Join Noel Suarez, Miami Design Preservation League Artist-in-Residence and Miami Beach pioneer artist, for Bridges of Style, a presentation exploring how the flowing, nature-inspired forms of Art Nouveau evolved into the bold geometry of Art Deco.
Presented as part of the Miami Beach Culture Crawl and the series Tracing Art Deco Forms Across Time, the program will look at the motifs, influences, and design changes that connect these two major movements.
Art Nouveau drew heavily from nature, with curved lines, flowers, vines, insects, and other organic forms appearing in architecture, furniture, jewelry, posters, and decorative objects. By the 1920s, design was beginning to change. New technology, modern transportation, changing fashions, and the excitement of the machine age helped inspire a more streamlined and geometric look.
Art Deco brought a different energy, with symmetry, sunbursts, stepped forms, strong lines, and decorative patterns that reflected a growing interest in modern life. The 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris helped bring this new style to international attention.
Bridges of Style explores the connection between these two movements and how one helped lead into the other, setting the stage for the architecture and design that would later become such an important part of Miami Beach.
Noel Suarez is the Miami Design Preservation League’s Artist-in-Residence, a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work explores the connections between art history, design, and visual culture.
One of Miami Beach’s pioneer artists, Noel Suarez brings nearly four decades of creative practice to his work, shaped by art history, architecture, movement, and the cultural landscape of Miami Beach.