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 Stripped Classicism's lettering (Incised roman capitals, widely spaced, centred on the axis and stated once only) 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 Stripped Classicism (Large ashlar limestone or granite, honed flat, with joints fine enough that the wall reads as one continuous surface).
- Colour
- Build on #17140f, #c8a65b, #f0e6cf and admit one accent from #e5e4e3, #7e8992, #2a2a2a.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Art Deco Too much ornament turns theme-park. Let white space carry the dignity.
- Stripped Classicism Reaching for it because it looks austere and expensive: the symmetry and the blank wall make a claim of authority whether or not you intended one.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Art Deco (style, 1920s–1930s) and their accent from Stripped Classicism (style, 1920s–1950s). ## 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 Stripped Classicism, used sparingly - The rhythm of columns stripped of ornament - A strong axis and symmetry - Smooth planes of stone - Walls without large openings Let one material quality come from it: Large ashlar limestone or granite, honed flat, with joints fine enough that the wall reads as one continuous surface. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f0e6cf, carry the structure in #c8a65b and #17140f, and let a single accent come from #7e8992. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, exhilaration, trust, calm. ## What goes wrong - Art Deco: Too much ornament turns theme-park. Let white space carry the dignity. - Stripped Classicism: Reaching for it because it looks austere and expensive: the symmetry and the blank wall make a claim of authority whether or not you intended one. ## 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.
- Stripped Classicism 1920s–1950s / Style / Modern Architecture
The manner of government and memorial building in which classical architecture is shorn of ornament, leaving only proportion, axis and the rhythm of the columns. That it still reads as classical without ornament made it a cheap means of speaking authority. Important as a case in which the minimal and the intimidating live together.
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