New York Art Deco: Birds, Beasts, and Blooms

New York City, arguably the world s Art Deco capital, is well known the world over for its striking and still iconic buildings that were early expressions of the style writ large most famously the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, both of which still speak so eloquently and powerfully of the future and the machine age that continues to move us all forward. What is little spoken of and certainly under-appreciated is that which was writ small the softer side of this extraordinary movement, as rendered in tile, in terracotta, in stone: birds of the sky; flowers of the forest, of the field; beasts of the woods, of the earth, of the sea. Through new photography explicitly taken for this book, the author and photographer reveal this softer side of New York Deco, focusing on 75 buildings or building complexes, looking at both facade and interior lobby and elevator and mailbox ornament, to reveal unsung treasure. Included here is the exquisite ironwork of Edgar Brandt as seen at 7 Gracie Square a wonderful expression of fantasy in metal of antelopes and elephants the dragons of the Chanin Building; the birds and beauties of Rockefeller Center; and so much more. Birds, beasts, and blooms are cheerful, surprising, and easy to recognize, if you know where to look. They serve to remind city dwellers of more pleasant things than the burning tarmac beneath our feet in summer, or the cruelty of winter.