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Art Nouveau

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Art Nouveau , ornamental style of art that flourished between about 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States . Art Nouveau is characterized by its use of a long, sinuous, organic line and was employed most often in architecture , interior design , jewelry and glass design, posters , and illustration. It was a deliberate attempt to create a new style, free of the imitative historicism that dominated much of 19th-century art and design. About this time the term Art Nouveau was coined, in Belgium by the periodical L’Art Moderne to describe the work of the artist group Les Vingt and in Paris by S. Bing, who named his gallery L’Art Nouveau. The style was called Jugendstil in Germany, Sezessionstil in Austria , Stile Floreale (or Stile Liberty) in Italy , and Modernismo (or Modernista) in Spain .

In England the style’s immediate precursors were the Aestheticism of the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley , who depended heavily on the expressive quality of organic line, and the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris , who established the importance of a vital style in the applied arts. On the European continent, Art Nouveau was influenced by experiments with expressive line by the painters Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec . The movement was also partly inspired by a vogue for the linear patterns of Japanese prints ( ukiyo-e ).

The distinguishing ornamental characteristic of Art Nouveau is its undulating asymmetrical line, often taking the form of flower stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate and sinuous natural objects; the line may be elegant and graceful or infused with a powerfully rhythmic and whiplike force. In the graphic arts the line subordinates all other pictorial elements—form, texture, space, and colour—to its own decorative effect. In architecture and the other plastic arts, the whole of the three-dimensional form becomes engulfed in the organic, linear rhythm, creating a fusion between structure and ornament. Architecture particularly shows this synthesis of ornament and structure; a liberal combination of materials—ironwork, glass, ceramic, and brickwork—was employed, for example, in the creation of unified interiors in which columns and beams became thick vines with spreading tendrils and windows became both openings for light and air and membranous outgrowths of the organic whole. This approach was directly opposed to the traditional architectural values of reason and clarity of structure.

There were a great number of artists and designers who worked in the Art Nouveau style. Some of the more prominent were the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh , who specialized in a predominantly geometric line and particularly influenced the Austrian Sezessionstil; the Belgian architects Henry van de Velde and Victor Horta , whose extremely sinuous and delicate structures influenced the French architect Hector Guimard , another important figure; the American glassmaker Louis Comfort Tiffany ; the French furniture and ironwork designer Louis Majorelle ; the Czechoslovakian graphic designer-artist Alphonse Mucha ; the French glass and jewelry designer René Lalique ; the American architect Louis Henry Sullivan , who used plantlike Art Nouveau ironwork to decorate his traditionally structured buildings; and the Spanish architect and sculptor Antonio Gaudí , perhaps the most original artist of the movement, who went beyond dependence on line to transform buildings into curving, bulbous, brightly coloured, organic constructions.

After 1910 Art Nouveau appeared old-fashioned and limited and was generally abandoned as a distinct decorative style. In the 1960s, however, the style was rehabilitated, in part, by major exhibitions organized at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1959) and at the Musée National d’Art Moderne (1960), as well as by a large-scale retrospective on Beardsley held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 1966. The exhibitions elevated the status of the movement, which had often been viewed by critics as a passing trend, to the level of other major Modern art movements of the late 19th century. Currents of the movement were then revitalized in Pop and Op art . In the popular domain, the flowery organic lines of Art Nouveau were revived as a new psychedelic style in fashion and in the typography used on rock and pop album covers and in commercial advertising .

Art Nouveau – The Decorative Stylings of the Art Nouveau Movement

What is Art Nouveau? The Art Nouveau movement explored a decorative art form that thrived in the United States and Europe from around 1890. The Art Nouveau style, which was popularly applied in interior design, architecture, jewelry and glass designs, advertising, and graphics, is distinguished by the employment of long, serpentine, natural lines. The Art Nouveau period was defined by a conscious effort to develop a unique design that was distinct from the mimetic classicism that characterized most 19th-century design and art.

Table of Contents

• 1.1 Important Concepts
• 2.1 Exhibitions
• 2.2 Art Nouveau Design Concepts
• 2.3 Art Nouveau Architecture
• 2.4 Interior Design
• 2.5 Art Nouveau Paintings
• 2.6 Jewelry and Glasswork
• 2.7 Corporate and Retailing Identity
• 2.8.1 The Death of Art Nouveau
• 2.9 Influences
• 3.1 Cover Design for Wren’s City Churches (1883) by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo
• 3.2 Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (1891) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• 3.3 The Peacock Skirt (1892) by Aubrey Beardsley
• 3.4 The Budapest Museum of Applied Arts (1896) by Ödön Lechner
• 3.5 The Entrances to the Paris Metro (1900) by Hector Guimard
• 3.6 Ernst-Ludwig Haus (1901) by Joseph Maria Olbrich
• 3.7 Model #342, Wisteria Lamp (1905) by Clara Driscoll
• 3.8 Hope, II (1908) by Gustav Klimt
• 3.9 Park Güell (1914) by Antoni Gaudí
• 4.1 Émile Gallé (1846 – 1904)
• 4.2 Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 – 1933)
• 4.3 Antoni Gaudí (1852 – 1926)
• 4.4 Victor Horta (1861 – 1947)
• 5.1 What Is Art Nouveau?
• 5.2 Where Does Art Nouveau Come From?

Exploring the Art Nouveau Style

Throughout Europe and far beyond, Art Nouveau designs and concepts generated a desire for decorative arts, architectural design, and style. As a consequence, it has a number of different aliases, including Jugendstil and the Glasgow style. By rejecting the formerly trendy diverse blend of earlier styles, Art Nouveau artists aspired to modernize the design.

Art Nouveau patterns were inspired by naturalistic and geometric patterns and produced appealing designs that merged fluid, organic shapes suggestive of plant branches and flowers.

As a result, linear outlines took precedence over vivid colors like oranges , reds, and yellowish-orange. The Art Nouveau movement attempted to eliminate classical art systems, such as sculpture and painting being more essential than craft-based decorative arts. This design, which had fallen out of favor long before World War I, laid the stage for art deco’s revival in the 1920s. However, it was revitalized in the 1960s and is today seen as a key predecessor to, if not a core component of, Modernism.

The most prevalent examples of the style can be observed in Art Nouveau architecture and Art Nouveau paintings.

Important Concepts

The desire of Art Nouveau artists to break away from 19th-century historic traditions was a primary driving reason behind the Art Nouveau movement’s modernism. Despite the fact that industrialized manufacturing had become commonplace, imitations of earlier eras gradually became more prevalent in decorative arts.

Art Nouveau practitioners wanted to restore outstanding workmanship, enhance craft, and produce really modern designs that appealed to the pragmatism of the products they were creating and producing.

Due to the academic systems that characterized art training from the 17th through the 19th centuries, sculpture and painting were deemed preferable to skills like interior designing and ironwork. According to many, this resulted in disdain for excellent craftsmanship. When it comes to architecture and interior design, Art Nouveau architecture attempted to defy convention by constructing “complete works of the arts”, in which all of the parts worked in unison within a unified aesthetic language.

The Art Nouveau period was crucial in bridging the gap between the fine and practical arts, but it’s uncertain if that gap has ever been totally overcome. A number of Art Nouveau designers considered that previous designs were excessively ornamental to avoid what they viewed as unnecessary embellishment. This led them to feel that an object’s purpose, instead of the other way around, should affect its form.

In reality, this was an open-ended mindset that would affect future modernist movements, particularly the Bauhaus.

Key Aspects of the Art Nouveau Movement

Around 1880, the Art Nouveau style arose as a reaction to the cluttered motifs and compositions of Victorian-era artwork. The second influence was the Arts and Crafts movement from England, which was a reaction against Victorian-era ornamental art, similar to Art Nouveau patterns. As a consequence, many European artists of the 1880s, such as Émile Gallé, Gustav Klimt, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler were captivated by Japanese artwork, particularly.

Flowery and globular designs, as well as “whiplash” curvature, were common in Japanese prints, which ultimately became linked with Art Nouveau designs. It’s difficult to tell which work or pieces of art officially launched Art Nouveau.

While some argue that Vincent van Gogh’s rhythmic, fluid lines and flowery backdrops mark the beginning of the Art Nouveau period, others argue that Henri de Toulouse-ornate Lautrec’s lithographs demonstrate the culmination of the style.

Exhibitions

Art Nouveau paintings and architecture were most prominent in international exhibits during its heyday. The Tervueren Exhibition in Brussels, The Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889, and the Nancy International Exposition of 1909 all exhibited it significantly (where Art Nouveau design was mainly utilized to demonstrate the potential of workmanship with exotic timbers from the Belgian Congo).

Each of these exhibitions was centered around decorative arts and architecture, and eventually Art Nouveau was actually the trend of choice for nearly every architect and country exhibited, with no other styles jockeying for position or sales.

L’Art Nouveau, founded in 1895 by Siegfried Bing, a German trader who was also an admirer of Japanese art , became a major supplier of the style’s decorative arts and furniture. The store’s fame extended across Europe and the United States, and it became a household name. Art Nouveau has been called a multitude of titles due to its extensive popularity in Western and Central Europe. In German-speaking countries, it was dubbed Jugendstil when a Munich journal called Jugend popularized it.

The name “Sezessionsstil” was coined in Vienna, home of artists such as Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt, and Josef Hoffmann, all members of the Secession Style.

Art Nouveau Design Concepts

The great appeal of the Art Nouveau period in the late 19th century can be ascribed in part to the use of easily reproduced graphic art forms by many artists. During the Jugendstil era, print media such as book covers and exhibit catalog covers, magazine advertisements, ticket stubs, and billboards were fashionable in Germany.

However, this new growth was not only limited to the German-speaking globe.

In his brief career, Aubrey Beardsley, a British artist noted for blending the erotic and macabre in his work, created a series of posters with flowing, rhythmic lines. Because of his art, he was one of the most divisive individuals in Art Nouveau. Beardsley’s highly embellished works show that Art Nouveau and Japonism prints have much in common.

New chromolithographic processes were used to promote new technology like electric lights and telephones, as well as nightlife venues such as taverns and eateries, and even solo performances, all of which conveyed the thrill and energy of modern living. As a result, the poster was quickly elevated from a banal form of advertisement to a work of art. Any genuine study of Art Nouveau must include architecture and its huge impact on European culture.

Art Nouveau blossomed architecturally in large cities such as Brussels and Paris, as well as smaller towns such as Darmstadt, and Eastern European localities such as Prague, Riga, and Budapest.

Art Nouveau Architecture

It may be found in anything from modest row dwellings to large institutional and commercial structures today. Art Nouveau occurred in a wide range of architectural styles, most notably. Many structures make considerable use of terracotta and colorful tilework. Alexandre Bigot, for example, became famous in the late 19th century for his terracotta decorations for the exteriors and fireplaces of mansions and apartment complexes in Paris.

Iron buildings are connected by glass panels in many other Art Nouveau buildings , notably in Belgium and France. In many regions of Europe, Art Nouveau architecture was popular, using local materials such as yellow limestone coupled with wood trim. In many cases, sculptural white stucco coverings were used, particularly on Art Nouveau exhibition pavilions.

The Chicago Stock Exchange and Wainwright Building are two of Louis Sullivan’s buildings that are regarded among the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture in North America.

Interior Design

Art Nouveau design, like the Arts and Crafts traditions before it, was concerned with both interior and exterior design. Art Nouveau interiors strove to create a coherent environment that made the most of every square inch. In this context, much emphasis was focused on furniture design, particularly in the manufacturing of hand-carved wood with sharp, irregular curves, which was normally done by artisans but occasionally by machines.

Furniture producers made beds, dining room chairs and tables, sideboards, and lampstands. The flowing curves of the patterns, which were used as wall paneling and crown molding, were inspired by the natural grain of the wood.

The most well-known French Art Nouveau designers were Emile Gallé, Eugène Vallin, Tony Selmersheim, and Louis Majorelle. The whiplash lines and restricted, more angular shapes were utilized by Belgian artists Henry van de Velde and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy who were both inspired by the Arts and Crafts style.

The Italians Augustino Lauro and Alberto Bugatti were among the most well-known guests to the nation.

Majorelle, who produced in a number of mediums, was infamous for being difficult to categorize. He developed and manufactured his own furniture pieces, for instance, before opening an ironworking foundry and producing metal fittings for the Daum Brothers’ glassworks.

Art Nouveau Paintings

Art Nouveau is one of the only styles whose work may be found in almost any visual or material media. Famous artists associated with Art Nouveau include Gustav Klim, and Victor Prouvé, a French graphic designer who specialized in design, graphics, and architectural work.

Artwork from the period is hard to come across due to the paucity of Art Nouveau artists like Klimt and Prouvé, who was both an architect and an artist.

Art Nouveau artists may have done more than any other time in history to bridge the gap between ornamental and applied arts , which had previously been seen as more significant and pure representations of creative talent and expertise. However, whether or not that chasm has ever been closed is debatable.

Jewelry and Glasswork

Art Nouveau’s penchant for luxury was used by some of history’s most well-known glassmakers. Emile Gallé, Jacques Gruber, and the Daum Brothers were all famed for their Art Nouveau glass, which was employed in a broad range of utilitarian goods throughout their professions. These companies made their reputations in vase design and art glass, respectively, by pioneering novel ways in acid-etched pieces with sinuously curving, shapely patterns that looked to flow between translucent colors with ease.

Furthermore, glass painters such as the Daum Brothers utilized it to make practical goods such as shades, vases, and desk decorations.

Jacques Gruber and Tiffany, both of whom had trained with the Daum Brothers, were masters of large-scale luminant paneling with stained glass reflecting nature’s splendor. Louis Comfort Tiffany, René Lalique, and Marcel Wolfers were among the notable jewelers of the time.

Despite the notion that its accessibility would make it more readily available, they manufactured it all from rings and pendants to necklaces and pins, guaranteeing that Art Nouveau would stay associated with luxury.

Corporate and Retailing Identity

Shopping was growing to attract a larger clientele at the same time that Art Nouveau was gaining popularity. It was widely displayed in the late 19th century at the La Samaritaine, and Wertheim’s. There were some major design businesses that championed the style, such as Siegfried Bing’s L’Art Nouveau Boutique in Paris, which remained a bastion of the movement until 1905, only a few years after Bing’s passing.

Not only was his business selling Art Nouveau interiors and furnishings, but so were others across the city. Liberty & Co. was the movement’s primary Italian and British distributor, and consequently, Liberty’s brand grew closely associated with the movement.

Numerous Art Nouveau designers rose to prominence after working exclusively for these establishments.

Designers such as Peter Behrens designed everything from kettles to book illustrations, exhibit pavilion furnishings, kitchenware, and furniture, eventually becoming the first industrial designer when AEG hired him to oversee all design work in 1907.

After the Art Nouveau Period

In the last half-decade of the 19th century, as in the first ten years of the 20th century, architects, artists, and designers changed their stance and public outlook on the Art Nouveau style. Some designers thought that “form must follow function,” but others went far with embellishment, and the style was criticized for being too excessive. As the period continued, a growing number of critics claimed that rather than rejuvenating design, the new style just replaced the previous with something that appeared to be new.

Even with new mass-production processes, the high degree of expertise demanded by most Art Nouveau designs ensured that it would never be as accessible to the general population as its supporters had hoped.

Due to lax international copyright restrictions, several artists in Darmstadt were unable to earn monetarily from their works. The relationship between the Art Nouveau movement and exhibitions was doomed from the outset. To start with, the bulk of the fair’s buildings were only intended to be transitory and were promptly removed after the celebration was over.

While well-intentioned, the exhibitions themselves served to foster rivalry and competition among countries due to the naturally comparative character of exhibitions, rather than promoting education, intercultural cooperation, and peace.

Art Nouveau was considered a candidate for the title of “national style” in a number of nations, including Belgium and France until charges of its foreign roots or subversive political overtones turned popular sentiment against it. By 1910, Art Nouveau had all but vanished from Europe’s design landscape, with just a few notable exceptions where it had a devoted local following.

The Death of Art Nouveau

Early in 1903, designers like Josef Hoffmann, Peter Behrens, and Koloman Moser in Austria and Germany began to move away from Art Nouveau in favor of a more sparse, strictly geometric style. In the same year, a group of designers formerly linked with the Vienna Secession formed the Wiener Werkstätte, whose penchant for sharply angular and rectilinear shapes recalled a more accurate, industrially-inspired style devoid of overt connections to nature.

Both Behrens’ appointment as chief designer of AEG, establishing him as the planet’s very first industrial designer, and the establishment of the German Werkbund in 1907, emphasized this conceptual framework of the machine-made characteristics of the design.

This machine-inspired style would grow into the aesthetic that we now call Art Deco in the aftermath of World War I.

Despite its brief existence, Art Nouveau had a considerable influence on graphic designers from the 1960s to the 1970s who sought to break away from the stark, cold, and more minimalist design that had previously dominated the industry.

Art Nouveau influenced artists like Peter Max to produce work that portrays the innovative, ephemeral, and free-flowing creative world of the early 20th century in its dreamlike, psychedelic sensory experience.

Art Nouveau was recognized as an important stride toward modernism in architecture and art from the start. It is now seen as a reflection of the manner, atmosphere, and intellectual thought of a specific historical time centered around 1900.

It became the visual medium that characterized the modern era’s desire for a truly current style for a limited period of time.

Examples of Art Nouveau Architecture and Art Nouveau Paintings

So far, we have covered the key concepts of the Art Nouveau style, as well as the history of the Art nouveau movement. Now we will look at some distinctive examples of Art Nouveau paintings and architecture. We can see how these Art Nouveau designs have influenced every form of art.

Cover Design for Wren’s City Churches (1883) by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo

Art Nouveau was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, particularly the Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo woodcut. Two factors lend to this affiliation: the handcrafted character of the artwork, which identifies a woodcut, and Mackmurdo’s use of negative and positive space, which is simple.

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo’s abstract-naturalistic forms, as well as his signature whiplash curves, exemplify the visual illusion of motion and vitality that would come to define Art Nouveau in the years ahead.

The book’s apparent subject matter is concealed by the concentration on floral and vegetal imagery on the cover, underlining the book’s purposefully decorative look and implying that Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo’s effort is exploratory rather than a fully formed instance of the Art Nouveau style.

The woodcut is far more valuable than the text, which is a scattershot account of London church architecture.

Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (1891) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Toulouse-Lautrec, one of Art Nouveau’s most prominent graphic designers, elevated the billboard from an item of commercial junk to creation of fine art in the 1890s, the very same decade that saw the emergence of creative journals completely committed to this medium. Even though the word “Art Nouveau” was not introduced until after Lautrec’s death in 1901, the graphic designers who collaborated with him recognized their own inventiveness.

This design takes the flair and wildness of a French can-can dancer’s garment and reduces it to a few basic, rhythmic lines, implying motion and space.

The flattening of shapes to basic outlines with flat color infill reflects Art Nouveau’s affinity to Japanese prints as well as the illumination in such nightclubs, which would naturally render surface details of persons and other things obscure. Similarly, the cabaret’s name, written in red letters, indicates the throbbing intensity of the performances, in which dancers such as La Goulue took center stage.

The Peacock Skirt (1892) by Aubrey Beardsley

This artwork was made as a picture for Oscar Wilde’s 1892 drama Salomé, which was based on the Biblical story of Salome ordering the head of John the Baptist to be decapitated and placed on a platter. Several other Art Nouveau painters, like Victor Prouvé, were inspired by Salome. Compared to some of Beardsley’s other more sensuous and downright nasty works, Salomé is a mild-mannered affair.

Several of the Art Nouveau-influenced artists emphasize line, and they commonly abstract their figures to obtain the Art Nouveau-inspired flowing curves.

It may also serve as an example of how passionate usage of the style’s formal vocabulary may lead to critique. Beardsley’s work demonstrates the influence of Japanese prints on Art Nouveau through its flattened portrayal of form. This image may also be viewed as a depiction of the modern Aesthetic movement , demonstrating how Art Nouveau was inspired by many historical eras and genres.

The Budapest Museum of Applied Arts (1896) by Ödön Lechner

The Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, designed by Ödön Lechner, demonstrates how the Hungarian “national” branch of Art Nouveau, called the Hungarian Secession due to its location to Vienna, was more of a fusion of previous forms than a quest for new ones.

This structure, which sits on a trapezoidal lot, features an atrium at the back of the primary façade that is filled with natural daylight.

Tilework, stained-glass windows, and stone link the complicated structure all around, creating a vivid polychrome style that maintains the audience’s eye wandering and informs one of the harmonizing the union of art forms in generating a “complete work of art”. The complex multi-lobed arches, along with Central European-derived grandiose, bell-shaped spires and towers with onion-shaped sculpted finials, are examples of the forms utilized inside and out.

The Entrances to the Paris Metro (1900) by Hector Guimard

Following London, Paris was just the second city in the world to build an underground rail system when Hector Guimard was commissioned to design these renowned subway station entrances. Hector Guimard’s design was inspired by the aim to commemorate and promote the new infrastructure with a dramatic tower that would stand out in the Paris skyline.

The entrances feature Art Nouveau-style twisted, organic shapes that appear to be practically seamless at first glance, but are really made up of multiple cast iron components that could be mass-produced in Osne-le-Val, east of Paris.

Hector Guimard had effectively hidden some aspect of the object’s modernism behind its serpentine continuity, a method that typifies Art Nouveau’s ambiguous stance toward the modern period. Hector Guimard’s design was therefore critical in introducing Art Nouveau’s normally sophisticated, labor-intensive designs to a broad audience for whom the style was thought to represent unachievable luxury.

Ernst-Ludwig Haus (1901) by Joseph Maria Olbrich

This is the focal point of the new Darmstadt Artists Community, which was founded in 1899 under the auspices of Grand Duke of Hesse. Olbrich, who was among the community’s original painters, was stolen from the Vienna Secession by the Duke. The Ernst-Ludwig Haus, like Secession architecture, is highly rectilinear, with a shining white facade crowned by a gently sloping roof and situated on a hill.

The arched, centrally positioned main entrance, with its gold-plated, cloudlike geometric design around the entryway, which is flanked by Ludwig Habisch’s two male-and-female statues portraying the Strength and Beauty, counteracts this.

The sloping skylights that run the length of the back of the tower reveal its role as one of the few Art Nouveau structures constructed primarily for studio space, and it was the focal point of the Darmstadt group’s first exhibition in 1901. Despite the fact that the Colony only existed until the onset of World War I in 1914, the facility now functions as a museum dedicated to its artistic accomplishments.

Model #342, Wisteria Lamp (1905) by Clara Driscoll

Louis Tiffany’s is well-known for their Art Nouveau table lamps. The leaded glass shade of the lamp seems to resemble the wisteria branches at its top when lighted. The bronze base and shade work together to give a natural appearance. The screens of nearly 2,000 painstakingly chosen pieces of glass provide a warm, but soft illumination, giving the blooming flowers the illusion of water drops pouring. This indicates that sunlight has passed through the screen.

This motif, which incorporates an irregularly-shaped framework at the top and a bottom boundary, mimics realism and Japonism, as wisteria is native to the eastern side of North America as well as Japan, China, and Korea.

Clara Driscoll designed it, according to newly unearthed evidence. It also marks a watershed event for female designers at the turn of the century, when they were given control of a large portion of the company’s manufacturing. Driscoll was among the highest-earning females of her period, earning $10,000 a year until she was forced to quit Tiffany Studios in 1909 when she got engaged and eventually married.

Hope, II (1908) by Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt’s work is marked by form deformation and embellishment, as well as explicit sexual themes. Gustav Klimt, unlike Beardsley, is noted for his extensive use of gold leaf, usually in combination with a kaleidoscope of other vivid colors, particularly in his post-1900 works.

Gustav Klimt developed his unique sophisticated aesthetic as a consequence of this mixture.

This can be summarized as an array of dreamy, visually luscious (as well as materially lavish) paintings of women, occasionally portraying real people, but more often displaying envisaged or metaphorical embodiments, such as in his artwork Hope, II.

Gustav Klimt achieved his objective of producing a “new art” that was free of existing conventions or principles by employing accentuated and flattened body forms, as well as a focus on patterns and a lack of depth.

As original members of the organization, Secessionists like Klimt criticized academic painting’s ideals.

Gustav Klimt’s work evoked a wide spectrum of emotions during his lifetime and continues to do so now, contributing to his status as one of the most forward-thinking painters of the Art Movement and a pioneer of modernism.

Park Güell (1914) by Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí, best known for his work on the unfinished Sagrada Familia Expiatory Church in Barcelona, also built dozens of other structures in the Catalan metropolis. Antoni Gaudí’s final project before dedicating himself entirely to the Sagrada Familia was the preparation of a hillside residential neighborhood for textile entrepreneur Eusebi Güell.

Regardless of the fact that only Gaudi’s residence and one other property were built, and that the venture was a financial failure, this structure exemplifies Gaudí‘s innovative architectural skill.

Park Güell’s architectural style blends seamlessly with the surrounding environment, with rough-hewn slanted columns that appear to have been dug from the slopes and covered in vines. A columned market space supports an open plaza, which is surrounded by a serpentine seat covered with a combination of abandoned ceramic tiles known as trencads , a characteristic of Catalan artistry.

A great stairway connects the market to the park’s entrance, which has a tiled basin with a dragon’s face and the Catalan flag. The main gate and concierge’s apartment are made out of rocky lodges with uneven, conical spires that look as if they were made out of gingerbread.

The undulating shapes, influenced by inverted catenary arches, and vividly colored tilework reflect Catalan Art Nouveau’s collaborative ethos, comprising teams of artisans specialized in several media and dependence on the ethical management of environmentally sensitive materials.

Art Nouveau Artists

Now we have looked at some of the most famous examples of the Art Nouveau style. But who were the artists behind the movement? Let us discover some of these pioneers in the movement.

Émile Gallé (1846 – 1904)

Along with Louis Majorelle, Émile Gallé, a glassmaker, created the École de Nancy, an organization committed to extending the reach of Art Nouveau. He personally instructed the designers and supplied them with watercolors of floral patterns he created in his home’s gardens.

Gallé instructed his designers to utilize only genuine flowers and plants as models, albeit they were allowed to make certain creative choices in the end.

“It is vital to have a marked leaning in favor of models borrowed from flora and animals while allowing them free expression,” he wrote in 1889. Nature and literature both influenced his art. In his spare time, he would gather and study plants and bugs for inspiration, developing experimental glass-making processes that he ultimately trademarked.

Many of his works had flower patterns and poetry written just for the owner.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 – 1933)

Louis Comfort Tiffany was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, a well-known jeweler. Though he was originally trained in painting, he started dabbling with stained glass in 1875, and three years later, he opened his own glass business.

His skill with glass became well-known in other countries.

Education , a stained-glass window at Yale University’s library, is his most well-known work. It was erected in honor of one of Yale’s sponsors’ daughters. The sculpture was taken from the premises in 1970 as a precautionary measure in case of demonstrations. As a result, it was mistaken and forgotten later on.

Years later, when the item was mislabeled and another Tiffany piece went missing instead, this blunder likely protected the piece from robbery.

Antoni Gaudí (1852 – 1926)

Antoni Gaudí was a pioneering architect who mostly worked in Barcelona, where his Art Nouveau style dominated. With flowing lines and bright surfaces that deviated from normal architectural forms, his work was influenced by nature and the Catholic religion.

The balconies of Casa Mila depict abstractions of leaves and blades of grass, while the benches in Parc Güell are supposed to line with the human spine. Gaudí was identified as an Art Nouveau member by his imagination, which set him apart from other styles of the time.

La Sagrada Família, his most renowned masterpiece, has been under development since 1882 and is continuously being worked on today.

Gaudí was assigned to commence on the church in 1883 despite the fact that he would not survive to see it finished, a reflection of his strong religion. The church was approximately 20% built when Gaudí died in 1926. When finished, the structure will be the world’s highest basilica.

Victor Horta (1861 – 1947)

Victor Horta was a founding member of Art Nouveau and is credited for broadening the movement’s scope beyond the visual and ornamental arts to include building. Horta’s work was distinguished by his grasp of technological advancements in both iron and glass.

His structures were clad with twisted and bent iron that flowed from the exterior to the interior.

The Hôtel Tassel was the first Art Nouveau structure and one of Horta’s most well-known masterpieces. This townhouse was created for one of his Université Libre de Bruxelles colleagues. It perfectly blends natural and industrial motifs, and the building’s renowned stair hall can be seen from the outside.

The Art Nouveau movement started in 1890 with the purpose of updating the design and rejecting previously established classic and historical forms. Natural features such as flowers and insects inspired Art Nouveau painters. Curves, asymmetrical shapes, and vibrant colors were among the movement’s other recurring themes. In addition to ornamental art, painting, architecture, and even commercials, the Art Nouveau style appears in a variety of media.

Take a look at our Art Nouveau style webstory here!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is art nouveau.

Many talented artists specialized in ornamental art, architectural design, and glass craft, particularly slag glass, emerged from the Art Nouveau movement. Collectors and Art Nouveau enthusiasts alike seek out much of their work nowadays. The desire of Art Nouveau artists to break away from 19th-century historic traditions was a primary driving reason behind the Art Nouveau movement’s modernism.

Where Does Art Nouveau Come From?

Art Nouveau may be traced back to the Arts and Crafts group, which was a reaction against the 19th century’s academic art forms . The design was also influenced by an inflow of Japanese woodblock prints with flowery themes and powerful curves. Art Nouveau was prominent until 1905, but it is now seen as a precursor to Modernism. Art Nouveau started with the purpose of updating the design and rejecting previously established traditional and historic approaches.

Isabella studied at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English Literature & Language and Psychology. Throughout her undergraduate years, she took Art History as an additional subject and absolutely loved it. Building on from her art history knowledge that began in high school, art has always been a particular area of fascination for her. From learning about artworks previously unknown to her, or sharpening her existing understanding of specific works, the ability to continue learning within this interesting sphere excites her greatly.

Her focal points of interest in art history encompass profiling specific artists and art movements, as it is these areas where she is able to really dig deep into the rich narrative of the art world. Additionally, she particularly enjoys exploring the different artistic styles of the 20 th century, as well as the important impact that female artists have had on the development of art history.

Learn more about Isabella Meyer and the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Isabella, Meyer, “Art Nouveau – The Decorative Stylings of the Art Nouveau Movement.” Art in Context. June 13, 2022. URL: https://artincontext.org/art-nouveau/

Meyer, I. (2022, 13 June). Art Nouveau – The Decorative Stylings of the Art Nouveau Movement. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/art-nouveau/

Meyer, Isabella. “Art Nouveau – The Decorative Stylings of the Art Nouveau Movement.” Art in Context , June 13, 2022. https://artincontext.org/art-nouveau/ .

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Art Nouveau and Art Deco History

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 21, 2018 | Original: September 8, 2017

Art Nouveau was an art and design movement that grew out of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th Century. Art Nouveau highlighted curvaceous lines, often inspired by plants and flowers, as well as geometric patterns. Art Deco was a sprawling design sensibility that wound its way through numerous early 20th Century art and design forms, from fine art and architecture to fashion and furniture, as well as everyday appliances and even modes of transportation.

Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts movement, a precursor to Art Nouveau, focused on hand craftsmanship in the decorative arts and was personified by influential textile designer William Morris.

In Art Nouveau, the style of an object is not predetermined and imposed but developed organically through the process of creation, an idea derived from Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Mackintosh believed style came from function, and structures should be built from the inside out. One of his best-known buildings is the Glasgow School of Art, finished in 1910.

Art Nouveau was embraced by architects through the use of curves, iron and glass in designs. The result was buildings like Antoni Gaudí’s sinuous, organic Casa Battló in Barcelona, Spain, completed in 1906.

Art Nouveau in the Visual Arts

Mackintosh’s ideas had a significant effect on the visual arts. Austrian painter Gustav Klimt adopted his abstract patterning, indicative of winding plants, as backgrounds for figurative paintings. Illustrator Aubrey Beardsley brought Art Nouveau to book design, illustrating Sir Thomas Mallory’s La Mort d’Arthur and serving as art editor of the popular Yellow Book magazine in England.

Posters were the main medium through which Art Nouveau was spread. Czech artist Alphonse Mucha’s images of sultry, glamorous women captured the public imagination. His 1894 poster Gismonda , created for entertainer Sarah Bernhardt, brought him his first huge success.

Art Nouveau in Design

Art Nouveau featured object designers rather than sculptors. The best-known is Louis Comfort Tiffany, a former painter who created decorative items for his affluent customers.

Tiffany’s chief innovations were with stained glass, which was crucial to the design of his most famous offering, the Tiffany lamp. Tiffany is also known for his jewelry, boxes, clocks and pottery designs. Clara Driscoll, who worked for the Tiffany from 1888 to 1909, designed most of Tiffany’s most famous lamps, as well as many other items for the company.

French vase maker Emelie Galle formed the influential “Ecole de Nancy” in his hometown of Nancy, France, with bronze sculptor Louis Majorelle, to gather Art Nouveau masters of various disciplines like furniture design and jewelry-making.

By the end of World War I , Art Nouveau had dissipated as a force in the art world. Modernist movements took its place, most notably Art Deco.

Introducing Art Deco

Art Deco was announced to the world in the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, not as a new movement but one that had been in development for more than a decade.

The exposition was a World’s Fair-styled spectacle lasting six months and covering 57 acres in Paris. A popular show based on the exposition toured the United States the following year.

In 1927, Macy’s department store held an influential Art Deco exhibition highlighting eight architects, including Raymond M. Hood, chief designer of Rockefeller Center, and Joseph Urban, set designer and architect of Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida .

Art Deco Spreads

The rise of Art Deco coincided with the scramble to erect skyscrapers, and its influence is felt across America.

Designed in 1928, the Chrysler Building is considered one of the most iconic and most ubiquitous examples. The work of architect William Van Alen, its stainless steel spire with a scalloped base make it instantly recognizable.

Art Deco was the design choice for movie theaters of the era, such as Grauman’s Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles and Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Art Deco was also the guiding principle for stylish transportation, such as Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic automobiles, trains like Henry Dreyfuss’ 20th Century Limited and luxury liners like the Queen Mary.

Art Deco permeated people’s personal lives in its effect on furnishings and decorative items. The design works of Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann in furniture, Jean Besnard in pottery, Rene Lalique in glass, Albert-Armand Rateau in metal, Georges Fouquet in jewelry and Serge Gladky in textiles were just a few to have major and lasting impacts.

Images of Art Deco

In the visual arts, Art Deco promoted a sophisticated sensibility. French painter Jean Dupas is well-known for his murals and print advertising. His famous Les Perruches was shown at the 1925 exhibition. Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka was renowned for her portraits of the rich and famous.

Like Art Nouveau, the graphic arts were crucial in embedding Art Deco in the public imagination and defining the culture linked to it. Charles Gesmar is best known for his posters of French entertainer Mistinguett, which gave identity to the Jazz Age. French artist Paul Colin’s posters of Josephine Baker were prime factors in launching Baker’s career. Jean Carlu pulled inspiration from Cubism and gained fame with his poster for Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 film The Kid .

Art Deco also shaped the public view of travel. Ukranian artist Cassandre specialized in transportation posters, most notably his 1935 poster of the French cruise ship Normandie , and is also known for his distinctive advertising work.

Animals were a popular subject among Art Deco artists. Paul Jouve’s paintings and sculptures focused on African animals. Sculptor Francois Pompon’s famous bronze Polar Bear statue debuted at the 1925 exhibition.

Art Deco in Sculpture

Art Deco sculpture frequently found homes in public view. Paul Manship’s most famous work, 1933’s Prometheus , rests in the fountain at Rockefeller Center. Italian-Brazilian sculptor Victor Brecheret found fame with his Monument to the Banderas in Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil, which was started in 1921 and completed in 1954.

The imposing, 98-foot tall, 700-ton Christ the Redeemer sculpture on the 2,300-foot peak of Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was designed by French sculptor Paul Landowski, with the face by Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida. The statue was completed in 1931 and can be seen from just about anywhere in the city.

American sculptor Lee Lawrie is one of the most-seen and lesser-known Art Deco artists. His work adorns buildings across the United States—the National Academy of the Sciences in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles Public Library, the Nebraska State House, Rockefeller Center in New York City and many other locations.

The Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) is also credited for spreading the Art Deco form in the United States with artists like Rockwell Kent, Diego Rivera and Reginald Marsh.

Art Deco Wanes

Art Deco was often aligned with the tastes of the wealthy. The 1929 stock market crash redirected the movement towards mass production.

By the early 1930s, an updated Art Deco called Streamline Moderne (or Art Moderne) took hold in America, simplifying designs and, in architecture, focusing on one story structures to better service more common building needs like gas stations and diners. By World War II , Art Deco and Art Nouveau had fallen out of favor and were largely replaced by Modernism .

Modern Art: Impressionism To Post-Modernism. Edited by David Britt. Art Nouveau. By Jean Lahor. The Spirit and Splendour of Art Deco. By Alain Lesieutre. Art Deco. By Victor Arwas . French Art Deco. Metropolitan Museum of Art .

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Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was an artistic movement that united the architecture and decorative arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were the European enthusiasts who practiced the variety of styles. The objectives of Art Nouveau were to escape the traditional historical styles and modernize a design. Consequently, the representatives of the movement united natural and flowing forms with the angular figures and evolved elegant designs. One should mention that both geometric and organic forms inspired the artists to create. As a result, the traditional hierarchy of the arts was abolished as the representatives of Art Nouveau did not consider sculpture and painting superior to craft-based decorative arts. Besides, this essay explores the relationship between the history of Art Nouveau and the emergence of global modernity.

The Key Ideas of Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was the result of leaving behind the historical styles and the way of transferring to modernism and creativity. Earlier periods were characterized by poorly made objects and the decorative arts were necessary to make the revolution in art. One should mention that the representatives of Art Nouveau raised the status of craft, produced modern and genuine design and revived good workmanship. Such forgotten crafts as silver-smoothing and furniture design had become the most sophisticated work and proved the necessity of craftsmanship.

The artists of Art Nouveau changed the vision and beliefs about crafts and inspired others to create the art of buildings and interiors. The attention was paid to the smallest objects and details that were decorated to be ornamental and unique. The representatives of Art Nouveau believed that this was the object that should dictate its form. The movement was short-lived as it was less collective. Not every artist supposed geometric forms of plants such as rectangles and squares attractive and exciting. Architects, visual artists, and designers were united to create the style of design for the modern art. Additionally, Art Nouveau was the reaction against Victorian-era decorative art that was too predictable and traditional.

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One should mention that the movement did not have boundaries presenting graphic art, printing of works on playbills, magazine advertisements, and exhibition catalogs. New forms of Art Nouveau were controversial, debatable and ambiguous. The natural world was the key muse of the artists. As a result, they were free in the choice of objects, forms, and meaning. The main features of Art Nouveau were curvy, elongated and sinuous lines, exotic woods, semi-precious stones and silver, female forms, stylized nature and vertical lines. Art Nouveau was influenced by botanical research, rococo style and crafts.

It is evident that objects were in the center of Art Nouveau. The artists designed flowers, ornaments, fireplaces, lighting, door handles, stained glass, furniture, tiles, wallpaper, walls color schemes and floors. The conceptual traits of Art Nouveau were imaginary, abstraction, conceptualization, minimalism, orientation on the natural world and simplicity. The ambiguity that provoked a lot of interpretations was another feature of Art Nouveau that proved transferring to the global modernity and leaving behind traditionalism of Victorian era. Art Nouveau was so rich that it was difficult to predict whether it evoked magic atmosphere and charm or shock and fear. The distinction of lines and colors was a proof of modernization of art and its movement to era of technologies. Calmness and non-aggressiveness of colors of the depicted objects made them different from the traditional art forms.

Conceptual meaning of objects was more important than their depiction. As a result, abstract expressionism did not always provoke astonishment and approval. It means that the representatives of Art Nouveau should not only present their vision of the modern art but fight against stereotypes and traditionalism of art forms that deprived craftsmanship of the place during the Victorian period. Imagery and physicality of objects were the driving forces of the representatives of Art Nouveau. Expressionism, minimalism, and cubism were the ways of the depiction of the natural world differently through colors, compositions, space and abstraction. The artists ruined the boundaries and limitations between the real and imaginary. The attention was paid to the perception and vision of the depicted objects.

The advantage of the artists of Art Nouveau was that they were not afraid to experiment with different materials making them look alive and realistic. They could make panels and floors depict the state of consciousness and perception. They fused with the objects involving creativity and creating mystery. Presently, it often remains a mystery for students who are assigned to write about this art form and share their perceptions. Our art essay writing service can help with this task and enable you to learn more based on vivid textual representations and comprehensive explanations offered by professionals.

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Georgia O’Keefe and her Works

Georgia O’Keefe was one of the brightest and most talented artists of Art Nouveau whose works revealed the traits of that movement and presupposed modernization not only of art but even of its perception. Her vision of the modern art was not aimed at shifting art trends. On the contrary, it intended to look for abstract and essential forms in nature. It means that Georgia O’Keefe concentrated her attention on natural objects. One should mention that her great finesse and powers of observations made her paintings unusual and untraditional. She ruined the canons of Victorian art that was too pompous, sophisticated and complicated.

Bones, flowers, and landscapes fascinated her the most. Her life experience and place of living were the sources for her creative ideas. She contributed to Art Nouveau as she was one of the American representatives, and she was a woman that was a rare case among painters. One should mention that Georgia O’Keefe had developed as an artist and a painter under the influence of the modernist photographers and painters.

Her work “Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue” was created in 1931. Her depiction of this painting on canvas made it a bit traditional. However, the subject of that work was really shocking and unexpected for the audience. The colors of the painting were meaningful and symbolic as red, white and blue were the colors of the American flag. It means that Georgia O’Keefe wanted to identify and promote the American artistic style as it lagged behind the European one. Her symbols of America are not stereotypical as she did not use landscapes and natural beauty as regionalist artists did. On the contrary, she managed to reveal urban problems and represent American enduring spirit.

“Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue” was an iconic painting as it symbolized also the American West and was like a joke on the American art scene. One should mention that the work was based on perception and cultural background of the audience. Cow’s skull was an unusual object for depiction that provoked fear and disgust. However, peaceful colors and association with the American flag changed the opinion about the work. Vertical lines also made “Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue” calmer and not so aggressive. Minimalism and abstractness reinforced the depth and symbolism of the depicted objects.

Another distinctive work of Georgia O’Keefe was “White Canadian Barn” that was painted with oil on canvas. That painting differed from the previous one with the commitment to the geometric forms. Summer trip to Gaspe Peninsula of Canada inspired her to create such work that belonged to the theme series. The barn was the key object that was stark in design and color. The narrow and horizontal proportion of “White Canadian Barn” and flat rectangular forms of the walls and roof proved its belonging to Art Nouveau. Three distinct areas such as ground, building and denoting sky divided the space into three areas.

One can say that “White Canadian Barn” is made in three-dimensional form that made it modernist and innovative. It is evident that commitment to geometry and form proved the orientation of Georgia O’Keefe toward Art Nouveau and violation of traditional and old-fashioned subjects and forms. Frontal presentation put forward the barn as an object of the painting. The massive size and somber coloring added it some mystery and unpredictability. Every detail from the geometric shape and architectural element to black doorways proved the breadth of the painting and depiction of every object as a small and important painting with its own meaning and form.

In conclusion, one should say that Art Nouveau is the movement and design, creativity and modernization that violates the canons of the traditional and stereotypical art vision and benefits the emergence of global modernity. The value of Art Nouveau is that it managed to turn the usual objects in the masterpieces and symbolic things. Flowers, ornaments, fireplaces, lighting, door handles, stained glass, furniture, tiles, wallpaper, walls color schemes and floors could be the inspiring subjects for the artists of Art Nouveau. The conceptual traits of Art Nouveau are imaginary things, abstraction, conceptualization, minimalism, orientation toward the natural world and simplicity.

Georgia O’Keefe is not only a revolutionary artist of Art Nouveau but also of the American painting that was not as famous as a European one. Her modernist vision of art is reflected in her works “White Canadian Barn” and “White Canadian Barn”. Both paintings are oriented toward the abstractionism and geometric simplicity. However, design of every object showed depth of meaning and symbolism. Live Chat Order Now

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Symbolism and Art Nouveau

Many artists in the late 19th century broke from naturalistic representation and sought visual equivalents to poetry and music.

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Art Nouveau artists and designers created a completely new style of decoration.

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Art Deco vs Art Nouveau: 7 Differences (Period, Themes & More)

• Art Nouveau

Art Deco and Art Nouveau are art movements that emerged in reaction to major world events. Both presented a radical, modern alternative to the classic imitative style of traditional art.

Despite these similarities, they really are two distinct art movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries.   

Even today, the influence of these movements is found in graphic design, interior design, architecture, clothing and more. For instance, the Empire State Building in New York is an iconic Art Deco masterpiece, while Barcelona’s grand Casa Batlló is an Art Nouveau landmark. 

But how do you distinguish between these two styles?  

Let’s check out the key Art Deco vs Art Nouveau differences and some of the most renowned artists representing the two movements. We’ll also cover some common FAQs and how you can invest in artwork shares through Masterworks . 

Art Deco vs Art Nouveau: 7 Key Differences

Here’s a quick overview of the main differences:

1. Flourished in Different Time Periods

Art Nouveau (or ‘new art’) is often regarded as the first modern art style. Victor Horta pioneered the movement towards the end of the 19th century, alongside  other innovative designers, artists, and architects in Belgium. 

It flourished against the backdrop of Europe’s industrial revolution, embraced craftsmanship, and depicted stylized forms of automation in its designs. Textile designer William Morris popularized the style in the UK. 

On the other hand, Art Deco emerged in the aftermath of World War I following the decline of Art Nouveau. Its origins date back to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in 1925.     

Art Deco, like Art Nouveau, paid homage to modern artistry and enmeshed creativity with technological progress.        

2. They Go by Different Names in Different Countries

Art Deco is often referred to as Arts Décoratif or Style Moderne.   

Art Nouveau goes by a few different names in different countries:

• Jugendstil in Germany 
• Sezessionstil in Austria 
• Tiffany Style in the USA 
• Glasgow Style in the UK 

3. Has Varied Influences and Inspirations

Art Deco drew inspiration from Aztec , Central American, and Egyptian art introduced to the western world during the early 20th century. It was also heavily influenced by modernist Cubist art, known for its sharp, angular, and geometric designs.  

In contrast, Art Nouveau used natural imagery inspired by the curved and floral patterns found in Japanese art. Unlike most traditional art movements which often focused on scenes from the past, the Art Nouveau movement portrayed the present and future.

4. Uses Different Themes and Motifs

Art Deco artworks celebrated themes of innovation, technology, luxury, and prosperity. The predominant motifs include sunbursts, chevrons, fans, portholes, and ocean waves.

Art Nouveau radiated an otherworldly vibe, focusing on bold and sensuous subjects. The most common motifs were natural forms like plants, flowers, and the female form.

5. Uses Unique Shapes and Colors

Art Deco is a balanced style incorporating symmetrical and streamlined geometric shapes, vertical lines, and zigzags inspired by modern technology. Its designs were rendered in bold colors like:

• Emerald green
• Canary yellow 
• Peacock blue 
• Brilliant red 
• Metallic shades 

You’ll find several of these stylized elements in Rio de Janeiro’s Christ, the Redeemer Art Deco statue. 

One unique style of Art Deco that emerged in the 1930s was the ‘Streamline Moderne.’ Inspired by aerodynamic design, Streamline Moderne highlighted curves, horizontal lines, and even nautical elements which became prominent parts of industrial design.

Meanwhile, Art Nouveau’s design elements consisted of graceful bends and smooth, twisting lines, replicating organic form. The style emphasized shape and design over color, but did frequently use muted hues of:

• Burnt orange 
• Olive green 
• Mustard yellow

A prominent feature in many Art Nouveau pieces is the ‘whiplash’ curl – a decorative ‘S’ shape signifying sinuous energy with a bold, confident form.

Created by Victor Horter, the symbol stood for creative liberty and can be found in the work of artists like Aubrey Beardsley and Hector Guimard. 

6. Influenced Different Design Disciplines

The main disciplines that adopt the Art Deco style are: 

• Architecture
• Graphic design 

Art Nouveau encompasses a broad spectrum of disciplines:

• Sculpture 
• Furniture 
• Interior design 
• Graphic design

Of the two, Art Nouveau is more broadly used and remains part of several diverse artistic fields.

7. How They Ended

The Art Deco period lasted for several decades, thanks to Hollywood movies popularizing it in the public eye. Hollywood adopted the style in the 1920s-1940s to portray opulence and luxury. Though the Art Deco movement suffered a setback during the 1929 Great Depression, it didn’t disappear entirely. 

The decorative art style remained relevant till the end of World War II. It also showed up intermittently in the 1960s and 1980s following the advent of postmodernism.

Art Nouveau was relatively short-lived since only industrial sponsors, the educated bourgeoisie class, and other elites patronized it. As the art movement had little traction among working class people, it declined by the 1910s.

5 Iconic Art Deco Artists & Designers

Here are five of the most famous artists and designers known for their Art Deco style:

1. Tamara de Lempicka

Tamara de Lempicka portrayed themes of high society and splendor in her artworks. She garnered fame for her exceptional Cuban-inspired nudes and vivid portraits of aristocrats. 

Her standout Art Deco piece is a1929 self-portrait showing her as the epitome of 20’s opulent, feminine beauty. “Autoportrait” shows her sitting in a sleek, green Bugatti as a celebration of female independence.

Romain de Tirtoff, or Erté, was a renowned fashion stylist who designed impressive Art Deco-inspired movie posters and costumes. 

Besides working on popular films like Ben Hur and Paris, Erté designed an iconic 1967 poster,  Symphony in Black, for his London exhibition. The poster depicts a slender female figure in black walking her dog. It has now been reproduced numerous times on apparel, greeting cards, dishes, and more.

Erté’s influence on the Art Deco movement earned him the title ‘Father of Art Deco.’

3. René Lalique

René Lalique started his career as a jewelry designer specializing in the Art Nouveau style. But in his later years, Lalique switched to designing Art Deco-style glass sculptures. 

One of his most famous Art Deco artworks is an automobile mascot, the Spirit of the Wind , designed in 1905. What’s most intriguing about the masterpiece is its windswept hair – a probable homage to the marvels of automobile engineering.  

4. Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier began his career with Cubism and coined the term Art Deco in his journal, ‘L’Esprit nouveau.’ His contribution to town planning redefined traditional architectural designs and propagated a new approach to urban housing. 

However, Corbusier also believed that decorative art was a dying medium and popularized a more minimalist approach distinct from Art Deco architecture. 

An example of his architectural style is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Notre-Dame du Haut, a Roman Catholic chapel in France. 

5. Jean Dunand 

Setting him apart from other celebrated Art Deco pioneers, French and Swiss artist Jean Dunand is known for designing objects like metal trays, glossy screens, and vases. His Art Deco style shines in the interior design of Parisian luxury apartments and the elegant paneling of cruise liners. 

Dunand’s famous Fortissimo screen (1925-26) depicts Art Deco design through typical geometric patterns and sharp edges.

5 World-Famous Art Nouveau Artists & Designers

Here are five of the best Art Nouveau artists and designers and their iconic creations:

1. Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha, a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic designer, was a prominent figure of the Art Nouveau movement. In fact, the movement was dubbed ‘Le Style Mucha’ in Paris because of his influential contributions. 

Mucha painted beautiful women amidst vivid natural imagery,primarily plants, using muted colors. His work incorporated sensual elements, floral lines, and decorative patterns.

With the advent of lithography, Alphonse Mucha began using the technique for his printed posters. His unique 1896 poster, The Four Seasons , captured the mood of the seasons, using women as metaphors for life, death, and rebirth. 

2. Gustav Klimt

Renowned Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt was one of Austria’s leading figures in the Art Nouveau movement. Klimt chose the female form as his primary subject and portrayed open eroticism in his pencil drawings. 

In his iconic 1908 oil-paint masterwork, The Kiss , Klimt uses several distinct Art Nouveau elements like swirls, circles, and floral designs. 

3. Josef Hoffmann

Celebrated architect Josef Hoffmann was a co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte design movement and an Art Nouveau pioneer. He is well-known for designing furniture, jewelry, metalwork, and textiles. 

In his creations you’ll come across several Art Nouveau architecture elements, including parabolic curves and nature-inspired interiors. 

 The Stoclet Palace in Brussels, built in the Vienna Secession style, boasts artistic windows, upright balustrades, and other Art Nouveau flourishes.

4. Louis Comfort Tiffany

Artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany was a leading proponent of the Art Nouveau movement in the United States. He promoted opalescent window glass art and developed a new iridescent type of glassware called ‘Favrile.’ 

His creations boast nature-inspired elements like peacocks, butterflies, and flowers. Tiffany studio’s magnificent stained-glass lampshades symbolize the luxury and splendor typical of the Art Nouveau movement.  

5. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is famous for his one-of-a-kind Art Nouveau posters. He drew inspiration from the Japanese ukiyo-e prints. 

Lautrec’s posters frequently portrayed bohemian Montmartre entertainers as celebrities and elevated lithography as high art. He also gained traction for his idyllic portrayal of the Parisian underworld.

Lautrec’s famous 1892 Le Divan Japonais poster encapsulates the Art Nouveau style in its sensual subject depiction and sweeping curves. 

FAQs about Art Deco and Art Nouveau

Here are the answers to some common questions you may have about Art Deco and Art Nouveau:

1. Can Art Deco Be Mixed with Art Nouveau?

Yes, Art Deco and Art Nouveau have been used alongside each other in modern decorative design. Contemporary art frequently merges geometric Art Deco patterns with the organic shapes and curves of Art Nouveau. 

Eclectic Art Deco designs are common in interior design today, you’ll often find them complementing natural plant life in office spaces. Some modern residential spaces employ interior design that nods to Art Nouveau. 

Both styles remain relevant and continue to evolve as new trends emerge. 

2. What Is Art Moderne?

Art Moderne (an American art movement of the 1930s and 40s) was the style that succeeded Art Deco and is considered a later phase of the artistic movement.

It comprises a horizontal design, focusing on movement and smoothness, underscored by bold and brassy themes.

In contrast, Art Deco highlights vertical patterns and geometric shapes. 

3. Did Modern Art Replace Art Deco?

In a way, it did.

Following the Great Depression of the 1930s, modern materials, rich textiles, and luxurious furniture became unaffordable for Art Deco enthusiasts. 

The advent of modern architecture, pioneered by Le Corbusier and the German Bauhaus movement, furthered Art Deco’s decline in Europe. 

Architecture schools also began replacing the aesthetics of Art Deco with the emerging modern style. However, Art Deco isn’t completely dead and can occasionally be seen in elements of modern interior design.  

Art Deco and Art Nouveau were groundbreaking styles that laid the foundation for modern art. To this day, some of the most collectible contemporary artworks feature borrowed elements from both these styles. 

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Home — Essay Samples — Arts & Culture — Art Nouveau — A History Of Art Nouveau Designs

A History of Art Nouveau Designs

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What is Art Nouveau? (AN)

Art Nouveau artists wanted to erase the distinction between major and minor arts. They aimed at unifying all arts, centering them around man and his life. Therefore architecture, which has a direct influence on man's life, was the central art on which every skill is naturally integrated. Architecture is seen as a total art; every detail, every object in or on the building is related to the whole. Other crafts/arts of the Art Nouveau period not related to building are placards and jewelry. But jewelry took women as its center.

Others think that this first point of view is too reductive for movements that can have different approaches and even self contradictions. They prefer to study a "period" in Arts that ends at the First World War. 

Art Nouveau, if defined as a decorative style, was already declining since the middle of the first decade. It was sparely in use after WWI, but in Spain by Gaudi or in Germany by Mendelsohn, or in countries where it had started later, like Greece and Argentina.

This server is made more or less in the second way of thinking, while not rejecting the fact that the Art Nouveau "style" is the first thing that a beginner sees and that this style had an important role in this complex period, especially with the beginning of mass advertising. Hypertext links are very useful to show a multifaceted world.

Etymologies

Art nouveau etymology.

The name "Art Nouveau" ("new art" in English) was first used by contemporary critics in Belgium . It was then used by Siegfried Bing to name his art shop in Paris , which specialized in Japanese Art (his brother worked as an ambassador in Japan) and contemporary work by Art Nouveau artists. The shop interior was designed Art Nouveau artists including the Belgian artist Henry van de Velde and the Dutch George de Feure. The term is now used in English and French.

Jugendstil etymology

The name "Jugendstil" literally means: style promoted by the Jugend magazine (Jugend means Youth in German), which was created in Munich in 1896. It is now used in German to designate Art Nouveau. In Poland, the Art Nouveau movement was called Young Poland (Nova Polska).

Stile Liberty etymology

Stile Liberty is named after the company "Liberty Ltd.". This famous English company was one of the few English companies involved in Art Nouveau. It is used in Italy as well as "stile Floreale" (flower style)

This word is used in German to characterize artistic movements rejecting the imitation of historical styles (secession means "be apart"). Viennese Secession is the best known, but such movements existed also in Dresde, München (the first one), and Berlin.

Arts and Crafts

This word is used after the William Morris Association,  which  rejected the use of machines and pushed hand-made, high quality objects. The esthetics of Arts and Crafts is partly inspired by medieval Art and closely related to the Preraphaelist painting movement. The Arts & Crafts style directly inspired the Continental artists by the way of world fairs, magazines and visits.

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etching in eighteenth-century france: artists and amateurs, the etching revival in nineteenth-century france, ethiopia’s enduring cultural heritage, ethiopian healing scrolls, etruscan art, etruscan language and inscriptions, eugène atget (1857–1927), europe and the age of exploration, europe and the islamic world, 1600–1800, european clocks in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, european exploration of the pacific, 1600–1800, european revivalism, european tapestry production and patronage, 1400–1600, european tapestry production and patronage, 1600–1800, exchange of art and ideas: the benin, owo, and ijebu kingdoms, exoticism in the decorative arts, extravagant monstrosities: gold- and silversmith designs in the auricular style, eynan/ain mallaha (12,500–10,000 b.c.), fabricating sixteenth-century netherlandish boxwood miniatures, the face in medieval sculpture, famous makers of arms and armors and european centers of production, fashion in european armor, fashion in european 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edwin church (1826–1900), frederic remington (1861–1909), frederick william macmonnies (1863–1937), the french academy in rome, french art deco, french art pottery, french decorative arts during the reign of louis xiv (1654–1715), french faience, french furniture in the eighteenth century: case furniture, french furniture in the eighteenth century: seat furniture, french porcelain in the eighteenth century, french silver in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, frescoes and wall painting in late byzantine art, from geometric to informal gardens in the eighteenth century, from italy to france: gardens in the court of louis xiv and after, from model to monument: american public sculpture, 1865–1915, the fulani/fulbe people, the function of armor in medieval and renaissance europe, funerary vases in southern italy and sicily, furnishings during the reign of louis xiv (1654–1715), gabrielle “coco” chanel (1883–1971) and the house of chanel, gardens in the french renaissance, gardens of western europe, 1600–1800, genre painting in northern europe, geometric abstraction, geometric and archaic cyprus, geometric art in ancient greece, geometric patterns in islamic art, george inness (1825–1894), george washington: man, myth, monument, georges seurat (1859–1891) and neo-impressionism, georgia o’keeffe (1887–1986), gerard david (born about 1455, died 1523), german and austrian porcelain in the eighteenth century, the ghent altarpiece, gian lorenzo bernini (1598–1680), gilbert stuart (1755–1828), giovanni battista piranesi (1720–1778), giovanni battista tiepolo (1696–1770), gladiators: types and training, glass from islamic lands, glass ornaments in late antiquity and early islam (ca. 500–1000), glass with mold-blown decoration from islamic lands, the gods and goddesses of canaan, gold in ancient egypt, gold in asante courtly arts, gold in the ancient americas, gold of the indies, the golden age of french furniture in the eighteenth century, the golden harpsichord of michele todini (1616–1690), golden treasures: the royal tombs of silla, goryeo celadon, the grand tour, the graphic art of max klinger, great plains indians musical instruments, great serpent mound, great zimbabwe (11th–15th century), the greater ottoman empire, 1600–1800, greek art in the archaic period, greek gods and religious practices, greek hydriai (water jars) and their artistic decoration, the greek key and divine attributes in modern dress, greek terracotta figurines with articulated limbs, gustave courbet (1819–1877), gustave le gray (1820–1884), hagia sophia, 532–37, the halaf period (6500–5500 b.c.), han dynasty (206 b.c.–220 a.d.), hanae mori (1926–2022), hans talhoffer’s fight book, a sixteenth-century manuscript about the art of fighting, harry burton (1879–1940): the pharaoh’s photographer, hasanlu in the iron age, haute couture, heian period (794–1185), hellenistic and roman cyprus, hellenistic jewelry, hendrick goltzius (1558–1617), henri cartier-bresson (1908–2004), henri de toulouse-lautrec (1864–1901), henri matisse (1869–1954), henry kirke brown (1814–1886), john quincy adams ward (1830–1910), and realism in american sculpture, heroes in italian mythological prints, hinduism and hindu art, hippopotami in ancient egypt, hiram powers (1805–1873), the hittites, the holy roman empire and the habsburgs, 1400–1600, hopewell (1–400 a.d.), horse armor in europe, hot-worked glass from islamic lands, the house of jeanne hallée (1870–1924), the housemistress in new kingdom egypt: hatnefer, how medieval and renaissance tapestries were made, the hudson river school, hungarian silver, icons and iconoclasm in byzantium, the idea and invention of the villa, ife (from ca. 6th century), ife pre-pavement and pavement era (800–1000 a.d.), ife terracottas (1000–1400 a.d.), igbo-ukwu (ca. 9th century), images of antiquity in limoges enamels in the french renaissance, impressionism: art and modernity, in pursuit of white: porcelain in the joseon dynasty, 1392–1910, indian knoll (3000–2000 b.c.), indian textiles: trade and production, indigenous arts of the caribbean, industrialization and conflict in america: 1840–1875, the industrialization of french photography after 1860, inland niger delta, intellectual pursuits of the hellenistic age, intentional alterations of early netherlandish painting, interior design in england, 1600–1800, interiors imagined: folding screens, garments, and clothing stands, international pictorialism, internationalism in the tang dynasty (618–907), introduction to prehistoric art, 20,000–8000 b.c., the isin-larsa and old babylonian periods (2004–1595 b.c.), islamic arms and armor, islamic art and culture: the venetian perspective, islamic art of the deccan, islamic carpets in european paintings, italian painting of the later middle ages, italian porcelain in the eighteenth century, italian renaissance frames, ivory and boxwood carvings, 1450–1800, ivory carving in the gothic era, thirteenth–fifteenth centuries, jacopo dal ponte, called bassano (ca. 1510–1592), jade in costa rica, jade in mesoamerica, jain manuscript painting, jain sculpture, james cox (ca. 1723–1800): goldsmith and entrepreneur, james mcneill whistler (1834–1903), james mcneill whistler (1834–1903) as etcher, jan gossart (ca. 1478–1532) and his circle, jan van eyck (ca. 1390–1441), the japanese blade: technology and manufacture, japanese illustrated handscrolls, japanese incense, the japanese tea ceremony, japanese weddings in the edo period (1615–1868), japanese writing boxes, jasper johns (born 1930), jean antoine houdon (1741–1828), jean honoré fragonard (1732–1806), jean-baptiste carpeaux (1827–1875), jean-baptiste greuze (1725–1805), jewish art in late antiquity and early byzantium, jews and the arts in medieval europe, jews and the decorative arts in early modern italy, jiahu (ca. 7000–5700 b.c.), joachim tielke (1641–1719), joan miró (1893–1983), johannes vermeer (1632–1675), johannes vermeer (1632–1675) and the milkmaid, john constable (1776–1837), john frederick kensett (1816–1872), john singer sargent (1856–1925), john singleton copley (1738–1815), john townsend (1733–1809), jōmon culture (ca. 10,500–ca. 300 b.c.), joseon buncheong ware: between celadon and porcelain, joseph mallord william turner (1775–1851), juan de flandes (active by 1496, died 1519), julia margaret cameron (1815–1879), the julio-claudian dynasty (27 b.c.–68 a.d.), kamakura and nanbokucho periods (1185–1392), the kano school of painting, kingdoms of madagascar: malagasy funerary arts, kingdoms of madagascar: malagasy textile arts, kingdoms of madagascar: maroserana and merina, kingdoms of the savanna: the kuba kingdom, kingdoms of the savanna: the luba and lunda empires, kings and queens of egypt, kings of brightness in japanese esoteric buddhist art, the kirtlington park room, oxfordshire, the kithara in ancient greece, kodak and the rise of amateur photography, kofun period (ca. 300–710), kongo ivories, korean buddhist sculpture (5th–9th century), korean munbangdo paintings, kushan empire (ca. second century b.c.–third century a.d.), la venta: sacred architecture, la venta: stone sculpture, the labors of herakles, lacquerware of east asia, landscape painting in chinese art, landscape painting in the netherlands, the lansdowne dining room, london, lapita pottery (ca. 1500–500 b.c.), lascaux (ca. 15,000 b.c.), late eighteenth-century american drawings, late medieval german sculpture, late medieval german sculpture: images for the cult and for private devotion, late medieval german sculpture: materials and techniques, late medieval german sculpture: polychromy and monochromy, the later ottomans and the impact of europe, le colis de trianon-versailles and paris openings, the legacy of genghis khan, the legacy of jacques louis david (1748–1825), leonardo da vinci (1452–1519), letterforms and writing in contemporary art, life of jesus of nazareth, life of the buddha, list of rulers of ancient egypt and nubia, list of rulers of ancient sudan, list of rulers of byzantium, list of rulers of china, list of rulers of europe, list of rulers of japan, list of rulers of korea, list of rulers of mesopotamia, list of rulers of south asia, list of rulers of the ancient greek world, list of rulers of the islamic world, list of rulers of the parthian empire, list of rulers of the roman empire, list of rulers of the sasanian empire, lithography in the nineteenth century, longevity in chinese art, louis comfort tiffany (1848–1933), louis-rémy robert (1810–1882), lovers in italian mythological prints, the lure of montmartre, 1880–1900, luxury arts of rome, lydenburg heads (ca. 500 a.d.), lydia and phrygia, made in india, found in egypt: red sea textile trade in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, made in italy: italian fashion from 1950 to now, the magic of signs and patterns in north african art, maiolica in the renaissance, mal’ta (ca. 20,000 b.c.), mangarevan sculpture, the manila galleon trade (1565–1815), mannerism: bronzino (1503–1572) and his contemporaries, the mantiq al-tair (language of the birds) of 1487, manuscript illumination in italy, 1400–1600, manuscript illumination in northern europe, mapungubwe (ca. 1050–1270), marcel duchamp (1887–1968), maria monaci gallenga (1880–1944), mary stevenson cassatt (1844–1926), the master of monte oliveto (active about 1305–35), the materials and techniques of american quilts and coverlets, the materials and techniques of english embroidery of the late tudor and stuart eras, mauryan empire (ca. 323–185 b.c.), medicine in classical antiquity, medicine in the middle ages, medieval aquamanilia, medieval european sculpture for buildings, medusa in ancient greek art, mendicant orders in the medieval world, the mesoamerican ballgame, mesopotamian creation myths, mesopotamian deities, mesopotamian magic in the first millennium b.c., the metropolitan museum’s excavations at nishapur, the metropolitan museum’s excavations at ctesiphon, the metropolitan museum’s excavations at qasr-i abu nasr, michiel sweerts and biblical subjects in dutch art, the middle babylonian / kassite period (ca. 1595–1155 b.c.) in mesopotamia, military music in american and european traditions, ming dynasty (1368–1644), minoan crete, mission héliographique, 1851, miyake, kawakubo, and yamamoto: japanese fashion in the twentieth century, moche decorated ceramics, moche portrait vessels, modern and contemporary art in iran, modern art in india, modern art in west and east pakistan, modern art in west asia: colonial to post-colonial, modern materials: plastics, modern storytellers: romare bearden, jacob lawrence, faith ringgold, momoyama period (1573–1615), monasticism in western medieval europe, the mon-dvaravati tradition of early north-central thailand, the mongolian tent in the ilkhanid period, monte albán, monte albán: sacred architecture, monte albán: stone sculpture, monumental architecture of the aksumite empire, the monumental stelae of aksum (3rd–4th century), mosaic glass from islamic lands, mountain and water: korean landscape painting, 1400–1800, muromachi period (1392–1573), music and art of china, music in ancient greece, music in the ancient andes, music in the renaissance, musical instruments of oceania, musical instruments of the indian subcontinent, musical terms for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mycenaean civilization, mystery cults in the greek and roman world, nabataean kingdom and petra, the nabis and decorative painting, nadar (1820–1910), the nahal mishmar treasure, nature in chinese culture, the nature of islamic art, the neoclassical temple, neoclassicism, neolithic period in china, nepalese painting, nepalese sculpture, netsuke: from fashion fobs to coveted collectibles, new caledonia, the new documentary tradition in photography, new ireland, new vision photography, a new visual language transmitted across asia, the new york dutch room, nicolas poussin (1594–1665), nineteenth-century american drawings, nineteenth-century american folk art, nineteenth-century american jewelry, nineteenth-century american silver, nineteenth-century classical music, nineteenth-century court arts in india, nineteenth-century english silver, nineteenth-century european textile production, nineteenth-century french realism, nineteenth-century iran: art and the advent of modernity, nineteenth-century iran: continuity and revivalism, nineteenth-century silhouette and support, nok terracottas (500 b.c.–200 a.d.), northern italian renaissance painting, northern mannerism in the early sixteenth century, northern song dynasty (960–1127), northwest coast indians musical instruments, the nude in baroque and later art, the nude in the middle ages and the renaissance, the nude in western art and its beginnings in antiquity, nudity and classical themes in byzantine art, nuptial furnishings in the italian renaissance, the old assyrian period (ca. 2000–1600 b.c.), orientalism in nineteenth-century art, orientalism: visions of the east in western dress, the origins of writing, ottonian art, pablo picasso (1881–1973), pachmari hills (ca. 9000–3000 b.c.), painted funerary monuments from hellenistic alexandria, painting formats in east asian art, painting in italian choir books, 1300–1500, painting in oil in the low countries and its spread to southern europe, painting the life of christ in medieval and renaissance italy, paintings of love and marriage in the italian renaissance, paolo veronese (1528–1588), the papacy and the vatican palace, the papacy during the renaissance, papyrus in ancient egypt, papyrus-making in egypt, the parthian empire (247 b.c.–224 a.d.), pastoral charms in the french renaissance, patronage at the early valois courts (1328–1461), patronage at the later valois courts (1461–1589), patronage of jean de berry (1340–1416), paul cézanne (1839–1906), paul gauguin (1848–1903), paul klee (1879–1940), paul poiret (1879–1944), paul revere, jr. (1734–1818), paul strand (1890–1976), period of the northern and southern dynasties (386–581), peter paul rubens (1577–1640) and anthony van dyck (1599–1641): paintings, peter paul rubens (1577–1640) and anthony van dyck (1599–1641): works on paper, petrus christus (active by 1444, died 1475/76), the phoenicians (1500–300 b.c.), photographers in egypt, photography and surrealism, photography and the civil war, 1861–65, photography at the bauhaus, photography in düsseldorf, photography in europe, 1945–60, photography in postwar america, 1945-60, photography in the expanded field: painting, performance, and the neo-avant-garde, photojournalism and the picture press in germany, phrygia, gordion, and king midas in the late eighth century b.c., the piano: the pianofortes of bartolomeo cristofori (1655–1731), the piano: viennese instruments, pictorialism in america, the pictures generation, pierre bonnard (1867–1947): the late interiors, pierre didot the elder (1761–1853), pieter bruegel the elder (ca. 1525–1569), pilgrimage in medieval europe, poetic allusions in the rajput and pahari painting of india, poets in italian mythological prints, poets, lovers, and heroes in italian mythological prints, polychrome sculpture in spanish america, polychromy of roman marble sculpture, popular religion: magical uses of imagery in byzantine art, portrait painting in england, 1600–1800, portraits of african leadership, portraits of african leadership: living rulers, portraits of african leadership: memorials, portraits of african leadership: royal ancestors, portraiture in renaissance and baroque europe, the portuguese in africa, 1415–1600, post-impressionism, postmodernism: recent developments in art in india, postmodernism: recent developments in art in pakistan and bangladesh, post-revolutionary america: 1800–1840, the postwar print renaissance in america, poverty point (2000–1000 b.c.), the praenestine cistae, prague during the rule of rudolf ii (1583–1612), prague, 1347–1437, pre-angkor traditions: the mekong delta and peninsular thailand, precisionism, prehistoric cypriot art and culture, prehistoric stone sculpture from new guinea, the pre-raphaelites, presidents of the united states of america, the print in the nineteenth century, the printed image in the west: aquatint, the printed image in the west: drypoint, the printed image in the west: engraving, the printed image in the west: etching, the printed image in the west: history and techniques, the printed image in the west: mezzotint, the printed image in the west: woodcut, printmaking in mexico, 1900–1950, private devotion in medieval christianity, profane love and erotic art in the italian renaissance, the pyramid complex of senwosret iii, dahshur, the pyramid complex of senwosret iii, dahshur: private tombs to the north, the pyramid complex of senwosret iii, dahshur: queens and princesses, the pyramid complex of senwosret iii, dahshur: temples, qin dynasty (221–206 b.c.), the qing dynasty (1644–1911): courtiers, officials, and professional artists, the qing dynasty (1644–1911): loyalists and individualists, the qing dynasty (1644–1911): painting, the qing dynasty (1644–1911): the traditionalists, the rag-dung, rare coins from nishapur, recognizing the gods, the rediscovery of classical antiquity, the reformation, relics and reliquaries in medieval christianity, religion and culture in north america, 1600–1700, the religious arts under the ilkhanids, the religious relationship between byzantium and the west, rembrandt (1606–1669): paintings, rembrandt van rijn (1606–1669): prints, renaissance drawings: material and function, renaissance keyboards, renaissance organs, renaissance velvet textiles, renaissance violins, retrospective styles in greek and roman sculpture, rinpa painting style, the rise of macedon and the conquests of alexander the great, the rise of modernity in south asia, the rise of paper photography in 1850s france, the rise of paper photography in italy, 1839–55, the rock-hewn churches of lalibela, roger fenton (1819–1869), the roman banquet, roman cameo glass, roman copies of greek statues, roman egypt, the roman empire (27 b.c.–393 a.d.), roman games: playing with animals, roman glass, roman gold-band glass, roman housing, roman inscriptions, roman luxury glass, roman mold-blown glass, roman mosaic and network glass, roman painting, roman portrait sculpture: republican through constantinian, roman portrait sculpture: the stylistic cycle, the roman republic, roman sarcophagi, roman stuccowork, romanesque art, romanticism, saint petersburg, saints and other sacred byzantine figures, saints in medieval christian art, the salon and the royal academy in the nineteenth century, san ethnography, sanford robinson gifford (1823–1880), the sasanian empire (224–651 a.d.), scenes of everyday life in ancient greece, scholar-officials of china, school of paris, seasonal imagery in japanese art, the seleucid empire (323–64 b.c.), senufo arts and poro initiation in northern côte d’ivoire, senufo sculpture from west africa: an influential exhibition at the museum of primitive art, new york, 1963, seventeenth-century european watches, the severan dynasty (193–235 a.d.), sèvres porcelain in the nineteenth century, shah ‘abbas and the arts of isfahan, the shah jahan album, the shahnama of shah tahmasp, shaker furniture, shakespeare and art, 1709–1922, shakespeare portrayed, shang and zhou dynasties: the bronze age of china, shoes in the costume institute, shōguns and art, shunga dynasty (ca. second–first century b.c.), sienese painting, silk textiles from safavid iran, 1501–1722, silks from ottoman turkey, silver in ancient egypt, sixteenth-century painting in emilia-romagna, sixteenth-century painting in lombardy, sixteenth-century painting in venice and the veneto, the solomon islands, south asian art and culture, southern italian vase painting, southern song dynasty (1127–1279), the spanish guitar, spiritual power in the arts of the toba batak, stained (luster-painted) glass from islamic lands, stained glass in medieval europe, still-life painting in northern europe, 1600–1800, still-life painting in southern europe, 1600–1800, the structure of photographic metaphors, students of benjamin west (1738–1820), the symposium in ancient greece, takht-i sulaiman and tilework in the ilkhanid period, talavera de puebla, tanagra figurines, tang dynasty (618–907), the technique of bronze statuary in ancient greece, techniques of decoration on arms and armor, telling time in ancient egypt, tenochtitlan, tenochtitlan: templo mayor, teotihuacan: mural painting, teotihuacan: pyramids of the sun and the moon, textile production in europe: embroidery, 1600–1800, textile production in europe: lace, 1600–1800, textile production in europe: printed, 1600–1800, textile production in europe: silk, 1600–1800, theater and amphitheater in the roman world, theater in ancient greece, theseus, hero of athens, thomas chippendale’s gentleman and cabinet-maker’s director, thomas cole (1801–1848), thomas eakins (1844–1916): painting, thomas eakins (1844–1916): photography, 1880s–90s, thomas hart benton’s america today mural, thomas sully (1783–1872) and queen victoria, tibetan arms and armor, tibetan buddhist art, tikal: sacred architecture, tikal: stone sculpture, time of day on painted athenian vases, tiraz: inscribed textiles from the early islamic period, titian (ca. 1485/90–1576), the tomb of wah, trade and commercial activity in the byzantine and early islamic middle east, trade and the spread of islam in africa, trade between arabia and the empires of rome and asia, trade between the romans and the empires of asia, trade relations among european and african nations, trade routes between europe and asia during antiquity, traditional chinese painting in the twentieth century, the transatlantic slave trade, the transformation of landscape painting in france, the trans-saharan gold trade (7th–14th century), turkmen jewelry, turquoise in ancient egypt, tutankhamun’s funeral, tutsi basketry, twentieth-century silhouette and support, the ubaid period (5500–4000 b.c.), ubirr (ca. 40,000–present), umberto boccioni (1882–1916), unfinished works in european art, ca. 1500–1900, ur: the royal graves, ur: the ziggurat, uruk: the first city, valdivia figurines, vegetal patterns in islamic art, velázquez (1599–1660), venetian color and florentine design, venice and the islamic world, 828–1797, venice and the islamic world: commercial exchange, diplomacy, and religious difference, venice in the eighteenth century, venice’s principal muslim trading partners: the mamluks, the ottomans, and the safavids, the vibrant role of mingqi in early chinese burials, the vikings (780–1100), vincent van gogh (1853–1890), vincent van gogh (1853–1890): the drawings, violin makers: nicolò amati (1596–1684) and antonio stradivari (1644–1737), visual culture of the atlantic world, vivienne westwood (born 1941) and the postmodern legacy of punk style, wadi kubbaniya (ca. 17,000–15,000 b.c.), walker evans (1903–1975), wang hui (1632–1717), warfare in ancient greece, watercolor painting in britain, 1750–1850, ways of recording african history, weddings in the italian renaissance, west asia: ancient legends, modern idioms, west asia: between tradition and modernity, west asia: postmodernism, the diaspora, and women artists, william blake (1757–1827), william henry fox talbot (1800–1877) and the invention of photography, william merritt chase (1849–1916), winslow homer (1836–1910), wisteria dining room, paris, women artists in nineteenth-century france, women china decorators, women in classical greece, women leaders in african history, 17th–19th century, women leaders in african history: ana nzinga, queen of ndongo, women leaders in african history: dona beatriz, kongo prophet, women leaders in african history: idia, first queen mother of benin, woodblock prints in the ukiyo-e style, woodcut book illustration in renaissance italy: florence in the 1490s, woodcut book illustration in renaissance italy: the first illustrated books, woodcut book illustration in renaissance italy: venice in the 1490s, woodcut book illustration in renaissance italy: venice in the sixteenth century, wordplay in twentieth-century prints, work and leisure: eighteenth-century genre painting in korea, x-ray style in arnhem land rock art, yamato-e painting, yangban: the cultural life of the joseon literati, yayoi culture (ca. 300 b.c.–300 a.d.), the year one, years leading to the iranian revolution, 1960–79, yuan dynasty (1271–1368), zen buddhism, 0 && essaysctrl.themev == 'departments / collections' && essaysctrl.deptv == null">, departments / collections '">.

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Art Nouveau Essay Samples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Women , Theater , Artists , Culture , Life , Nature , Art Nouveau , Art

Words: 2500

Published: 08/10/2021

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In this essay I will discuss the style label Art Nouveau. I will focus on graphic media, posters in particular in the year period of 1900s. I will discuss the so called fin-de-siecle poster. This means the main focus of this paper is on French art and design in this period. It is in France where Art Nouveau was originated and developed the most intensively.

Art Nouveau is a style in art that “exploded onto the art and design scene in the early 1890s and spread rapidly throughout the Western world” (Greenhalgh, 2000: 7). The style united art searches of artists in the field of architecture, graphics, sculpture, arts and crafts and quickly extended worldwide. The concept of Art Nuoveau is initially “originated from the gallery de L’Art Nouveau in Paris, opened by Zigrfrid Bing in 1895” (Weisberg et al., 2002: 127). Here first works of the new art were presented.

The development of this style is defined by aspiration of artists to break link with art styles of the past. The new art was a response based on the new technological and esthetic achievements of the new era. It was fed by needs of producers for the style suitable for new technologies of mass industrial production.

Many researchers connect the development of colonies to the development of the new style. And in Art Nuoveau “new exotic breeds of trees, national motives of the occupied territories are actively used” (Arwas, 2002: 193). The achievements of art of Japan, the countries of North Africa, the Middle East are actively adopted.

The style suggested the new relation to the nature and revaluation of a role and a place of the person in the natural world. The style is characterized by the new asymmetric, wavy rounded-off and smooth lines. Natural vegetable forms and motives get the increasing role in the new style. It can be plants and the flowers represented in the stylized form. New symbolical value of the stylized forms of animals, insects and reptiles are getting of more meaning in this period. The typical motives for works in Art Nouveau are the images of curling water plants (lilies, water-lilies). Images of female figures with streaming curly are wide used that, the opinion of some researchers, makes “the new art [] conceptually erotic”. The forms of “circle, oval and square are widely used” (Wood, 2000: 87). Even the symbolical image of a human body or even its separate parts (for example kidneys) is actively applied in new style, emphasizing communication of the person with the nature. Natural and organic twisting lines reflect eternal variability of the nature. The prominent features of the new style were complexity and contradiction, decoration and ornament. They are inherent in fin-de-siecle posters originated in France. The prominent features of the new style were “complexity and contradiction, decoration and ornament” that are “inherent in fin-de-siecle posters originated in France” (Jobling & Crowley, 1996).

“Although international in scope, Art Nouveau was a short-lived movement whose brief incandescence was a precursor of modernism [] Although a reaction to historic revivalism, it brought Victorian excesses to a dramatic fin-de-siècle crescendo.” (Gontar, 2006).

In the opinion of Arwas (2002) “the style of Art Nouveau is presented in the works of such artists as A. Toulouse-Lautrec, J. Cheret, A. Mucha, O. Beardsley, etc”. Each of the works in the new style “contains a lot of paradoxes, particularly the combination of the newly declared forms with reference to images of culture that is much older than the western” (Arwas, 2002: 78). The artists created advertising posters with the help of their rich imagination. It went beyond traditional standards of the art.

The style is epistomed by the painter/designer Alphonse Mucha who was Czech by birth, but became famous worldwide and in France. The so-called "Mucha style" is “equivalent to an official name of the Art Nouveau” (Greenhalgh, 2000: 29). It served as role model to a whole generation of designers.

In the center of Mucha’s posters are the idealized images of women that are characterized by the smooth lines, proximity to natural forms, and waiver of sharp angles. These signs are typical for the Art Nouveau. Initially, the female images were used for promotional purposes. Then they helped Mucha to gain success in creating posters. Nowadays this experience is widely used by the leading experts in the advertising industry worldwide. Mucha’s works, as for many experts,”are influenced by the medieval scenes and the Celtic mythology” (Greenhalgh, 2000: 49).

Floral motifs are borrowed from the Eastern culture. The artists widely used “floating stems and pale petals fully meet the concepts of Art Nouveau. Mucha uses the confirmation of pastels, exotic shapes, the repeating images of a beautiful lady. The women are curly, long-haired, dressed in the light Greek tunics that create a unique harmony and unity. Mucha also uses geometric figures in the works, such as a circle as a symbol of the endless repetition, circulation, and as a symbol of the feminine principle. Mucha also uses a symbolic representation of a horseshoe in a larger size, with the painted ornament inside. Here is the reference to a pagan and mythical worldview. These figures are related to the ​​“emotionally filled concept in advertisements” (Sterner, 1982: 59).

The first big success came to Alphonse Mucha in 1894, when he made a poster for the great actress Sarah Bernhardt (Sarah Bernhardt, 1844-1923). As it was told later by the artist, at the end of 1893, he was called by the owner of the printing house named de Brunof, with whom he maintained a business relationship. Mucha was asked to create a poster for the great actress.

On the Img1 one can see the actress in her best, with the fluffy hair, decorated with orchids, in a richly ornamented dress with goldly embroidered sleeves, with a palm branch in his right hand.

The poster is performed in the technique of the multi-color lithography. The figure is flat, not shaded, but very decorative. The poster is performed predominantly in the gold tones. On the top of the image on a gold background the name of the play «GISMONDA» is written. It is the typical example of the work in the Art Nouveau style. The author successfully reaches the features of the style with the help of using his rich imagination. He interprets the female image according to the peculiarities of this new style. Image 1. Alfons Mucha. Gismonda Poster.

On the Img2 one can see an actress in the image of Samaritan. By this work, Mucha references to the Greek mythology. He is trying to show a positive character. As for the new style, it is met by feminine image of a beautiful lady. The modern style is correlating with the traditional culture. The image of Samaritan is borrowed from the Eastern culture and relates to the Christian religion. The woman has red fluffy hair, the body is curvy, the hair is curly, Floral motives resembles the Japanese culture. It also influenced on the Art Nouveau artists, as mentioned above.

Contemporary painting in this period is an important factor in this study. The “famous painter Toulouse-Lautrec was also connected to this group” (Iskin, 2013: 34). His works differ from Mucha’s paintings in certain way. But he has made a great contribution to the development of Art-Nouveu.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is one of the most brilliant artists of the period of new art. He was able to “convey the atmosphere of his time by referring to the image of women from an artistic medium” (Iskin, 2013: 35). The usual accent is on the observation that is often ironic and dynamic. His works often depict the images of Paris's famous actresses, singers and dancers, and other images of women of the creative professions. Unlike the posters by Alphonse Mucha with his feminine images, Toulouse-Lautrec extremely realistically depicts female images. The artist finds the most expressive features of the model. He emphasizes her natural role in life.

Unlike Mucha who idealizes his female images, Lautrec often refers to the form of the grotesque, as a special mean of the artistic expression. Interestingly, “the irony and the grotesque strong start is a typical phenomenon for the artistic culture of modernity” (Iskin, 2013: 55). This technique can be seen in the works of such masters as Aubrey Berndsley, Konstantin Somov and Theodor Heine.

The most interesting image of a woman is a woman of artistic profession. Toulouse-Lautrec was able to transmit it through the lithographic posters or billboards. During his life the artist created about 30 posters, which are the most clearly expressed his magnificent talent as a painter. All posters are made in the lithograph technique. Unlike the other artists, who preferred to go to professional printers, Toulouse-Lautrec himself “learned the "technical" side of the process” (Sterner, 1982: 123).

Many works by Toulouse-Lautrec are worth mentioning and especially his poster "Moulin Rouge" that we can see on the Img3 where La Goulue and Valentin are shown dancing in the great theater hall, surrounded by black silhouettes. In the foreground, the artist depicted the cropped shape of Valentine as a gray-green shimmering silhouette, emphasizing the dim, dull color and the stylish curved line. The figure of Valentine partially closes the figure of circling partner behind him, and she is the only character who is not drawn as monochrome planar image of a man. However, he skillfully simplifies the figure of La Goulue and skillfully introduces her to his composition. The viewer sees La Goulue not in full: it is slightly covered by the right figure of Valentine; her shiny white skirts are hidden behind the yellow lamps from the left. Space depth of the hall is transmitted in two ways: lines in the background, and figures of the first and second plans that differ in their sizes. Large group of viewers are the solid black mass, and the contour of her is the artful arabesque, clearly marked out cylinders and hats with feathers. Black and red letters over the dancers and audience groups inform us about the cabarets and give an idea of ​​where this couple is dancing.

The Img3 is a good example of the Art Nouveau style label. Femininity and masculinity are vividly seen not only as the characters are dressed, but also like they behave in the cabaret. It seems that they feel free to be in such a provocative place as the Cabaret “Mouline Rouge”. This fully meets the requirements of free natural forms of the new style of that period. Natural features of the characters are good examples of their attitude to life. The author meets the requirements of new style in full. Image 3. Toulouse-Lautrec. Moulin Rouge Poster.

Alphonse Mucha and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec were quite progressive artists. However, this period is remarkable by the works of many other artists who used everyday themes in the Art Nouveau context. Every artist of that period worked in the frames of realities of the end of nineteenth-the beginning of twentieth century adding their new perspective to visualize images. The role of the drawing art began to increase in this period. The art began to get commercializing intensively. For instance, Alphonse Mucha was the first to establish the new kind of poster in the Art Nouveau style. Thereafter, this genre was widely used by theaters and big trademarks. In comparison to Mucha’s works, Lautrec’s images “were not as much commercialized”. (Iskin, 2013). In any case, the new world progressive trends to commercialize art were popular among many painters.

Lautrec’s creativity influenced many artists. Swiss-born painter Felix Vallotton (1865-1925) was interested in the abstractive means that reflected reality. Vallotton created series of portraits of famous writers of that time. He “achieved the significant generalization in the characterization of his models” (Sterner, 1982: 177).

Theophile Steinlen (1859-1923) was another representative of the new art style. The artist is “no stranger to the discoveries of the artists in the period of 1860-1870-ies” (Sterner, 1982: 189). In comparison to the works of the other artists, Steinlen sharply and accurately conveys some specific moments in the mobile city life. In addition, he is trying to solve some particular socio-ethical problems. The social life in Paris is the central theme of his works.

In general, the term Art Nouveau is wide. However, it does have common themes and common stylistic prospective. The works of Alphonse Mucha, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Felix Valotton, Teophile Steinlen, etc. have much in common, as they are related to the same period of the development in art. The style label of Art-Nouveau came to the world culture in the period of fien-de-siecle, in the end of the 19th century, when new progressive trends were coming to life.

Reference List

Books Arwas, V 2002, Art Nouveau: The French Aesthetic, London: Andreas Papadakis. Greenhalgh, P, ed. 2000, Art Nouveau: 1890-1914, London: Victoria and Albert Museum; Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. Jobling P & Crowley, D 1996, Graphic Design: Reproduction & Representation since 1800. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press. Distributed in the USA by St. Martin’s Press. Iskin, RE 2013, Identity and Interpretation: Receptions of Toulouse-Lautrec’s Reine de joie Poster in the 1890s. Sterner, G 1982, Art Nouveau, an Art of Transition: From Individualism to Mass Society. 1st English ed. Weisberg, G, Becker, E, and Possémé, E, eds. 2004, The Origins of L'Art Nouveau: The Bing Empire, Exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum. Wood, Gh 2000, Art Nouveou and the Erotic, Harry N. Abrams, English Language edition. List of Illustrations Image 1. Alfons Mucha. Gismonda Poster. Three Rock Mountains. At: http://www.threerockmountain.com/user/mucha%20-%20gismonda_big.gif (Accessed on 15/12/2013) Page 5 Image 2. Alphonse Mucha. The Samaritan Poster. At: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/alphonse-mucha/the-samaritan-1897 (Accessed on 15/12/2013) Page 6 Image 3. Toulouse-Lautrec. Moulin Rouge Poster. At: http://artseverydayliving.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Lautrec_moulin_rouge_la_goulue_poster_18911.jpg (Accessed on 15/12/2013) Page 7

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How to Feed 15,000 Olympians in Paris? Start With Baguettes.

The French will have to meet a welter of health and cultural requirements, but they still want to serve up some delight.

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By Priya Krishna

Reporting from Paris

The unforgettable moment when a competing athlete first enters the Olympic Villag e in Paris may be defined not by the complex’s impressive size and sweep, but by a smell: the scent of freshly baked baguettes.

This is by design.

“Every French village has a bakery,” said Guillaume Thomas, who works in communications for the Paris Olympics. “We want people to be able to smell the baguette as they enter.”

A boulangerie set up at the mouth of the village will churn out more than 2,000 baguettes , croissants , pain au chocolat and focaccia daily, and even offer baking classes for athletes seeking respite from the grueling competition.

For the 15,000 Olympic athletes competing this summer, food is vital for optimizing performance. The French would like to sprinkle in some delight.

The centerpiece of the sprawling Olympic Village, once a power plant and then a film studio, is a network of six restaurants that will serve athletes around the clock. Yes, restaurants. Or so the organizers call the places known as dining halls at past Olympics.

“ It was out of the question to call it anything else,” said Philipp Würz, the food and beverage manager for the Olympics.

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