Virtual tour

New York Worlds Fair 1939

The unfettered consumerism and individualism of the New York World Fair of 1939 marked the culmination of Art Deco. The Fair's streamlined and geometric buildings celebrated the American dream in the face of totalitarianism and war in Europe. Giant American corporations, such as General Motors and Ford, built many of the most striking pavilions.

Six years later, when the Second World War finally ended, the world was very different. It was a world of austerity, rationalism and functionalist dogma. Ornament was seen as unnecessary or 'treated as suspect' by many Modernist critics. The splendour and flamboyance of Art Deco fell out of favour.

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