The Roaring Twenties

What does a particular decade man to you? This is a question I attempt to answer in my Decades series, with each piece focusing on a different decade.

Here is the first of three parts: The Roaring Twenties

Also in this series: The Fighting Forties and The Swinging Sixties

This decade in particular has always been very interesting to me as it was the period between the two wars and in many ways the events that took place during this time laid the foundation for the world we know today. Capturing all of this in one illustration was a great experience.

The construction of the Chrysler Building in New York begins.

At the same time, Tutankhamun’s tomb is discovered.

The Jazz Age is in a full swing!

Motion pictures begin to gain a hold on the public imagination offering Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, and the German Expressionist films of Fritz Lang. The Jazz Singer becomes the first film release with sound, opening up a world of possibilities. Hollywood is established with the famous sign and the first Academy Awards are held in 1929.

The Lost Generation was the name given to American writers, poets, and artists living in Europe. The popular Charleston dance swept the United States. Magritte paints The Treachery of Images.

The New York-based Doughnut Machine Corporation set its eyes upon foreign markets. Vladimir Lenin dies, Leon Trotsky is exiled from The Soviet Union to Turkey that is founded in 1923.

With automobiles such as the Ford Model-A on the rise, traffic lights begin to be installed in major cities.

Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France.

Babe Ruth continued to break records as he played baseball for the Yankees.

Defining literature from the decade includes Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Kafka’s The Trial.

The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre resulted from the struggle between the Irish North Siders and their Italian South Side rivals, led by Al Capone, to control organized crime in Chicago during Prohibition.

The League of Nations is established.

Penicillin was discovered in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.

The Ku Klux Klan flourished throughout America with its mission to maintain white supremacy.

Mondrian paints Tableau I in 1921, creating the style that would define him.

The Suffragette movement succeeded in getting women the right to vote.