Art Nouveau was a movement which reached its peak during the
1890s. Characteristics of the style include flat, decorative patterns; organic forms such as stems or flowers; an emphasis on handcrafting
as opposed to machine manufacturing; the use of new materials; and the
rejection of earlier styles.
The philosophy behind Art Nouveau was to get rid of the idea that art should be separated into fine arts such as painting and sculpture, and applied art, such as furniture design. Art Nouveau was a style that was applied to different categories of art and design: architecture, furniture, glassware, graphic design, jewelry,
painting, pottery, metalwork, and textiles.
Art Nouveau, although quite short-lived in comparison to other movements, was influential in flourished in a number of
European countries, each of which gave the movement an individual name.
In Britain, Art Nouveau emerged out of the Arts and Crafts movement. Just like William Morris, Art Nouveau designers were promoters of hand-crafted designs in opposition to the machine-produced products that were in vogue at the time. To this, the added new forms and materials, while integrating also organic forms, decorative patterns and whiplash lines. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a prominent leader of the movement in Britain, although he took a different approach to the style. He introduced the use of geometry and elegant angular style such as can be seen in the Glasgow School of Art which he designed himself.
Prominent leaders of Art Nouvea in France and Belgium include Victor Horta, Hector Guimard and Rene Lalique. These designers wanted to create a new style, free from historical references to past traditions. They made use of new technology, such cast and wrought iron. This can be seen both in Guimard's design for the entrances of the Metro stations in Paris as well as the Hotel Tassel designed by Victor Horta. Designs like these emphasize organic forms, flowing curved lines and rich colours, which they also applied to typography (such as in the lettering of the entrances of the Metro stations: Metropolitain)
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| Metro entrance - Hector Guimard |
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| Interior of the Hotel Tassel - Victor Horta |
Art Nouveau was also popular in Germany, where it was known as Jugendstil. The meaning of the word says a lot about the drection of the style in Germany: youth style. As can be seen in the work of August Endell (image below), Art Nouveau in Germany focused on creating intense, dynamic forms which would cause the viewer to stop and think. Although they were still based on natural forms, designs often introduced the public to mysterious shapes which suggest visionary fantasy.
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| Exterior of the Elvira Photo Studio in Munich - August Endell |
In Vienna we can see a different approach to the style. Known as Sezessionstil, designers here rejected historical styles, and instead of adopting the organic forms which were used by designers in Germany, france and Belgiun, Art Nouveau designers chose to create geometric designs to increase the simplification of form, such as was done in England by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. A prominent leader of the style in Austria was Josef Hoffmann. As can be seen in his design of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Hoffmann made use of traditional building materials such as marble, glass, and bronze - but arranged the building around an unconventional, asymmetrical entrance. The emphasis here is on elegant, simplified form.
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| Palais Stoclet - Josef Hoffmann |
Art Nouveau in Spain, known as Modernista, also takes inspiration from organic forms. A clear example of this is two architectural masterpieces designed by Antoni Gaudi: the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia and Casa Mila, both in Barcelona. In both cases, we see ornamented floral designs.
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| Casa Mila` - Antoni Gaudi |
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| Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia - Antoni Gaudi |
An interesting point to note is that here in Malta we also have a building in Sliema which can be identified with the Art Nouveau style - known as Balluta Buildings. The images below show the building as a whole as well as a detailed section.
References
Flask, D. (2015). Art Nouveau : Design Is History. [online] Designishistory.com. Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1850/art-nouveau/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014].
Theartstory.org, (2015). Art Nouveau Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. [online] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-art-nouveau.htm [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014].
Web.archive.org, (2015). Art Nouveau - Art Nouveau Art. [online] Available at: http://web.archive.org/web/20130222070337/http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/artnouveau.htm [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2015). Art Nouveau. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014].
