ART NOUVEAU
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rt Nouveau, or “the new art”, was a movement that took place between 1890 and 1914. Its earliest inspiration can be found in Britain’s Arts and Crafts movement. Art Nouveau artists were focused on creating a modern art that was free from rules and that looked fresh and new when compared to previous movements such as the Victorian and Academic art movements. Each country had its own name for the movement such as: Jugendstil or Youth Style in Germany; Modernisme in Catalonia; Sezessionstil in Austria; Paling Stijl and Style des Vingt in Belgium; Stil’ Modern in Russia; Stile Nouille or Noodle Style in Italy, and Stile Floreale or Floral Style and Stile Liberty in London. The
international name of Art Nouveau came about after the art
and antiques gallery La Maison de l’Art Nouveau opened in Paris in 1895 by Siegfried Bing. Inspiration came from many different places for the Art Nouveau movement. Even though Art Nouveau artists tried to move away from past movements, they were inspired by Japanese art and decoration, Celtic and Saxon illumination and jewelry, and Gothic architecture. Characteristics of Art Nouveau are closely related to nature, such as linear simplicity, elongated, asymmetrical curving lines, boldly contrasting colors, abstracted organic forms and a rhythmic sense of movement. The Art Nouveau movement took on many forms, including architecture, interior design, and graphic design.
Alphonse Mucha, Rêverie, 1897
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Architecture Architecture was the earliest and largest display of the Art
station. Guimard’s subway station entranceways are considered
Nouveau movement. This included the entrance for Siegfried
pure Art Nouveau because they are not so much architectural
Bing’s L’Art Nouveau gallery in Paris. The first full expression
but more so decorative symbols. This entryway created a
of Art Nouveau in architecture is Victor Horta’s Hotel Tassel
sensation in Paris, causing one critic to compare them to a
in Brussels, Belgium. It features elongated forms, curves, and
dragon’s wings. Art Nouveau architects’ designs were organic
floral additions to its thin columns, as if a flower stem had
in form, whether it was the entire structure or only the added
been stretched and molded into the structure for support.
embellishments. In contrast to the static qualities of most
Many Art Nouveau architects pushed the boundaries of what
traditional nineteenth-century architecture, Art Nouveau
was considered normal or common, such as with Hector
was, both in intent and in form, an art of growth.
Guimard’s Entrance Gate to the Porte Dauphine Metropolitan
Interior designers during the Art Nouveau movement were
Hector Guimard, views of the Entrance to the Porte Dauphine Métropolitain station, 1901.
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Victor Horta, Hôtel Tassel (Tassel House), First-Floor landing with view towards staircase, 1893.
Right Page Victor Horta, Hôtel Tassel, 1893.
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EugĂŠne Gaillard, Dining Room from the Exposition Universelle, 1900.
Interior Design focused on breaking the rules and status quo of previous
later concerned with the gesamtkunstwerk, or the total artwork,
styles. The main material used in decorative pieces for interior
and started creating an entire design for a single room. The
design, such as furniture, was wood. Art Nouveau designers
wood designs on most pieces have the signature Art Nouveau
challenged preconceptions by using traditional materials
stamp in that they have elongated features, whether it be legs,
drawn from nature in innovative ways, such as molding
backing, or the entire piece itself. Incorporated with those
wood into new shapes or applying a geometric minimalism.
features are the curved lines that are carved out or even placed
They looked to fuse the Art Nouveau style with wood by
onto the wood itself.
elongating certain features of the wood and adding organic embellishments which overall gave it a sense of naturalness,
By eliminating reliance on the past and on the use of historical
as if that piece of wood grew out of nature as is. Some
styles, designers with engineering instincts and craftsmen
designers started out only designing single pieces but were
with an obvious love of material produced a vast number of
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diverse pieces. These included work by Eugéne Gaillard such as the dining room installed in Siegfried Bing’s Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle that also included a cabinet Gaillard designed. The dining room is completely inspired by nature as seen in the curvature and use of natural materials in each piece of furniture. Another designer, who is well versed in other media forms during the Art Nouveau movement, is Henry van de Velde. One of van de Velde’s furniture pieces was a desk with a simplistic and natural approach that embodies the unique style of Art Nouveau along with the naturalistic characteristics and working of wood in an uncommon way.
Eugéne Gailard, cabinet, 1900.
Henry van de Velde, desk, 1900
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Aubrey Beardsley, poster for The Studio, 1893.
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Alphonse Mucha, Gismonda, 1894. Bottom Jan Toorop, DelftSalad Oil,1893
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Henry van de Velde, Tropon, c. 1899.
Graphic Design One of the main forms of media in Art Nouveau, and
Eve 1894, the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt, who was
one of the most viewed and easily accessible forms during
playing the title character of Gismonda entered Lemerciers
the movement was graphic design. Graphic design took
upset with the previously designed poster and demanded a
the Art Nouveau style to places where it may have never
new one. Mucha was the only available artist, so the company
reached otherwise with architecture and interior design
gave him the job. Using a previous poster and sketches of
alone. Posters and business signs could be seen every day
Bernhardt, Mucha elongated her pose and designed a mosaic
and books and magazines could be circulated far more
in the background, which due to time constraints was not
easily than paintings or sculpture. Characteristics of graphic
completed but was still used as-is. The resulting Gismonda
design during the Art Nouveau movement fall in line with
poster launched Mucha’s career and he became a success
the overall style in terms of elongated, organic curves and
overnight and the soon-to-be father of Art Nouvea.
the added characteristic of hand-drawn type and figures. A new element not seen in the other forms of the Art Nouveau
Another poster to pave the way in graphic design and Art
media is the play of space and lines. Negative space between
Nouveau was Henry van de Velde’s Tropon. While continuing
designs creates other designs for the viewer, which leads to
with his work in other medias of Art Nouveau, van de Velde’s
questions about what is there and what is not.
only poster was an early example of product branding. Tropon was an advertisement for a food concentrate product.
Graphic designers were pioneers in the print field. As the
The design is a combination of Art Nouveau characteristics,
movement suggests, it is all about starting fresh and creating
symbolic and decorative, to form new branding technique.
new art. A main graphic designer who did just that, in his
In Tropon you see van de Velde’s curving style that creates
own style was, Alphonse Mucha. Early on in Mucha’s career
perhaps the image of eggs separating from their yolks. He
he was in the right place at the right time—The Lemerciers’
uses the natural egg colors of white and yellow to decorate
printing company. There he received the opportunity to
the poster and continues with the hand-drawn, naturalistic,
design his first poster for the play Gismonda. On Christmas
sinuous style that is Art Nouveau.
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Legacy Art Nouveau created and pushed new ideas towards a new
work inspired by Art Nouveau can be seen in the Psychedelic
style. It was inspired by previous art movements but had its
design of the 1960s. Artists such as Wes Wilson and his
own take on nature that pushed boundaries. Art Nouveau’s
concert poster for The Association and Victor Moscoso’s
unique and bold new style left its mark in the art world. For
posters from Family Dog show Art Nouveau influence with
example, the GE, or General Electric, logo created in the
slightly elongated and organic typography, and the smooth
1890s is still being used today. Another example is one of
flowing designs. Though it was a short-lived movement, Art
the most popular logos today, the Coca-Cola logo that was
Nouveau has had a great impact on a wide range of mediums
created during the Art Nouveau era in 1885. More recent
and will continue to inspire many more works of art.
Victor Moscoso, poster for Quick Silver Avalon Ballroom, 1967.
Gisbert Combaz, poster for La Libre Esthétique, 1898
Milton Glaser, Bob Dylan, 1967
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Peter Behrens, The Kiss, 1898.
“Nothing has changed in these past two thousand years. Only the names are slightly different.� Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) Mouse Kelly, Concert Poster, 1966.
Alphonse Mucha, Job, 1897
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