M. Secondo

M. SECONDO (XIX - XX centuries).
"Lady with dog", ca. 1920.
Silver bronze sculpture on marble base.
Signed.
Measurements: 15 x 52 x 25 cm (bronze); 20 x 60 cm. (base).

Elegant sculptural group in silver bronze representing a young woman with a farmer.

Art Deco developed from the 1920s onwards, although it enjoyed a long life thanks to the popularity brought to it by the cinema, which spread its aesthetics until the 1940s, almost completely covering the interwar period. The Déco aesthetic is, in a sense, an amalgam of many diverse styles and movements of the early twentieth century and, unlike Art Nouveau, was influenced by the early avant-garde, mainly Constructivism, Cubism, Futurism and even Bauhaus rationalism. The progressive archaeological discoveries in Ancient Egypt also left their mark on certain hard lines and the solidity of Art Deco forms. Likewise, as a machine-age style, it used the innovations of the times for its forms: the aerodynamic lines of modern aviation, electric lighting, marine cladding, skyscrapers, etc. These influences are reflected in designs of fractional, symmetrical and clearly geometrical forms. Nevertheless, it is fundamentally classical art, although it approaches classicism from a new perspective, based on archaeology and elementary aesthetic principles. Thus, the forms of Art Deco are idealized, balanced and proportioned, but at the same time synthetic and essential, far from the direct inspiration in nature of the late nineteenth century.