Art Deco wasn't just in the Northern hemisphere
February 2, 2017 8:00 AM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: This is some technically nice stuff but the significant overt racist imagery in some of these is something I think needs to be pretty explicitly noted in the framing of a post about it. -- cortex



 
shame about the bad racism
posted by incomple at 8:03 AM on February 2, 2017


shame about the bad racism

Yeah, I felt the same. About 60% are not-so racist and pretty cool.
posted by shothotbot at 8:06 AM on February 2, 2017 [2 favorites]


Not to belabor the point, because there is some fantastic use of color and fine examples of Art Deco in the general sense, but hooboy is there some overwhelming racism as a main theme in more of these than not. Really ruined my enjoyment of the former.
posted by Krazor at 8:25 AM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Just to provide a little more info for those wondering if they can stomach the contents, many of these drawings contain blackface/"Little Black Sambo" characters as companions/servants to the traditional fair-skinned Art Deco ladies or as background decoration.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:34 AM on February 2, 2017


I thought that the first one was inspired. The show girl is meant to be Jesus in the manger. Caspar, Balthazar, and Melechoir are the names of the three wise men.

Then I saw the "Little Black Sambo", and it stopped being cool.
posted by dfm500 at 8:48 AM on February 2, 2017


Shame, yes, but also a handy reminder of just how pervasive it was.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:03 AM on February 2, 2017 [2 favorites]


I think these covers are far more in the Art Nouveau tradition, between the profusion of wild color; the geographic shapes that seem to almost over-follow gravity, to accentuate the sense of movement; and realism in depicting humans. Art Deco owes a lot to Nouveau but swung the opposite direction--idealism, and especially nods to myth, in depicting humans; orthogonal straight lines with sharp, if any, curves, evoking machinery and engineering; and a reserved, earth-oriented palette.

But yeah, wow, that is a very consistent use of Sambo as a leitmotif.
posted by radicalawyer at 9:04 AM on February 2, 2017 [3 favorites]


The fourth cover is amazingly good.
posted by Beholder at 9:18 AM on February 2, 2017


Brazil is still an extremely racist country and is only just beginning to talk about race.
posted by adamvasco at 9:34 AM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Absolutely amazing!
posted by Going To Maine at 9:36 AM on February 2, 2017


These are really neat, and a great window into a particular place and time (the good and the bad). Thanks for posting!
posted by k8bot at 10:15 AM on February 2, 2017


« Older Sewing, Blogging and Feeling Fabulous   |   I Could Not But Wonder at It Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments