Art Deco Youth

This handsome Art Deco-style youth is sculpted into a tree at Marquette Park, Indiana Dunes.

There are two prevalent styles for Art Deco figures. They are often androgynous and are either strongly architectural with defined almost angular profiles, or soft and a bit of the pudgy side (by our modern standards) with curly hair. This burl shows both styles. (There are also a number of secondary images.)

Art Deco Profile

Marquette Park was very popular in the 1920s – Art Deco’s stylistic era – and there must have been a number of artists frequenting this scenic stretch of Lake Michigan beach. The nature spirits in trees which would then have been young themselves sculpted a number of Art Deco style images.

I had been entranced by a Willow Tree by a park lagoon that had strong Art Deco images (see my blog Lagoon Gateway to the Nature Realms) and when I finished photographing there, I checked in with the nature spirits as to whether there was anything else they especially wished me to see and photograph. They pointed me to a solitary tree in the field across the street.

Marquette Park

I started out photographing in bright sunlight, and finished as a storm was rolling in. Due to the lighting, I did not see these beautiful images on site; I just dutifully photographed where requested. These images were revealed once I was back home and processing.