Made from macassar ebony and American walnut and accented with gilt bronze and ivory, Ruhlmann first displayed the style at the landmark 1925 Paris art deco exposition.

WSJ: Rare Ruhlmann piano to be auctioned in NYC

From the Chrysler Building in New York to the pastel hotels of Miami Beach and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Art Deco reshaped architecture in the years before World War II -- though the term wasn't coined until the 1960s, drawn from the name of the 1925 Paris decorative-arts exhibition that popularized the style.

WSJ: Touring Asia's Art Deco Gems in Shanghai and Napier, New Zealand