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Art
Nouveau - 1880-1910
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Meaning literally "new
art" in French, Art Nouveau was an international
art movement which was popular in France,
Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain. Although
short lived, the influence of Art Nouveau
was felt not only in painting, but in architecture,
furniture, jewelry and glass. |
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The Driving Forces
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Art
Nouveau was primarily a design movement
which originated in Paris and had its philosophical
roots in high quality handicraft which was
chic and expensive. Introduced to the public
initially in architectural design, it utilized
the new technological advances being made
in manipulating iron and glass into curved
shapes and dynamic flowing lines. |
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Art
historians often characterize Art Nouveau
as a reaction against the new industrialization
and mass production of low quality consumer
goods available to all social classes. Its
insistence was on quality and a high level
of craftsmanship which resulted in works
available only to the wealthier classes. |
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Art
Nouveau reached the height of its popularity
around the time that two important design
exhibitions, the Exposition Universelle
of 1900 in Paris, and the Esposizione
Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna
of 1902 in Turin, Italy, which both
exalted the 'modern style' in all forms
of art and caught the public's imagination. |
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Techniques and Materials
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Art
Nouveau oil paintings and graphic art printing
was characterized by motifs based on floral
shapes, grass, leaves, shells, and other
forms taken from nature. It borrowed from
Victorian and Rococo motifs but 'modernized'
and simplified the designs. |
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Other
characteristics of Art Nouveau are the extensive
use of curved lines and sensuous flowing
forms, repetition of motifs, and delineated
spaces. Symbolic forms also characterized
art nouveau painting. |
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Intense,
high gloss colors were applied in a flat
smooth manner. The use of gold and silver
leaf and precious materials to highlight
the luxury and sensuality was also characteristic
of this highly decorative style. |
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The
use of large, flat, colored areas without
perspective showed the influence of Japanese
wood block prints which were just becoming
known in Europe. |
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The Artist as Decorator
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Austrian
painter Gustav Klimt, a co-founder of the
Vienna Seccesion art movement, considered
himself primarily a decorative artist and
muralist, designing posters and decorating
the walls of public and private buildings.
He developed an instantly recognizable personal
style characterized by sensual portraits
and eroticism with a strong affinity to
symbolism. His The Kiss (1908) is
perhaps one of the best known in the world. |
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Alfons
Mucha, a Czech designer, illustrator, printmaker
and sculptor as well as a painter, was perhaps
the most influential artist of the Art Nouveau
period, but is often overlooked by art historians.
His attacks on Cubism and his insistence
only on beauty in art made him unpopular
with 20th Century critics. His posters,
such as Maude Adams as Joan of Arc
(1909), and Four Seasons are standards
by which Art Nouveau is judged. |
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In
whatever country Art Nouveau was being expressed
during this period and in its many varieties
and widely diverse art forms, it shared
in all countries a common esthetic in form
and beauty. |
