Both the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements emerged as reactions to major world events; the Industrial Revolution and World War I, respectively. While both embraced modernist elements, they’re easy to distinguish.
by: Aracely Dovalina
INTERIOR DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGN
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau and Art Deco are two modern style movements that emerged after pivotal historic events. Art Nouveau came out as a response to the Industrial Revolution and the rejection of Gothic Revivalism. Art Nouveau strayed away from traditional and academic art in order to create a more organic, asymmetrical, and applied design to all parts of living. It grew as a result of urban growth and industrial technological advances to mass produce. This was among the first, if not the first, to create a modernistic style of art that could be applied to a growingly mass producing society. A big part of the Art Nouveau elements where inspired by nature, intricate ornamental designs and curved, thick line work. The make focus of the style was to promote harmony within an entire d sign as it would be found in nature. (Stokstad, pg1083). Art Nouveau ended down before the beginning of World War I. When Art Nouveau’s influence died in 1905, Art Deco was born during the mists of World War I. Art deco was much more about mass production than Art Nouveau and even kept some elements of Art Nouveau design. Even in times of war and economic despair, Art Deco provided a luxury and commercial modernization of art that later experimented with industrial materials such as metals, plastics and glass. This movement became much more mass produced and ubiquitous in housholds and advertisements. So Art Nouveau and Art Deco embraced some of the same forms of design like architecture, metals,interior design and much more. They each stylized similar forms of design with specific shapes curves and arcs. Two different movements yet similar in some of their applications.
Art Deco
Art Nouveau was an innovative international style of modern art that became fashionable from about 1890 to the First World War. Arising as a reaction to 19th-century designs dominated by historicism in general and Neoclassicism in particular, it promulgated the idea of art as part of everyday life. This aesthetic was considered to be quite revolutionary and new, hence its name - New Art - or Art Nouveau. Hence also the fact that it was applied to a host of different art forms including architecture, fine art, applied art, and decorative art. Art Nouveau was given a major boost by the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. After this, it spread across Europe and as far as the United States and Australia, under local names like Jugendstil (Germany), Stile Liberty (Italy), Sezessionstil (Austria) Riga, Latvia and Tiffany style (America). A highly decorative idiom, Art Nouveau typically employed intricate curvilinear patterns of sinuous asymetrical lines, often based on plant-forms. Floral ARCHITECTURE and other plant-inspired motifs are popular Art Nouveau use of arcs, faces, lines, details designs, as are female silhouettes and forms. Employing a variety of materials, the style was used in architecture, interior design, glassware, jewellery, poster art and illustration, as well as painting and sculpture. Again, Art Nouveau designs were most common in glassware, jewelery, and other decorative objects like ceramics. But the style was also applied to textiles, household silver, domestic utensils, cigarette cases, furniture and lighting, as well as drawing, poster art, painting and book illustration. Art nouveau also had a strong application in the field of architecture and interior design. In this area, it exemplified a more humanistic and less functionalist approach to the urban environment. Hyperbolas and parabolas in windows, arches, and doors were typical as were plant-derived forms for moldings. Like the curvilinear style of design known as Art Nouveau, Art Deco also embraced all types of art, notably fine arts and crafts. Similar to Art Nouveau, it was applied to decorative art like interior design, furniture, jewellery, textiles, fashion and industrial design, as well as to the applied art of architecture and the visual arts of painting, and graphics. Exemplified by the geometric designs of famous New York buildings such as the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Centre, Art Deco which emerged after World War I was the most fashionable international design movement in modern art from 1925 until the 1940s. The art deco style, which above all reflected modern technology, was characterized by smooth lines, geometric shapes, streamlined forms and bright, sometimes garish colours. Initially a luxury style (a reaction against the austerity imposed by World War I) employing costly materials like silver, crystal, ivory, jade and lacquer, after the Depression it also used cheaper and mass-produced materials like chrome, plastics, and other industrial items catering to the growing middle class taste for a design style that was elegant, glamorous and functional. Similar to Art Nouveau, Art Deco styling was most common in architecture, interior design, poster art, furniture, jewellery, textiles, fashion and industrial design, although it was also applied to the visual arts such as painting, and graphics. In architecture, the Art Deco look signalled New York something of a return to the symmetry and simplicity of Neoclassicism, but without its classical regularity. The fact that Art Deco architectural designs were so enthusiastically ARCHITECTURE use of arcs, faces, lines, details adopted by architects in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Romania, Australia, New Zealand, India and Brazil, says much for the style’s novel monumentality.
“The Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements both embraced decorative art, applied art, interior design, furniture, glass, jewelry, textiles, poster art, painting, and architecture.”
Art Deco
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“Art Deco, Design Style, Geometric Characteristics, History, Famous Designers: Art Deco Architecture, Visual/Decorative Arts, Posters, Paintings, Jewellery, Furniture.” Art Encyclopedia: Visual Arts Guide To European, Irish, American Painting & Sculpture: Greatest Artists, Best Museums, History of Art Movements, Renaissance. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/art-deco.htm>. “Art Nouveau, Design Style: Characteristics, History, Famous Artists: Art Nouveau Architecture, Interior Decoration, Decorative Arts, Posters, Illustration.” Art Encyclopedia: Visual Arts Guide To European, Irish, American Painting & Sculpture: Greatest Artists, Best Museums, History of Art Movements, Renaissance. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/art-nouveau.htm>. Shortt, Russell. “Art Styles and Movements: Art Nouveau and Art Deco.” Studio Treasure - Art at Home - Everything about Art, Artists, Home, Style, and Interior Decorating - Helpful Hints and Recommendations. Art Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://www.studiotreasure.com/styles/styles.htm>.
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