Art Deco Scotland

‘the entire effect is gay, welcoming, and, so to speak, “future”’
Raymond Mortimer on Glasgow’s Empire Exhibition, Vogue, June 1938

Art Deco is a design style infused with glamour and energy. Emerging from the smart metropolises of Paris and New York in the 1920s, its impact quickly spread beyond these cities.

A remarkable range of Art Deco objects, structures and images were created in Scotland as architects and designers incorporated features of Art Deco and moderne into their work. These forms were to be found in fashionable new villas, luxury ocean liners and the fleeting Empire Exhibition, as well as in everyday spaces such as shops, lidos, tramcars, cafes, cinemas and even pithead baths.

In Art Deco Scotland, Professor Bruce Peter explores the variety of Art Deco architecture and design across the country, including iconic structures such as the Beresford Hotel, the Radio Cinema in Kilbirnie, the Portobello Lido, the Tower of Empire in Glasgow and the Clyde-built Queen Mary.