Art Nouveau

of Victor Horta. This building is one of four Horta-designed town houses in Brussels that are together recognised by UNESCO as "representing the highest expression of the influential Art Nouveau style in art and architecture."]] (1903) in St. Petersburg, Russia]] Art Nouveau (, Anglicised to ) is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1905. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art". It is known also as Jugendstil, , German for "youth style", named for the magazine Jugend, which promoted it, and in Italy, Stile Liberty from the department store in London, Liberty & Co., which popularised the style. A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it is characterised by organic-- especially floral and other plant-inspired-- motifs, as well as very stylised, flowing curvilinear forms. Art Nouveau is a philosophy of design according to which artists should work on everything from architecture to furniture, making art part of ordinary life.

The style was influenced strongly by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, when Mucha produced a lithographed poster, which appeared on 1 January 1895 in the streets of Paris as an advertisement for the play Gismonda by Victorien Sardou, featuring Sarah Bernhardt. It popularised the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris. Initially named Style Mucha, (Mucha Style), his style soon became known as Art Nouveau.

Art Nouveau was most popular in Europe and the British Islands, but its influence was global. Hence, it is known in various guises with frequent localised tendencies. In France, Hector Guimard's Paris metro entrances were of art nouveau style and Emile Gallé practised the style in Nancy. Victor Horta had a decisive effect on architecture in Belgium. Magazines like Jugend helped publicise the style in Germany, especially as a graphic artform, while the Vienna Secessionists influenced art and architecture throughout Austria-Hungary. Art Nouveau was also a style of distinct individuals such as Gustav Klimt, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Alphonse Mucha, René Lalique, Antoni Gaudí and Louis Comfort Tiffany, each of whom interpreted it in their own manner.

Although Art Nouveau was replaced by 20th-century modernist styles, it is considered now as an important transition between the historicism of Neoclassicism and modernism. The historic center of Riga, Latvia, with "the finest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe", was included on the list during 1997 in part because of the "quality and the quantity of its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture", and four Brussels town houses by Victor Horta were included during 2000 as "works of human creative genius" that are "outstanding examples of Art Nouveau architecture brilliantly illustrating the transition from the 19th to the 20th century in art, thought, and society". Those two names came from, respectively, Samuel Bing's gallery Maison de l'Art Nouveau in Paris and the magazine Jugend in Munich, The fame of his gallery was increased at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, where he presented coordinated—- in design and color—- installations of modern furniture, tapestries and objets d'art. especially the forms of organic typography and graphic design found in and influenced by German magazines like Jugend, Pan, and Simplicissimus. It is now applied to more general manifestations of Art Nouveau visual arts in Germany, the Netherlands, the Baltic states, and Nordic countries.

Other names

Other local names were associated with the characteristics of its forms, its practitioners and their works, and schools of thought or study where it was popular. Many of these terms refer to the idea of "newness". Before the term "Art Nouveau" became common in France, le style moderne ("the modern style") was the more frequent designation. As a stand-alone term, however, "Secession" (, ) is used frequently to describe the general characteristics of Art Nouveau style outside Vienna, but mostly in areas of Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century. In the United Kingdom, it is associated with the activities of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, and is often known as the "Glasgow" style.

Art Nouveau tendencies were also used by local styles. In Denmark, for example, it was one aspect of Skønvirke ("aesthetic work"), which itself more closely relates to the Arts and Crafts style. Likewise, artists adopted many of the floral and organic motifs of Art Nouveau into the Młoda Polska ("Young Poland") style in Poland. Młoda Polska, however, was also inclusive of other artistic styles and encompassed a style of art, literature and lifestyle.

for Wren's City Churches (1883) is often cited as the first realisation of Art Nouveau]]

Origins

The origins of Art Nouveau are found in the resistance of the artist William Morris to the cluttered compositions and the revival tendencies of the 19th century and his theories that helped initiate the Arts and crafts movement. However, Arthur Mackmurdo's book-cover for Wren's City Churches (1883), with its rhythmic floral patterns, is often considered the first realisation of Art Nouveau. The Japonisme that was popular in Europe during the 1880s and 1890s was particularly influential on many artists with its organic forms and references to the natural world. in Paris and London, respectively. Subsequently, not only did the work itself become known better as The Whiplash, but the term "whiplash" is frequently applied to the characteristic curves employed by Art Nouveau artists. Other Art Nouveau designers in Belgium, Switzerland and France include Theophile Alexandre Steinlen, Alphonse Mucha, Hector Guimard and Jules Lavirotte.]] German Art Nouveau is known commonly by its German name, Jugendstil. Drawing from traditional German printmaking, the style uses precise and hard edges, an element that was rather different from the naturalistic style of the time. The style was used mainly in Hamburg. Jugendstil art includes a variety of different methods, applied by the various individual artists. Methods range from classic to romantic. One feature of Jugendstil is the typography used, the letter and image combination of which is unmistakable. The combination was used for covers of novels, advertisements, and exhibition posters. Designers often used unique display typefaces that worked harmoniously with the image.

Henry Van de Velde, who worked most of his career in Germany, was a Belgian theorist who influenced many others to continue this style of graphic art including Peter Behrens, Hermann Obrist and Richard Riemerschmid. August Endell, Henri Privat-Livemont is another notable Art Nouveau designer. His designs from about 1903, the Casa Batlló (1904–1906) and Casa Milà (1906–1908), are most closely related to the stylistic elements of Art Nouveau. However, famous structures such as the Sagrada Familia characteristically contrast the modernising Art Nouveau tendencies with revivalist Neo-Gothic. Examples of Art Nouveau in the city, along with the exteriors of any number of private apartment and commercial buildings, are the Municipal House, the Hotel Pariz, Smíchov Market Hall, Hotel Central, the windows in the St. Wenceslas Chapel at St. Vitus Cathedral, the main railway station, the Grand Hotel and the Jubilee Synagogue. The Olsany Cemetery and the New Jewish Cemetery are also important examples of Art Nouveau. Several substyles formed during this period. Early elements of the new style were added to Eclectic architecture forming "Eclectic" Art Nouveau. "Decorative" Art Nouveau refers to style using only decorative elements of the Art Nouveau; the first such building was built during 1899, however by 1906 decorative styles had become unfashionable. Therefore the decorative style is not very widespread in Riga. As Art Nouveau matured. emphasis on vertical lines became more popular, known as "Vertical" Art Nouveau, this style was most popular soon before World War I.

Art Nouveau in architecture and interior design eschewed the eclectic revival styles of the 19th century. Though Art Nouveau designers selected and 'modernised' some of the more abstract elements of Rococo style, such as flame and shell textures, they also advocated the use of very stylised organic forms as a source of inspiration, expanding the 'natural' repertoire to use seaweed, grasses, and insects.

Painting and graphic arts

Two-dimensional Art Nouveau pieces were painted, drawn, and printed in popular forms such as advertisements, posters, labels, magazines and the like. Japanese wood-block prints, with their curved lines, patterned surfaces, contrasting voids, and flatness of visual plane, also inspired Art Nouveau. Some line and curve patterns became graphic clichés that were later found in works of artists from many parts of the world.

Glass

Glass art was a topic in which the style found tremendous expression—for example, the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, and Émile Gallé and the Daum brothers in Nancy, France.

Ceramics

Art nouveau Ceramics were influenced by the work of Japan. The development of high temperature (grand feu) porcelain with crystallised and matte glazes, with or without other decoration, is typical of these works. It was a period where lost techniques were rediscovered, such as the oxblood glaze, and entirely new methods were developed. Major French potters include: Ernest Chaplet, Taxile Doat, Alexandre Bigot Adrien-Pierre Dalpayrat, Edmond Lachenal and Albert Dammouse.

Objets d'art and other examples

Jewellery of the Art Nouveau period revitalised the jeweller's art, with nature as the principal source of inspiration, complemented by new levels of virtuosity in enamelling and the introduction of new materials, such as opals and semi-precious stones. The widespread interest in Japanese art and the more specialised enthusiasm for Japanese metalworking skills fostered new themes and approaches to ornament.

For the previous two centuries, the emphasis in fine jewellery had been on gemstones, particularly on the diamond, and the jeweller or goldsmith had been principally concerned with providing settings for their advantage. With Art Nouveau, a different type of jewellery emerged, motivated by the artist-designer rather than the jeweller as setter of precious stones.

The jewellers of Paris and Brussels defined Art Nouveau in jewellery, and in these cities it achieved the most renown. Contemporary French critics were united in acknowledging that jewellery was undergoing a radical transformation, and that the French designer-jeweller-glassmaker René Lalique was popularising the changes. Lalique glorified nature in jewellery, extending the repertoire to include new aspects of nature—such as dragonflies or grasses—inspired by his encounter with Japanese art.

The jewellers were keen to establish the new style in a noble tradition, and for this they used the Renaissance, with its works of sculpted and enamelled gold, and its acceptance of jewellers as artists rather than craftsmen. In most of the enamelled work of the period, precious stones receded. Diamonds were usually subsidiary, used alongside less familiar materials such as moulded glass, horn and ivory.

Relationship with contemporary styles and movements

As an art style, Art Nouveau has affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Symbolist styles, and artists like Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, Edward Burne-Jones, Gustav Klimt and Jan Toorop could be classed in more than one of these styles. Unlike Symbolist painting, however, Art Nouveau has a distinctive appearance; and unlike the artisan-oriented Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau artists readily used new materials, machined surfaces and abstraction in the service of pure design.

Art Nouveau did not negate machines as the Arts and Crafts Movement did. For sculpture, the principal materials employed were glass and wrought iron, resulting in sculptural qualities even in architecture. Ceramics were also employed in creating editions of sculptures by artists such as Auguste Rodin.

Art Nouveau architecture made use of many technological innovations of the late 19th century, especially the use of exposed iron and large, irregularly shaped pieces of glass for architecture. By the start of World War I, however, the stylised nature of Art Nouveau design—which was expensive to produce—began to be disused in favour of more streamlined, rectilinear modernism, which was cheaper and thought to be more faithful to the plainer industrial aesthetic that became Art Deco. Image:Bechstein10.jpg|Bechstein Art Nouveau grand piano 1902 made for Julius Gütermann

Noted practitioners

Architects

Émile André (1871–1933)

Gavriil Baranovsky (1860–1920)

Vjekoslav Bastl (1872–1947)

Peter Behrens (1868–1940)

Gustave Serrurier-Bovy (1858–1910)

Raimondo Tommaso D'Aronco (1857–1932)

Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850–1923)

Mikhail Eisenstein (1867–1921)

August Endel (1871–1925)

Max Fabiani (1865–1962)

Eugène Gaillard (1862–1933)

Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926)

Vladislav Gorodetsky (1863–1930)

Hector Guimard (1867–1942)

Paul Hankar (1859–1901)

Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956)

Victor Horta (1861–1947)

Lev Kekushev (1862–1919)

Ciril Metod Koch (1867–1925)

Károly Kós (1883–1977)

Béla Lajta (1873–1920)

Ödön Lechner (1845–1914)

Jules Lavirotte (1864–1924)

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928)

Ede Magyar (1877–1912)

Rafael Masó (1880–1935)

Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962)

Gyula Pártos (1845–1916)

Marian Peretiatkovich (1872–1916)

Jože Plečnik (1872–1957)

Zsigmond Quittner (1859–1918)

Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950)

Fyodor Schechtel (1859–1926)

Gustave Strauven (1878–1919)

Louis Sullivan (1856–1924)

Eugène Vallin (1856–1922)

Henry Van de Velde (1863–1957)

Ivan Vurnik (1884–1971)

Otto Wagner (1841–1918)

William Walcot (1874–1943)

Lucien Weissenburger (1860–1929)

Furniture designers

Eugène Gaillard (1862–1933)

Louis Majorelle (1859–1926)

Art, drawing, and graphics

Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898)

František Bílek (1872–1941)

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876–1942)

Walter Crane (1845–1915)

Jules Cheret (1836–1932)

Eugène Gaillard (1862–1933)

Eugène Grasset (1845–1917)

Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)

E. M. Lilien (1874–1925)

Józef Mehoffer (1869–1946)

Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939)

Erwin Puchinger (1876–1944)

József Rippl-Rónai (1861–1927)

Valentin Serov (1865–1911)

Konstantin Somov (1869–1939)

Virginia Frances Sterret (1900–1931)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)

Janos Vaszary (1867–1939)

Hans Unger (1872–1936)

Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907)

Eliseu Visconti (1866–1944)

Gerda Wegener (1886–1940)

Glassware and stained glass designers

Auguste Daum (1853–1909)

Antonin Daum (1864–1930)

Émile Gallé (1846–1904)

René Lalique (1860–1945)

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933)

Ceramicists

Ernest Chaplet

Adrien-Pierre Dalpayrat

Albert Dammouse

Taxile Doat (1851–1939)

Edmond Lachenal (1855–1948)

Artus Van Briggle (1869–1904)

Vilmos Zsolnay (1828–1900)

Other decorative artists

Charles Robert Ashbee (1863–1942)

Will H. Bradley (1868–1962)

Georges de Feure (1868–1943)

Hermann Obrist (1863–1927)

François-Raoul Larche (1860–1912)

Gallery

See also

Art Deco

References

Bibliography

Duncan, Alastair. Art Nouveau. World of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994. ISBN 0-500-20273-7

Heller, Steven, and Seymour Chwast. Graphic Style from Victorian to Digital. New ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001. p. 53–57.

Sterner, Gabriele. Art Nouveau, an Art of Transition: From Individualism to Mass Society. 1st English ed. (original title: Jugendstil: Kunstformen zwischen Individualismus und Massengesellschaft) Trans. Frederick G. Peters and Diana S. Peters. Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron's Educational Series, 1982. ISBN 0-8120-2105-3

Further reading

Art Nouveau Grange Books,Rochester,England 2007 ISBN 978-1-84013-790-3

William Craft Brumfield. The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991) ISBN 0-520-06929-3

External links

Art Nouveau 1890–1914 exhibition on Art Nouveau

szecesszio.com Art Nouveau and Secession in Hungary

Art Nouveau Architecture in Georgia

Art Nouveau European Route The most complete information on Art Nouveau heritage in Europe and worldwide.

art1900.info Art Nouveau in Central Europe

lartnouveau.com Art Nouveau in France and in Europe

Art Nouveau in Riga

Art Nouveau Links & History

Art Nouveau World Wide, the most complete site with images, texts and links and interactive visits

Brussels Capital of Art Nouveau, History, artists, tours, pictures, links all about Art Nouveau in Brussels

Charles Rennie Mackintosh – Glasgow Buildings

House of Hungarian Art Nouveau Budapest, Hungary

Europa 1900, a worldwide, collaborative archive for sharing texts and photos related to art nouveau

iKlimt.com, a site dedicated to the life and work of Gustav Klimt.

Muzeum Secesji

Orivit, educational website dedicated to the well known German art nouveau pewter company, Orivit.

Réseau Art Nouveau Network, a European network of Art Nouveau cities.

The Art Nouveau in Brussels, only available in French, with pictures of Art Nouveau buildings

1900 architecture Short guide about Art Nouveau / Art Deco architecture (in various countries)

24 pictures of a Bechstein grand piano Art Nouveau

Alexei Bubyr: buildings in St. Petersburg

Category:Modern art Category:Architectural styles Category:Decorative arts Category:French words and phrases Category:Edwardian era