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Guilds is a community-driven platform for discussion with minimal algorithmic manipulation — not one built to maximize engagement. It includes discussions, photos, questions, and long-form articles styled as “Manuscripts.”
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“Great art, when it represents beauty, is there to nourish the human soul.” — Richard Schmid Built in 1928, the Fisher Building in Detroit is among America’s best examples of Art Deco architecture. Joseph French, Sr. served as the chief architect and was the man responsible for the building’s incredible design. It has been dubbed “Detroit’s largest art object.” Art Deco is a modern art style that attempts to infuse functional objects with artistic touches. It is also more than an architectural style; it is an ethos, with an egalitarian aim that emphasizes the uniqueness and originality of objects while making them available to all. Art Deco’s pursuit of beauty in all aspects of life sought to return decorative art to the important place it had occupied in the past. It embraced technological innovation, modern materials, and mechanization, and emphasized them in the overall aesthetic of the style itself. American Art Deco developed as a celebration of technological advancement, including mass production, and reflected a restored faith in social progress. In essence, Art Deco sought to instill a sense of pride and a striving for a better future in the people who occupied these spaces. As you can see, the ideals Art Deco aspired to are completely at odds with the goals of modernism. Uniformity, blandness, and soulless spaces do not inspire; they are not beautiful, and they alienate people from identifying with the architecture itself. America, and the West at large, are in dire need of an architectural renaissance. Modernism has alienated people from their cultures. Instead of belonging to a distinct society, modern architecture produces ambiguous buildings that do not catch the eye and all look the same. The Fisher Building is a time capsule, preserving the last era in which the American people had a cohesive view of their past and a shared, hopeful vision of the future. The ideals conveyed through architecture reflect the character of the societies from which they come. Which architectural style would you rather see your cities built in: modernism or Art Deco?
Truly gorgeous architecture and artwork. A resurgence of Art-Deco is badly needed. "They proved that it was possible to produce beauty in life by surrounding life with beauty. They discovered that symmetrical bodies were built by souls continuously in the presence of symmetrical bodies; that noble thoughts were produced by minds surrounded by examples of mental nobility. Conversely, if a man were forced to look upon an ignoble or asymmetrical structure it would arouse within him a sense of ignobility which would provoke him to commit ignoble deeds. If an ill-portioned building were erected in the midst of a city there would be ill-portioned children born in that community; and men and women gazing upon the asymmetrical structure. Would live inharmonious lives. Thoughtful men of antiquity realized that their great philosophers were the natural products of aesthetic ideals of architecture, music, and art established as the standards of cultural systems of time." - Manly P. Hall
Worth noting the Guardian Building a few blocks away deserves the same treatment — Smith, Hinchman & Grylls leaned even harder into the polychrome terra cotta. Detroit's Art Deco footprint is underrated as a collection, not just building by building.