From Buildings to Books

Cubist geometry escaped the gallery and went mainstream as Art Deco. The angular fragmentation of a Picasso, polished and paired with luxury materials, shaped the skyscrapers, lobbies, and jewelry of the 1920s.

Writers caught the same fever. Authors like Virginia Woolf and James Joyce broke stories out of a straight line, weaving several minds and moments together on one page — the literary cousin of a face seen from every side at once.