Timeless Versus Vintage

 

 

What’s the difference between "timeless" and "vintage"? Something that is timeless has universal acceptance and is exalted to the highest level of human achievement over centuries and millennia, whereas "vintage" is hierarchically lower and is of shorter duration. But there are also "movements" which are typically shorter, but aren’t vintage, just as Dada, Neo-Dada and Pop Art aren’t "vintage". It may have to do with the degree in which the work is more a matter of contemporary design and decoration as opposed to work that is deemed to be "fine art". Museums usually sort this out, so they’ll have separate galleries for work that focuses on craft and decoration.

Art Deco really isn’t in the "vintage" category because it’s not fashion per se, although a garment with an Art Deco print would be "vintage" if found at a Goodwill shop, but Art Deco furniture is museum quality. It’s one of those art periods that depend on the context in which it is used or viewed. Certainly, it was used in architecture, and we call it a "vintage" building, just as in Victorian architecture, but is above being utilitarian or common.