What is the 50's kind of art style called like in bioshock and monopoly?

I believe it is art deco

An official label still seems to be up for grabs. “Retro” is often used, but is a bit too imprecise. “50’s style” is more precise and seems to be used most often, but doesn’t really feel like the actual name of an art style, does it? Personally, I like Cartoon Modern, because it captures the graphic simplicity of the style and positions it in the larger context of the “Modern” aesthetic of that time period.

That particular drawing looks more ‘30s/‘40s to me. ‘50s style is more abstract, loose, and angular like what they were doing at UPA pictures.

Pup is correct. Monopoly was created in 1935 and first concieved in 1933, so it was at the end of the Art Deco/moderne era. So rockstar is more on the right track.

Actually, if you look at this site you’ll see that those earlier editions of Monopoly used a very different graphic style. Much of what we have come to think of as the “Monopoly” look happened when the graphics were overhauled in the 50’s.

@Harp: I stand corrected. Thanks. The first edition I ever saw was manufactured in the 50’s. My parents couldn’t afford one in the 40’s.

Looking at Ub Iwerks cartoons of the 30’s, though, and other cartoons like Betty Boop, it looks more in that style, so perhaps the 50’s re-designers were retro-ing back to that feel. The contemporary cartoons that I watched as a child in the 50’s just didn’t look like that. By then, they were going into the more spacey look.

Art Deco was predominant in the 20’s and maybe into the 30’s. I think Bioshock was inspired by art deco and nouveau artforms. (deco is inspired by nouveau to begin with)

And Bioshock is beautiful.