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Dictionary:

art nouveau

  (är' nū-vō', ärt') pronunciation
also Art Nou·veau n.

A style of decoration and architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized particularly by the depiction of leaves and flowers in flowing, sinuous lines.

[French : art, art + nouveau, new.]


 
 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Art Nouveau

(click to enlarge)
"The Whiplash," Art Nouveau tapestry by Hermann Obrist, silk embroidered on wool, 1895; … (credit: Courtesy of the Munchner Stadtmuseum, Munich)
Decorative style that flourished in western Europe and the U.S. c. 1890 – 1910. The term was derived in 1895 from a gallery in Paris called L'Art Nouveau. Characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines based on plant forms, the style was used in architecture, interior design, graphic art and design, jewelry, and glass. It was international in scope, with celebrated exponents in England (Aubrey Beardsley), Paris (Alphonse Mucha), the U.S. (Louis Comfort Tiffany), Scotland (Charles Rennie Mackintosh), Spain (Antonio Gaudí), and Belgium (Victor Horta). The style did not significantly survive the outbreak of World War I. See also Arts and Crafts Movement; Jugendstil.

For more information on Art Nouveau, visit Britannica.com.

 
Modern Design Dictionary: Art Nouveau

The term ‘Art Nouveau’ derived from the name of the Paris gallery and workshops opened by Samuel Bing in 1895. It has been used to denote the flowing organic forms of the decorative arts that proliferated across Europe during the last decade of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. Flourishing in France, but with a strong presence in Belgium, Germany (Jugendstil), Italy (Stile Liberty or Stile Floreale), Spain (Modernismo), Holland (Nieuwe Kunst), and other European countries, as well as further afield as in the United States of America, the term itself pointed emphatically to a rejection of historicism and tradition in favour of a new aesthetic appropriate for a new century. Its historical importance lies in this rejection of the past rather than the establishment of a firm basis for designs that were readily adaptable for economic mass production such as those to be embraced by the Deutscher Werkbund in the years leading up to the First World War. Deriving from such diverse sources as the graphic work of Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, Aubrey Beardsley, Japonisme, Rococo, and the Celtic Revival, Art Nouveau's asymmetrically and sinuous characteristics were generally more compatible with the crafts. However, its forms were disseminated widely through magazines such as the Studio, Ver Sacrum, L'Art décoratif, Pan, Dekorative Kunst, and Jugend as well as the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, which was perhaps the apogee of French Art Nouveau, although the style was also evident in the international exhibitions in Turin (1902) and St Louis (1904). Also important in spreading the style were shops such as Liberty's in London, and La Maison Moderne and Galerie L'Art Nouveau in Paris. Designers associated with the Art Nouveau included Hector Guimard and Émile Gallé in France, Victor Horta, Henry van de Velde, and Alphonse Mucha in Belgium, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School in Britain, Anton Gaudí in Spain, Ödön Faragó in Hungary, and Louis Comfort Tiffany in the United States.

 
Architecture: Art Nouveau

A style of decoration in architecture and applied art developed principally in France and Belgium toward the end of the 19th cent.; characterized by organic and dynamic forms, curving design, and whiplash lines. The German version is called Jugendstil, the Austrian variant Sezession; in Italy one speaks of Stile Liberty, in Spain of Modernismo.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: art nouveau
(är' nūvō') , decorative-art movement centered in Western Europe. It began in the 1880s as a reaction against the historical emphasis of mid-19th-century art, but did not survive World WarI. Art nouveau originated in London and was variously called Jugendstil in Germany, Sezessionstil in Austria, and Modernismo in Spain. In general it was most successfully practiced in the decorative arts: furniture, jewelry, and book design and illustration. The style was richly ornamental and asymmetrical, characterized by a whiplash linearity reminiscent of twining plant tendrils. Its exponents chose themes fraught with symbolism, frequently of an erotic nature. They imbued their designs with dreamlike and exotic forms. The outstanding designers of art nouveau in England include the graphic artist Aubrey Beardsley, A. H. Mackmurdo, Charles Ricketts, Walter Crane, and the Scottish architect Charles R. Mackintosh; in Belgium the architects Henry Van de Velde and Victor Horta; in France the architect and designer of the Paris métro entrances, Hector Guimard, and the jewelry designer René Lalique; in Austria the painter Gustav Klimt; in Spain the architect Antonio Gaudí; in Germany the illustrator Otto Eckmann and the architect Peter Behrens; in Italy the originator of the ornamental Floreale style, Giuseppe Sommaruga; and in the United States Louis Sullivan, whose architecture was dressed with art nouveau detail, and the designer of elegant glassware Louis C. Tiffany. The aesthetics of the movement were disseminated through various illustrated periodicals including The Century Guild Hobby Horse (1894), The Dial (1889), The Studio (begun, 1893), The Yellow Book (1894–95), and The Savoy (1896–98). The works of Beardsley and Tiffany were especially popular.

Bibliography

See definitive studies by R. Schmutzler (1964), M. Rheims (1966), A. Mackintosh, Symbolism and Art Nouveau (1978).

 
Wikipedia: Art Nouveau
Staircase of the House of Victor Horta, one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture.
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Staircase of the House of Victor Horta, one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture.

Art Nouveau ([aʁ nu vo], anglicised /ˈɑːt nuːvəu/) (French for 'new art') is an international style of art, architecture and design that peaked in popularity at the beginning of the 20th century (1880-1914) and is characterised by highly-stylised, flowing, curvilinear designs often incorporating floral and other plant-inspired motifs.

The name 'Art Nouveau' derived from the name of a shop[1] in Paris, Maison de l'Art Nouveau, at the time run by Siegfried Bing, that showcased objects that followed this approach to design.

Art Nouveau, meaning new art, was not simply a new style of art and design, but a whole new way of thinking. It was a movement that greatly influenced artists and designers and later, progressed onto the De Stijl movement (from 1880-1905) and the German Bauhaus School (early 1920's-1930's).

The style introduced by Bing was not an immediate success in Paris but rapidly spread to Nancy and to Belgium (especially Brussels) where Victor Horta and Henry Van de Velde would make major contributions in the field of architecture and design. In the United Kingdom Art Nouveau developed out of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The most important centre in Britain was Glasgow with the creations of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

More localised terms for the phenomenon of self-consciously radical, somewhat reformist mannered chic that formed a prelude to 20th-century modernism include Jugendstil in Germany, Austria and many other countries, named after the avant-garde periodical Jugend ('Youth'), Młoda Polska ('Young Poland' style) in Poland, or skønvirke in Denmark, and Sezessionsstil ('Secessionism') in Vienna, where forward-looking artists and designers seceded from the mainstream salon exhibitions to exhibit on their own work in more congenial surroundings.

In Spain, the movement was centred in Barcelona and was known as modernisme, with the architect Antoni Gaudí as the most noteworthy practitioner. Art Nouveau was also a force in Central and Eastern Europe, with the influence of Alfons Mucha in Prague and Moravia (part of the modern Czech Republic) and Latvian Romanticism (Riga, the capital of Latvia, is home to over 800 Art Nouveau buildings).

In Russia, the movement revolved around the art magazine Mir iskusstva ('World of Art'), which spawned the revolutionary Ballets Russes. In Italy, Stile Liberty was named for the London shop, Liberty & Co, which distributed modern design emanating from the Arts and Crafts movement, a sign both of the Art Nouveau's commercial aspect and the 'imported' character that it always retained in Italy.

The entrances to the Paris Métro designed by Hector Guimard in 1899 and 1900 are famous examples of Art Nouveau in Paris.

History of Art Nouveau

Bookcover of Arthur Mackmurdo, Wren's City Churches, 1883
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Bookcover of Arthur Mackmurdo, Wren's City Churches, 1883
Ingram Chairs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1899
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Ingram Chairs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1899

Art Nouveau climaxed in the years 1892 to 1902. One of the first Art nouveau paintings can be found at Roquetaillade castle (France). Viollet-le-Duc restored the castle in the 1850's, and even though his ideal was to create a Gothic revival, his fresque in the keep of the castle is a pure example of "pre" Art Nouveau style -- organic movement, colour and grace.

The first stirrings of an Art Nouveau "movement" can be recognised in the 1880s, in a handful of progressive designs such as the architect-designer Arthur Mackmurdo's book cover design for his essay on the city churches of Sir Christopher Wren, published in 1883. Some free-flowing wrought iron from the 1880s could also be adduced, or some flat floral textile designs, most of which owed some impetus to patterns of High Victorian design.

A high point in the evolution of Art Nouveau was the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, in which the 'modern style' triumphed in every medium. It probably reached its apogee, however, at the Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna of 1902 in Turin, Italy, where designers exhibited from almost every European country where Art Nouveau flourished. Art Nouveau made use of many technological innovations of the late 19th century, especially the broad use of exposed iron and large, irregularly shaped pieces of glass in architecture. By the start of the First World War, however, the highly stylised nature of Art Nouveau design — which itself was expensive to produce — began to be dropped in favour of more streamlined, rectilinear modernism that was cheaper and thought to be more faithful to the rough, plain, industrial aesthetic that became Art Deco.

Character of Art Nouveau

Dynamic, undulating, and flowing, with curved 'whiplash' lines of syncopated rhythm, characterised much of Art Nouveau. Another feature is the use of hyperbolas and parabolas. Conventional mouldings seem to spring to life and 'grow' into plant-derived forms.

As an art movement it has affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Symbolism movement, 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 visual look; and unlike the backward-looking Arts and Crafts Movement (although they weren't backward at all), Art Nouveau artists quickly used new materials, machined surfaces, and abstraction in the service of pure design.

Art Nouveau in architecture and interior design eschewed the eclectic revival styles of the Victorian era. 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 highly stylised organic forms as a source of inspiration, expanding the 'natural' repertoire to embrace seaweed, grasses, and insects.

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 all parts of the world.

Art Nouveau did not negate the machine as the Arts and Crafts Movement did, but used it to its advantage. For sculpture, the principal materials employed were glass and wrought iron, leading to sculptural qualities even in architecture.

Art Nouveau is considered a 'total' style, meaning that it encompasses a hierarchy of scales in design — architecture; interior design; decorative arts including jewelry, furniture, textiles, household silver and other utensils, and lighting; and the range of visual arts. (See Hierarchy of genres.)

Vase by Daum (c. 1900).

Chair designed by Henry Van de Velde for his house "Bloemenwerf" in Brussels.

Entrance to the Paris Metro (det.) by Hector Guimard.

"Majolicahaus" (det.) by Otto Wagner

Art Nouveau media

Two-dimensional Art Nouveau pieces were painted, drawn, and printed in popular forms such as advertisements, posters, labels, magazines, and the like.

Glass making was an area 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.

Jewelry of the Art Nouveau period revitalised the jeweler's art, with nature as the principal source of inspiration, complemented by new levels of virtuosity in enameling 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 jewelry had been on gemstones, particularly on the diamond, and the jeweler or goldsmith had been principally concerned with providing settings for their advantage. With Art Nouveau, a different type of jewelry emerged, motivated by the artist-designer rather than the jeweler as setter of precious stones.

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

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

The Peacock Skirt, by Aubrey Beardsley, (1892).

Aperitif Mugnier, Jules Cheret 1894 poster for the French aperitif

Mikhail Vrubel. Demon Seated in a Garden, 1890

Poster of Maude Adams as Joan of Arc, by Alfons Mucha, 1909

Geographical scope of Art Nouveau

Interior of a dome in the Grand Palais, Paris
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Interior of a dome in the Grand Palais, Paris

Centres of the style are:

Noted Art Nouveau practitioners

Architecture


Designed in 1899, the Porte Dauphine station exhibits Hector Guimard's only surviving enclosed edicule of the Paris Métro.

Building in Riga by Mikhail Eisenstein

National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade
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Vitebsky Rail Terminal in Saint Petersburg

Hôtel Ciamberlani in Brussels by Paul Hankar

House of the architect Peter Behrens on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt

Building in Łódź by Gustaw Landau Gutenteger

The House with Chimaeras in Kiev by Vladislav Gorodetsky.

Art, drawing, and graphics

Murals and mosaics

Furniture

Glassware and stained glass

Other decorative arts
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See also

Notes

    External links

    Western art movements
    Renaissance · Mannerism · Baroque · Rococo · Neoclassicism · Romanticism · Realism · Pre-Raphaelite · Academic · Impressionism · Post-Impressionism
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    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Modern Design Dictionary. A Dictionary of Modern Design. Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
    Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Art Nouveau".  Read more

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