Art Deco and the Automobile, Deco in the Rest of the World
Possibly the most significant and modern car of the Art Deco era is the Hispano-Suiza Dubonnet Xenia. It is innovative and simply beautiful. It was on loan by the Mullin Museum to the 2013 “Sensuous Steel” exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville.
The beautiful Stork of Lorraine on the radiator cap makes the Hispano-Suiza easily identifiable. It is one of the most admired marques of the era.
Most industrialized countries produced automobiles at some time. Even countries not usually associated with auto production built home-grown cars, especially in the early part of the 20th century. Latvia, Finland, Hungary and Norway are examples of one-time auto producing countries. Most of their cars were typical of the early years—very upright and spare vehicles reminiscent of the Model T, but only manufacturers that survived through the 1920s and into the 1930s produced cars with streamlined designs or some elements of streamlining.
France comes to mind first when discussing Art Deco vehicles, followed by the United States, Italy, Germany and Great Britain. Deco design can, however, be found in automobiles from a number of other countries. As mentioned in “Axis Deco” (Vintage Roadcar, March 2013), Japan’s streamlined automobiles were essentially knock-offs of American cars. Of the rest of the world, Czechoslovakia was the most significant, but Spain may have produced the most Art Deco automobile of all time. These two are the best of the rest of the world.
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