The Women of Art Deco Design

The 1920s and 30s were a period of exceptional creativity as artists and designers explored the new, modern, decorative approach to design that we now call Art Deco. The majority of the Art Deco designers remembered today are male, but a number of women, many overlooked, forgotten, or overshadowed by their better-known spouses, also adopted the Deco aesthetic—sculptor Gwen Lux, industrial designer Helen Dryden, furniture and interior designer Eyre de Lanux, and textile designer Marguerita Mergentime, among others. This lecture will examine the work of these talented, albeit less recognized, women who made their mark on designs of the Art Deco era, with an emphasis on those with Chicago connections.

Kathleen Murphy Skolnik teaches art and architectural history at Roosevelt University and classes on architecture and design of the late 19th and early 20th century at the Newberry Library and the Center for Life and Learning at Fourth Presbyterian Church. She is the co-author of The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière and a contributor to the Chicago Art Deco Society publication Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America. From 2008 to 2016 she was the editor of the Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine and currently serves on the Board of the International Hildreth Meière Association and the Advisory Board of the Art Deco Society of New York.

Social hour with appetizers, 5:30 pm CT. Presentation: 6:15 pm.

Fee: $40.

You must register at chicagodeco.org by 5:30 pm Monday, March 9.