"Art Deco, the most glamorous style of the twentieth century, swept across the globe in the 1920s and 1930s, altering the skylines of cities from Shanghai to Rio, and adding an exotic vibrant edge to everything from cinema and fashion to ocean liners and automobiles." "This illustrated book explores the extraordinary visual language of the style. Borrowing from the exotic cultures of Ancient Egypt, Meso-America, the oriental East and Africa and from the man-made world of skyscrapers and machines, Art Deco developed a highly distinctive iconography. It embraced the natural world of plants and animals, sunbursts and fountains, together with the geometric forms of avant-garde painting and design, and eventually found expression in the symbolic idiom of streamlining. Deeply eclectic and highly decorative, Art Deco celebrated fantasy, fun and glamour - themes which still strike a popular chord and account for Art Deco's huge appeal throughout the world today."--Jacket.