Straight Line Crazy

Of all the words associated with the design period between the two World Wars—geometric, daring, industrial, glamorous—poignant is rarely employed.

- Dorothy Scarborough

Message in a Brooch: Could this Van Cleef & Arpels pearl and diamond pin, circa 1930, spill all of Art Deco's secrets?

But it actually works the hardest to explain the enduring influence of, and interest in, Art Deco. "There is an innocence to this time," says Inezita GayEckel of Van Cleef & Arpels L'Ecole, "a wideeyed optimism in modernity, and the belief that it was going to save us all."

She references a poster from the 1925 exhibition designed by Charles Loupot, the winner of a contest to create an image for the historical moment. It shows a factory billowing smoke in the air, until that cloud of commerce morphs into a rose. From industry springs beauty. The poster is a testament to the feeling that progress was in the air, that the world was moving quickly into an exciting future. World War I was referred to as "the war to end all wars."