art nouveau (r nv), decorative-art movement centered in Western Europe.

It
began in the 1880s as a reaction against the historical emphasis of mid-19thcentury 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 mtro
entrances, Hector Guimard, and the jewelry designer Ren Lalique; in Austria the
painter Gustav Klimt; in Spain the architect Antonio Gaud; 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
(189495), and The Savoy (189698). The works of Beardsley and Tiffany were
especially popular.

Art Nouveau was a popular art movement from around 1880 to 1915 which
developed differently in many places around the world. For this reason, it would
be complicated to explain the history of the movement in just one blog post.
Today, youll get just an introduction to what makes Art Nouveau Art Nouveau.
The Art Nouveau style was applied not only to painting and sculpture but also to
architecture, furniture, jewelry, fabrics, and all types of materials used for
interior and exterior design. You can even find silverware done in the Art Nouveau
style. One of the most famous Art Nouveau designs is the metro entrance created
by Hector Guimard that can be seen all over Paris. The image shown below isnt
great but you can see that the post seem to grow like the stems of flowers and
spread out into careful placed stalks. The design has even been copied and used
elsewhere, including in places in Chicago.

The most distinguishing

aspect is the overall look of an Art Nouveau object. Usually it consists of curvy
lines with smooth surfaces. The object will look as if it has grown from nature.
Often, the artist will use natural objects for inspiration such as seashells, flames,
trees, flowers, and animals.
Furthermore, Art Nouveau was extremely closely linked to Symbolism, a movement
in which artists tried to show truth using unrealistic or fantastical objects. This
could include religious icons or mythical creatures.

The glass sculpture shown above is a hand

which rises out of a sea and is covered with seashells and algae. In fact its called
Hand, Surrounded by Algae and Shells by Emile Galle. As was often the case with
Art Nouveau pieces, this sculpture has symbolic meaning. The hand represents
mankind which is in harmony with nature. This is apparent by the way the waves
and algae and shells and hand are all made of complimentary materials and all run
together smoothly. The hand, however, is in danger of being overtaken by the sea,
the power of nature, just as people as a whole are in endangered by the power of
nature. While we are usually in control, there is always the possibility that a
hurricane or tidal wave or storm will take away that control.

Facts about Art Nouveau talk about the style of architecture and art. In 1890 to 1910, Art Nouveau was
very popular in the world. The name of this style was taken from French. In English, it means new art.
Actually it has many names depending on the country. If you are interested to know more about this
decorative art, you can check the following post below:

Facts About Art Nouveau 1: The Inspiration

Art Nouveau is always associated with plants and flowers. There is no need to wonder that the main
inspiration of this style is from the natural structures and forms. Besides flowers and plants, the artists
also use the curved lines.

Facts about Art Nouveau 2: a total art style

Art Nouveau is called as a total art style for it can be found in various aspects of life. You can see this
style applied in the decorative arts, graphic art, architectures, interior design, utensils, furniture,
household silver, fine arts, textiles and lighting.

Art Nouveau Painting

Facts About Art Nouveau 3: Living In Art Nouveau House

Many European think that it is very likely for you to live inside a house created in Art Nouveau style. you
just have to infuse the house with Art Nouveau inspired cigarette cases, tableware, jewelry, furniture,
lighting, carpet, fabrics, silverware, ceramics, toss pillows, and many more.

Facts about Art Nouveau 4: the modernist style

The popularity of Art Nouveau decreased after people began to look at the modernist style. The latter
style flourished in 20th century which enabled the people to look at the simplicity and avoid the ornate
pattern.

Art Nouveau Style

Facts About Art Nouveau 5: The Name

As I have stated before Art Nouveau is called in various names depending on the countries. In Germany,
it is called Jugendstil. In Italy, it is called Stile Liberty. The people in Austria-Hungary called it Secession.

Facts about Art Nouveau 6: Europe

The popularity of Art Nouveau in Europe was very big. But the influence of Art Nouveau can be seen in
many parts of the world.

Art Nouveau

Facts About Art Nouveau 7: Art Nouveau In Architecture

Art Nouveau is also applied in architecture. The plant inspired form can be seen on the decorative
molding on the furniture or even windows. The arches, windows and doors created in parabolas and
hyperbolas are inspired from Art Nouveau.

Facts about Art Nouveau 8: Art Nouveau and sculpture

When the Art Nouveau is applied in the sculpture, the artists often use wrought iron and glass as the main
material. Find out Art Nouveau artist in Archibald Knox facts.

Facts about Art Nouveau

Facts About Art Nouveau 9: Alphonse Mucha

The style of Alphonse Mucha, a Paris based Czech artist was Art Nouveau. You can check out his works.
Get facts about Alphonse Mucha here.

Facts about Art Nouveau 10: other artists

Other artists reflecting Art Nouveau were Jan Toorop, Gustav Klimt, Antoni Gaud, Rennie Mackintosh and
Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Art Nouveau is the name for the artistic movement that started in Europe around 1890 and
lasted until around 1910. It took on many different characteristics in different places, and
some of the most famous designers from the era have disparate styles, including Antoni
Gaudi in Barcelona, Josef Hoffmann in Vienna and Carlo Bugatti in Italy. What these
designers had in common was an interest in finding a new artistic vocabulary that could best
express the modern world. Let's take a look at a few iconic Art Nouveau designs from France
and Belgium, where the style was perhaps most cohesive and identifiable.
There were a few main themes across Art Nouveau to keep in mind. In an era of
industrialized production, many designers looked to a local, pre-industrial past for a
foundation; in Russia that was folk tales and folk history, and in France it was the 18thcentury 'golden age' of French design. Working in cities like Paris, Nancy and Brussels, Art
Nouveau designers found greatest inspiration in nature not necessarily nature's beauty,
but instead its vital force, its never-changing life cycle of birth, life, decay and death.
Nature sometimes took the role of a creepy other-world, governed by dark uncontrollable
forces.
This idea of an uncontrollable world all around us was mirrored in the Art Nouveau interest
in psychology, symbolism and the supernatural. Sigmund Freud was writing about the
unconscious dream world, and artists were trying to explore that world through art and
design. Symbols weren't fixed their meaning shifted and was ambiguous.
Also ambiguous was the role of women in Art Nouveau. As always, women were important
muses for artists and designers, and at this time there was a lot of interest in famous
performers like Sarah Bernhardt, the dancer Loie Fuller, the nightclub performer Jane
Avril. But in an era when women were increasingly independent struggling for suffrage,
gaining the right to divorce, more visible in the public sphere than previous generations
the Art Nouveau woman had a menacing twist. She was alluringly sexual, but also
scandalous, morally compromised, even mortally threatening.
Here is a brief gallery of iconic Art Nouveau works from France and Belgium, which should
help clearly define the style:

Pin it
1 Nature was a big inspiration for Art Nouveau, but not necessarily the 'pretty' side of nature
more its vital organic force that could be almost terrifying. Here, whiplash curves
resembling vines literally overtake the house, and iron support columns are cast in the form
of a stem or root that is bursting alive at the top. (Victor Horta, Hotel Tassel, Brussels 18934, via The Victorian Era blog.)

Pin it
2 Another major theme in Art Nouveau was an interest in local history, looking to a familiar
pre-industrial past for inspiration. This chair's form references an 18th-century Louis XVIstyle chair, but modernizes it through the use of vital, stem-like lines the designer
famously said, "Reject the flower, seize the stem!" Art Nouveau designers were interested
not only in the vitality of nature, but also in the life cycle, which of course includes decay
and death. (Hector Guimard,Fauteuil, Paris c. 1898, at the Muse d'Orsay.)

Pin it
3 This iconic image is an ad for Job cigarette papers, an early example of "sex sells" at a time
when marketing was increasingly important. Art Nouveau tended to see women as
dangerously independent and sexual. The half-nude woman pictured here is in a state of
voluptuous pleasure that would have been scandalous at the time. Her hair of course takes
the form of whiplash curves (also scandalous at a time when women wore their hair up).
(Alphonse Mucha, "Job" color lithograph, Paris c. 1898, at the Victoria & Albert Museum.)

Pin it
4 Glass was an important Art Nouveau medium, with designers like Emile Gall in France
and Louis Comfort Tiffany in the US experimenting with both ancient and brand new
techniques. Glass was effective for conveying the important Art Nouveau theme of
metamorphosis, with surfaces treated as three dimensional layers, and varying from opaque
to translucent. Dragonflies were a common motif during this era, as were bats and other
creepy creatures of nature that could be seen as menacing or otherworldly. (Emile Gall,
"Libellule" vase, Nancy c. 1903, at the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs.)

Pin it
5 The demi-monde of Parisian nightclubs was an important source and inspiration for Art
Nouveau. In this poster, Toulouse-Lautrec depicts two famous performers watching a show
at the club Le Divan Japonais. Note the independent woman, the sinuous lines, the handdrawn font. There is also the suggestion of depth emphasized by lighting, with the orchestra
in silhouette, and the blocks of solid color, techniques inspired by Japanese graphic art,
which was a major source for Art Nouveau designers. (Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, "Divan
Japonais" color lithograph, Paris 1892, at the Victoria & Albert Museum.)