Art Deco and Its Life in Lettering

This presentation by graphic designer Jim Hellman explored new design features in typography, illustration, and advertising celebrated and still beloved today as quintessential Art Deco. Following World War I, the style
straddled avant-garde modernism and time-honored classicism. Art Deco offered a design alternative to promote new buildings, products, and even respond to the social problems of the day. Was it one style? No, it was many!

Speaker Jim Hellman is a savvy graphic designer and recently retired Wichita State University design professor who taught for more than 40 years. He has art directed for popular magazines, business communications, and designed numerous books for New York and Boston publishers.

This presentation was in partnership with AIGA Wichita, a nonprofit organization that seeks to elevate local designers, promote diversity,
and get the wider creative community excited about art and design in Wichita.

Originally recorded the evening of Thursday, March 31, in the Robert M. Beren Conference Room at the Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, Kansas. This talk was held in conjunction with the exhibition "American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918-1939," on view at the Wichita Art Museum from February 12 through May 29, 2022. wichitaartmuseum.org/artdeco