will continue strutting, posing and dancing their way
through the 21st Century and beyond!
