Art Deco Memorial Design Era (1920s to 1940s)

What is Art Deco memorial design?

Art Deco memorial design covers the funeral monument styles made between about 1920 and 1945. The Art Deco movement led design in architecture and decorative arts during this same period. Art Deco memorials use bold geometric shapes, sleek vertical proportions, and stylised sculpted figures. They turn away from Victorian ornament in favour of modern, streamlined looks.

Why Art Deco memorial design developed

Art Deco came out of the First World War. Public taste was moving away from 19th century sentimentality. The 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes is where the term “Art Deco” comes from. The Exposition set the style’s vocabulary. Memorial design picked it up quickly. The look suited the polished granite that was now the standard memorial material. After the war, families also preferred restrained modern shapes over the heavy Victorian mourning style.

Art Deco memorials also drew on the Egyptian Revival sparked by Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Stepped pyramids, lotus motifs, and stylised Egyptian figures showed up in cemetery monuments through the late 1920s and 1930s.

Tomb of Oscar Wilde, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Jacob Epstein’s 1912 winged figure is the most studied Art Deco funeral monument. It was carved from a single 20 tonne block of stone. The geometric Egyptian and Assyrian shapes show the Art Deco look years before the term existed. The flat planes, stylised wings, and stepped silhouette became the template for Art Deco mausoleums through the 1930s. Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The Oscar Wilde Tomb: Three Angles

Jacob Epstein’s 1912 monument now stands behind a glass barrier. It was added after decades of damage from visitors leaving lipstick kisses on the stone. The three views below show the front, the side, and the verse on the back. Together they capture the full scope of the era’s defining memorial.

Front viewTomb of Oscar Wilde · Photo via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain

Side angleTomb of Oscar Wilde · Photo by Marcelo Costa · CC BY 2.0

Verse on the back“And alien tears will fill for him, Pity’s long broken urn.” From Wilde’s Ballad of Reading Gaol · Photo via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Defining Forms of Art Deco Memorial Design

Stepped and Geometric Forms: Vertical monuments with stepped or terraced profiles. Many of these reference Mesoamerican or ancient Egyptian temple architecture. The stepped silhouette is one of the most recognisable Art Deco memorial signatures.
Stylised Sculpted Figures: Art Deco replaced the Victorian weeping angel with abstract, geometric figures. Jacob Epstein’s monument for Oscar Wilde at Père Lachaise (carved 1909 to 1912 but Art Deco in spirit) is the most studied example.
Streamlined Mausoleums: Family mausoleums took on Art Deco styling. Clean horizontal banding, geometric ornament, and simplified classical references. Bronze doors became sculpted focal points with stylised relief panels.
Egyptian Revival Elements: Lotus motifs, scarabs, sun discs, hieroglyph style banding, and obelisk forms showed up in 1920s and 1930s memorials. Egyptian Revival peaked in the late 1920s after the Tutankhamun discovery.
Bronze and Marble Combinations: Polished bronze panels set into granite or marble frames. Often with stylised lettering and relief artwork. The result reads as a small architectural monument rather than a traditional headstone.

Materials and Symbols

Polished Black Granite: The signature Art Deco memorial stone. The mirror polished surface allowed precise geometric carving and high contrast lettering. Most important Art Deco memorials use polished black granite as the base material.
Polished Bronze: Used for sculpted panels, doors, lettering, and full reliefs. Bronze suited Art Deco’s focus on craft and built in ornament.
Geometric Ornament: Chevrons, zigzags, sun rays, lotus petals, and stylised plant forms replaced Victorian narrative symbols. Art Deco patterns highlighted the monument’s geometric structure rather than telling stories about the dead.
Custom Lettering: Art Deco memorials often used distinct geometric typefaces. Flat sided sans serifs, decorative serif faces with geometric flourishes, and custom lettering designed for the specific memorial were all common.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Art Deco memorial design?
Art Deco memorial design covers funeral monuments made between about 1920 and 1945. The style uses geometric forms, stepped silhouettes, stylised sculpted figures, Egyptian Revival elements, and polished black granite with bronze.

What is the most famous Art Deco grave?
Oscar Wilde’s monument at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is the most studied Art Deco influenced funeral sculpture. Jacob Epstein sculpted it between 1909 and 1912. The winged figure mixes Art Deco geometry with Egyptian and Assyrian references.

Why did Art Deco become popular for memorials?
Art Deco came out of the First World War. Families and designers rejected the heavy Victorian mourning style. Polished black granite had become the standard memorial stone. The geometric Art Deco look suited it well. Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb sparked Egyptian Revival elements that fit naturally into Art Deco design.

Art Deco geometric ornament, polished black granite, and stepped silhouettes still show up in custom memorial design today. Families who want a heritage modernist look often ask for Art Deco features. Geometric banding, stylised lettering, and built in bronze panels are all options. Haven’s custom monument program supports these design choices.

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