HISTORY

"Art Nouveau" stemmed from the

name of the Parisian art gallery, called
"La Maison de l'Art Nouveau", owned
by the avant-garde art-collector
Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), which
showcased works created in the Art
Nouveau style.

Arthur Mackmurdo's book-cover

for Wren's City Churches (1883),
with its rhythmic floral patterns,
is often considered the first
realisation of Art Nouveau.
About the same time, the flat
perspective and strong colors of
Japanese wood block prints had
a strong effect on the
formulation of Art Nouveau.
The Japonisme was particularly
influential on many artists with
its organic forms and references
to the
natural world.

INFLUENCES

arts and crafts - art nouveau

shared the same belief in
quality goods and fine
craftsmanship but was happy
with mass production
rococo style
botanical research

Distinguishing factors:
Art Nouveau philosophy was in favour
of applying artistic designs to
everyday objects, in order to make
beautiful things available to everyone.
It saw no separation in principle
between fine art (painting and
sculpture) and applied or decorative
arts (ceramics, furniture, and other
practical objects).

In content, the style was a reaction to

a world of art which was dominated by
the precise geometry of Neoclassical
forms. It sought a new graphic design
language, as far away as possible from
the historical and classical models
employed by the arts academies.
STYLE

sinuous, elongated, curvy lines

the whiplash line

vertical lines and height

stylized flowers, leaves, roots,

buds and seedpods

the female form - in a preRaphaelite pose with long, flowing hair

exotic woods, marquetry,

iridescent glass, silver and semiprecious stones

ARTISTS, ARCHITECTS, AND

DESIGNERS
Charles Rennie MackintoshScottish architect and designer,
whose chaste, functional style exerted
a strong influence on 20th-century
architecture and interior design.
His furniture, usually painted white
with delicately colored stencils of
stylized flower patterns and occasional
insets of amethyst glass, combines
attenuated straight lines with subtle
curves. The designs, although
unmistakably art nouveau, avoided
the excesses found in the work of
some Continential practitioners of the
style.

-reason the major influences on his

work were mauresque, oriental and
gothic architecture, all of them
traditional Catalonian styles.
Art Nouveau is the movement that
influenced Gaudi the most, stimulating
him to experiment with new materials
and new shapes, thereby helping him
to give up imitating historical styles
and find his own way.

Casa Mila
Casa Battlo
Sagrada Familia

Hector Germain Guimard

-Abandon a more restrained design
and replace it with an overt
embracement of the art of the
curvilinear. In a single commission
Guimard demonstrated how
architecture and the industrial arts
could be united in a single building to
create a unified, modern scheme.

Guimards subway entrances for

the Paris Metro (early 1900s)
are his most famous creations.
Using wrought iron, bronze, and
glass, Guimard composed his
structures using the curves
characteristic of the Art
Nouveau style.

Victor Horta
"undoubtedly the key European Art
Nouveau architect."

considered one of the most

important names in Art
Nouveau architecture
the "whiplash" style

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American
artist and designer who worked in the
decorative arts and is best known for
his work in stained glass. He is the
American artist most associated with
the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic
movements.

Designed the renovated White

House

Mark Twains house

The movement was replaced in

the 1920s by Art Deco.