Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau the new art as it was called was a extensively influential but rather short-lived movement that started to appear in the final period of the 19th century and was already beginning to decline.

It used particularly curvilinear depiction of leaves and flowers. Gustav Klimt, Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Aubrey Beardsley, Antonio Gaudí, and Hector Guimard were among the most prominent artists associated with this style. The name is originated from La Maison de l'Art Nouveau, a gallery for interior design that opened in Paris in 1896 but the movement had different names throughout Europe.

In design Art Nouveau was described by an implicit tension of  sexual organic style throughout the movement between the decorative and the modern which can be seen in the work of individual designers.It was a story of beauty in an ugly time.Its emphasis on decoration and artistic unity links the movement to contemporary Symbolist ideas in art, but the movement was also associated with Arts and Crafts ideas. The movement was characterized by organic, flowing lines- forms resembling the stems and whip lash like style - as well as different geometric forms such as squares and rectangles and different kind of insects mostly the dragon fly.

The beginning of Art Nouveau can be tracked to two distinct inspirations: the first was the introduction, around 1880, of the Arts and Crafts movement, Directed by the English designer William Morris. This movement, much like Art Nouveau, was a response against the mixed-up designs and compositions of Victorian-era decorative art. The second was influences from different styles of Japanese art taken from wood-block prints, The style inspired a lot of European artists in the 1880s and 90s, involving the likes of Gustav Klimt, Emile Galle and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

Gustav Klimt

The Secessionists

Gustav Klimt became the best know an most celebrated artist inVienna and president of the the secessionists.The secessionist want to created something new and one of the first thing Klimt and the colleges did was publish a book journal.It gave them a platform of there views and breath taking graphic work to show that they were doing there own thing.They wanted to create art and be free.Art was the main purpose in life.

VER SACRUM

During its short period  Art Nouveau made a great influence trough out the history.

In Britain the style was demonstrated by the architecture of Rennie Mackintosh, and the design work of the Macdonald sisters. The lingering impact of Morris in England slowed down the progress of the new style in design although Mackmurdo, Godwin, Townsend and even Voysey were influenced towards Art Nouveau.

Rennie Mackintosh

Britain's Master of Art Nouveau Charles Rennies Mackintosh was a highly influential architect and designer of the 20th century.He was a modern man ahead of his time.He was Twenty Eight years old  when he design the school of art and crafts in Glasgow an there was noting like it at that time. Influences from Japan and monasteries in Scotland combined into something of his own.He was also in the group nicknamed as the spook group.As an Artis and designer he created posters, stained glass,metal work fabrics lightning pictures and interiors.He incorporated art and craft and Art Nouveau in his style.

The French Artist and Jeweller Rene Lalique was famous for his organic design using and incorporating the form of insects like dragon fly's butterfly and snakes transforming the jewels into ancient looking artefacts.

At its height, Art Nouveau was an intensive attempt to create an international style based on decoration. It was developed by a brilliant and energetic generation of artists and designers, who wanted fashion to become an art form appropriate to the modern age.

Art Nouveau was in many ways a response to the Industrial Revolution. Some artists welcomed technological progress and embraced the aesthetic possibilities of new materials. Art Nouveau designers also believed that all the arts should work in harmony to create a “total work of art”.

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Art Nouveau Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. 2014. Art Nouveau Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-art-nouveau.htm. [Accessed 25 November 2014].

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Art Nouveau: dragonfly corsage ornament -- Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014. Art Nouveau: dragonfly corsage ornament -- Encyclopedia Britannica. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/158217/Dragonfly-corsage-ornament-made-of-gold-enamel-chrysoprase-moonstones-and. [Accessed 26 November 2014].