Art Deco Society to offer lecture on Elgin American compact designers
The Chicago Art Deco Society and the Elgin History Museum present "Making It Modern: Elgin American and the Development of American Design" at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at the museum, 360 Park St. Cost is $20 or $15 for members.
The rise of American product design through Jazz Age exuberance, economic depression and postwar prosperity is the story that is told through the Elgin American company and its remarkable range of ladies' compacts.
The compact was a symbol of modernity, bursting into American life in the Roaring '20s as an essential prop of liberated young flappers. Compacts were meant for public display, signaling their owners' style and status, and appearance was their key feature. Elgin American was a leader in this market.
Chicago Art Deco Society member Jackie Vossler received an award from the City of Elgin for the exhibit on display at the museum. Vossler and fellow CADS member Rich Renner will share additional artifacts and stories while showing how a company in a small Midwestern city shaped and responded to the transformative social, economic and aesthetic changes of the 1920s to the '50s while bringing contemporary design to a growing middle class.
The exhibition tour, presentation and lunch are included in registration.
The Chicago Art Deco Society is a community of members that celebrates the aesthetic of the interwar period including fine and decorative arts, architecture and fashion that defined the elegant Art Deco and Streamline Moderne era. It was founded in 1982 as a nonprofit organization with a mission of education, preservation and fellowship.
To register, visit www.chicagoartdecosociety.com.