(WT #2) A Discussion of Art Nouveau

i don't know if there are any other fans of art nouveau in the house, but i guess i'll find out.

For those who aren't sure what art nouveau is, here is a great description from kubos.org...

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Art Nouveau is the French/Belgian name of an art movement in reaction to the academical schools at the end of the XIXth century (1894-1914). This movement was represented in Europe and also in the United States. It had often several names in each country, some were given after major artists', magazine or firm names (e.g. in France "Style Guimard", , in Germany "Jugendstil", in Italy: "Stile Liberty" see etymolgies), some other names more generally refered to something new ("Art Nouveau" in France, Modernism in Spain, "Nieuwe Kunst" in the Netherlands or "Sezessionstil" in Austria). In each country, "Art Nouveau" had its own identity and sometimes artists at that time were opposed to each other. In fact, beyond these "oppositions" between countries or even artists, we can find retrospecitvely numerous common points in each movement. By "Art Nouveau", I mean all the avant-garde movements during the period 1894-1914 in reaction to the academical and historical point of view.

Art Nouveau artists wanted to erase the distinction between major and minor arts. They aimed at unifying all arts, centered it around man and his life. Therefore architecture, which has a direct influence on man life, was the central art on which every skill is naturally integrated. Architecture is seen as a total art every detail, object of/in the building is related to the whole. Other main crafts/arts not related to the building are placards and jewelery. But jewelery took women as its center.

Some art historians like to talk about an Art Nouveau style (as they would talk about gothic, roman, baroco styles). This decorative style took its inspiration into nature and women. There are arguments to gather all these national movements in a single style. One of the main points is their common roots. Others think that this first point of view is too reductive for movements that can have different approaches and even self contradictions. They prefer to study a period in Arts that ends at the first world war.

Art Nouveau style, if defined as a decorative style, was already declining since the middle of the first decade. It is sparely in use after WW1, but in Spain by Gaudi or in Germany by Mendelsohn or in countries where it has started later like Greece, Argentina, ...[hr][/blockquote]

The most famous of the Art Nouveau artists are:

[b]Architects:[/b]

* Guimard, Sauvage (French)
* Horta, Hankar (Belgian)
* Mackintosh (Scottish)
* Berlage (Dutch)
* Wagner, Hoffmann (Austrian),
* Frank Lloyd Wright, C.& C. Greene, Sullivan (US)
* Gaudi (Spaniard)
* Behrens (German)

[b]Furniture work:[/b]

* Majorelle (French)

[b]Glass work:[/b]

* Gallé, Daum (French)
* Tiffany (US)

[b]Stained glass work:[/b]

* Gruber (French)

[b]Drawings and placards:[/b]

* Mucha (Czech)

[b]Book handwork:[/b]

* Beardsley (English)

[b]Cast iron work:[/b]

* Guimard (French)

[b]Paintings:[/b]

* Klimt (Austrian)
* Toorop (Dutch)

For me, the artists who most epitomize the art nouveau style are Beardsley and Klimt...

[b]Beardsley[/b]

[image=http://www.uwrf.edu/history/images/a212/beardsley-venus.jpg] [image=http://curiouscastle.com/writing/Beardsley%20-%20Merlin%20-%20Webmagick.jpg] [image=http://www.taliesin.clara.net/ggraphics/wisec.jpg]
[image=http://dreams.awarm.net/images/beardsley/beardsley_art.jpg]
[i]self portrait[/i]

[b]Klimt[/b]

[image=http://www.telecable.es/personales/coppeliuss/formsoflight/origenes/klimt-danea.jpg] [image=http://www.art-beat-gallery.net/klimt-images/klimt-large/klimt-child-face.jpg] [image=http://www.museum.vienna.at/images/Ausstellungen/Fuchu/Klimt.jpg]
[image=http://discipline.free.fr/peint/klimt-le_baiser.jpg] [image=http://lab2.cc.wmich.

 

i'm really bored so i figured i would add some images of frank lloyd wright's architecture to add another element to the discussion...

[image=http://www.thais.it/guggenheim/est.jpg] [image=http://www.myhero.com/images/artist/wright/wright4.gif] [image=http://www.go2wasa.com/fwater.jpg] [image=http://www.uic.edu/depts/arch/ah/Robie.jpg]
[image=http://www.buffalocvb.org/images/flwright.jpg] [image=http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/oakpark/hillsangle.jpg]

the first two are of the Guggenheim Museum in NY, and the rest are houses that he designed.

 

and here's some Mucha...

[image=http://www.museumshop.net/images/muchaposters/new/mucha-music.gif] [image=http://www.iath.virginia.edu/~bpn2f/ROSSETTI/mucha.jpg] [image=http://www.d.umn.edu/~jkmetz/GDH/mucha.jpg] [image=http://www.rozellecooperposters.com/media%20/nouveau%20maxis/AN%201%20Mucha%20lge.jpg] [image=http://science.csustan.edu/JTB/FINE-ART/HISTORIC/ART-SRC/mucha-hyacinta-1911.jpg] [image=http://users.swing.be/mucha/pictos/index.jpg] [image=http://www.zayats.net/images/opa/Mucha/Mucha_A.jpg] [image=http://www.posterclassics.com/images2/bigMuchaNoel1896.jpg]

 

I like comic books

 

so do i!