# Style of Art **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414 "2000-03-30T17:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/1 "2000-03-30T17:19:00Z")
I guess I’m in an artsy mood today since this is my second art question, but here it is. I want to puchase some prints online of a certain style of art, but I have no idea what the style that I’m interested in is called. I would describe it as “Industrial” and I’ve seen it on the old propoganda posters from the 30’s as well as in advertisements in the 30’s and 40’s. It’s realistic looking and very colorful. Does anyone know what the hell I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/2 "2000-03-30T17:52:00Z")
WIGGUM - I think I know - you may want to try some of these links - perhaps you’ll find what you’re looking for (or at least a name). [http://www.posterauction.com/action.lasso?-database=Orders.fp3&-layout=cat&-response=store.html&-add](http://www.posterauction.com/action.lasso?-database=Orders.fp3&-layout=cat&-response=store.html&-add) [http://www.christopherco.com/index.htm](http://www.christopherco.com/index.htm) [http://www.nfi.net/%7Efpweb/yesteryear/autos/index.shtml](http://www.nfi.net/%7Efpweb/yesteryear/autos/index.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/3 "2000-03-30T17:53:00Z")
30’s & 40’s. Hmm, that covers a lot of ground. But the propaganda posters you mentioned, if they came from the Soviet Union, are classified as “Social Realism.” P.J. O’Rourke, the right-wing humorist and homey to our board’s UncleBeer, made the observation about how the people in theses posters, with their intense faces looking into space, seem to have “just cut one.” * * * Your deep sea diving suit is ready, me brave lad. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/4 "2000-03-30T17:54:00Z")
I think you might be talking about the art the WPA commissioned during the Great Depression. You might try a search for “WPA art” and see where that takes you. Other than that there is a style called “Social Realism” that came from the Soviet Union about this time. It was the only art the Communist Party found acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/5 "2000-03-30T17:55:00Z")
Jesus Slithy. That is the spookiest simulpost I’ve seen yet. ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/6 "2000-03-31T06:03:00Z")
Sorry about the OP. I guess it was pretty vague. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. ![]() Or if that doesn’t work check out the “Berger 45” poster here: [http://www.posterartusa.com/art.html](http://www.posterartusa.com/art.html) ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/7 "2000-03-31T06:20:00Z")
The example is pretty much straight Art Deco. Here’s a link to an [Art Deco page](http://orathost.cfa.ilstu.edu/students/pcfare/graphics/graphics.html) that provides some more examples and discusses the characteristics of the style. One reason your original post may have sent some of us down the wrong track is that there was very little “fine art” created in this style – it was more a design movement, reflected in archtitecture, industrial design, and commerical art and illustration. * * * * * * “Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” _–Satchel Paige_ ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/8 "2000-03-31T06:33:00Z")
That’s it, Art Deco. It’s funny that before I posted, I thought that may have been what the style was called, but then I thought that it only referred to architecture. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-of-art/9414/9 "2000-03-30T19:01:00Z")
Actually, it sounds more like Art Moderne, the chunkier post-Deco style that came in during the late 1930s and '40s This lasted through the sleek International (or “Populuxe”) style of the 1950s and '60s.