As Art Nouveau evolved it became heavily influenced by the Machine Age. Shapes became more geometric. Forms became more streamlined. It was as though Art Nouveau was getting a modern make-over.

Art Deco wasn’t called Art Deco until the mid-1960s, well after its sun had set. It was more of an evolution of the Art Nouveau movement whose own energy was expended by the start of World War I.

Art Deco started around the end of that war and lasted until the beginning of the next. It got it’s biggest boost at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris. It was also heavily influenced by new archaeological findings in Egypt and Asia that were spread across the world using modern media including newsreels and movies.

Although Art Nouveau and Art Deco share a dedication to bringing aesthetics to the masses, Art Deco works tend to be more heavily influenced by the machinery that had started to speed up everyday life around the beginning of the 20th Century. Art Deco shapes tend to be more streamlined. Lines are bolder, straighter and less dependent on natural forms. In many ways Art Deco reflected a modern streamlined society that was growing out of the ruins of the first great war.