Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Art Deco: Centered, symmetrical composition
- Type
- Set in Art Deco's manner (Tall, narrow geometric display type), and let Egyptian Revival's lettering (Set a short title in broad capitals. If hieroglyphs are used, verify the actual text and direction with specialist references) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Art Deco's material (Black, gold, ivory; repeated hairlines); bring in exactly one thing from Egyptian Revival (Build from rough sandstone color, dark blue-green and oxidized metal, limiting winged disks and lotus forms to shallow relief).
- Colour
- Build on #17140f, #c8a65b, #f0e6cf and admit one accent from #D3B16E, #356B68, #29231C.
Where they fight
- Art Deco and Egyptian Revival both belong to Historical Styles, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Art Deco and Egyptian Revival stand roughly 170 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Art Deco Too much ornament turns theme-park. Let white space carry the dignity.
- Egyptian Revival Do not confuse ancient Egyptian art with a modern Western revival of it. Do not collect pyramids, sphinxes and invented hieroglyphs without meaning; acknowledge the histories of archaeology, empire and collecting.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Art Deco (style, 1920s–1930s) and their accent from Egyptian Revival (style, late 18th–19th century). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Art Deco exists for: giving an event a sense of occasion, or producing instant classic luxury. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Art Deco - Symmetry - Radiating lines - Stepped motifs - Gold and black Composition: Centered, symmetrical composition. Type and lettering: Tall, narrow geometric display type. ## Accent comes from Egyptian Revival, used sparingly - Tapering obelisks and pylon-shaped entrances with battered walls - Bundled columns with abstracted papyrus or lotus capitals - Bands of winged sun disks, sphinxes, cobras or hieroglyphs - Heavy walls with small openings and a symmetrical monumental front Let one material quality come from it: Build from rough sandstone color, dark blue-green and oxidized metal, limiting winged disks and lotus forms to shallow relief. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f0e6cf, carry the structure in #c8a65b and #17140f, and let a single accent come from #356B68. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, exhilaration, trust, 物語. ## Where they fight - Art Deco and Egyptian Revival both belong to Historical Styles, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Art Deco and Egyptian Revival stand roughly 170 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Art Deco: Too much ornament turns theme-park. Let white space carry the dignity. - Egyptian Revival: Do not confuse ancient Egyptian art with a modern Western revival of it. Do not collect pyramids, sphinxes and invented hieroglyphs without meaning; acknowledge the histories of archaeology, empire and collecting. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Art Deco 1920s–1930s / Style / Historical Styles
Stages urban luxury with repeating geometry and a metallic sheen.
- Egyptian Revival late 18th–19th century / Style / Historical Styles
A revival style in late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe and the United States that transferred ancient Egyptian architecture and ornament to modern monuments, cemeteries, theatres and furniture. Obelisks, pylon-shaped entrances, papyrus and lotus capitals, and winged sun disks were organized into massive symmetrical compositions to project permanence, exoticism and the authority of discovery.
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