Bombay Art Deco Architecture: A Visual Journey: 1930-1953
Authors: Navin Ramani, Laura Cerwinske (Editor)
Publisher: Roli Books
Year: 2007
Price: Rs 1295
Pages: 296
The Art Deco movement was started in the 1920s by a group of artists in Paris but lasted only for not more than two decades following an initial rapid acceptance. It acted as a fresh whiff alternative to the dominant Renaissance, Gothic and Victorian architectural styles. While most other styles were influenced by some or other political movements, Art Deco used eclecticism, neo-classism, modernism, and romanticism as its prominent feature. Liberal use of symmetry and geometry is evident in most of its forms. Art Deco influenced not just architectural styles but also fashion, ornaments, jewelry, motifs, furniture, cars, watches, pottery, and luxury products. Art Deco was fancied purely as a visionary romantic and artistic movement, which celebrated art as its chief form. And it succeeded briefly in resilience to the austerity methods employed after World War I. In architecture, it was widely used in Railway stations (eg. Jodhpur Railway Station), hotels, and cinemas (eg. Regal Cinema, Bombay). The movement was a huge success in US while in India it, for a while, provided an alternative to the monotonous and prominent Indo-Saracenic and Victorian-Gothic styles. Princely emblems, motifs, and interior designs heavily borrowed from Art Deco. Art Deco style died pre-maturely after a couple of decades, later seen as being too gaudy and overbearingly decorative. It rose to prominence again for a brief while in the ‘80s.
Bombay is said to have the largest number of Art Decos after Miami. The writer, oblivious to his neighborhood Art Deco surroundings realizes its significance only after he sees a resemblance of the style in Miami. While in US he see these buildings to be properly preserved, studied and documented, he observes that the same architecture-style in his home town of Bombay suffers ignorance and is taken for granted. The book explores the Art Deco styles, motifs, and local influences in the Art Deco region of Bombay. You see everything, which most probably went un-noticed for its importance, ranging from Asiatic Library, Azad maidan, Eros, Regal et cetera with a new perspective. With beautiful and esthete pictures, a delight for all architecture buffs and anyone interested in the history of city. Navin Ramani’s work is probably the first attempt to document the Bombay Art Deco heritage.
©Rakesh 2011
