This book divides the Galle cristallerie's vast production of light fixtures into two basic categories: those created before Galle's death in 1904 and those produced by the firm from then until its closure in 1931. Curiously, many of the firm's most desirable models in today's market were introduced as late as the 1925 Exposition Universelle, Paris, still in the Art Nouveau high style at the very moment that it had been replaced by the era's ascendant Art Deco movement.

The emergence in recent years from their original homes of many of Galle's deluxe furniture commissions — seemingly lost forever — provides today's connoisseur with the opportunity at last to examine and assess the Nanceien's work in this his third artistic discipline, cabinetmaking. Included for the first time under one cover are all his major works of furniture, both those he designed as unique pieces for an exclusive clientele and those he displayed at two World Expositions and at the annual Paris Salons between 1889 and his untimely death in 1904. Included also in these pages is the encyclopedic range of models created in the Galle workshops both during his lifetime and then well into the 1920s. Presented by furniture category — wardrobes, tables, dressing tables, desks, commodes, consoles, etc. — the seemingly infinite number of different furnishings that bear the Galle imprint overwhelms the reader in their diversity.

After the initial explosion of art deco in Europe in the mid-1920s, American designers were soon making their own contribution to the style. The illustrations in this book seek to demonstrate that a dynamic American tradition developed in sculpture, ceramics, furniture, architectural decoration, graphics, and virtually all the applied arts. Alastair Duncan explores the subject of American art deco, reassessing and putting into perspective the work of artists such as Donald Deskey, Paul Manship, Gilbert Rohde, Walter von Nessen, and many others whose vision helped transform American art and design.