Why is art nouveau popular

Art Nouveau was an exotic, decadent and ultimately contemporary departure from artistic tradition. Eschewing the tired and outdated historicism allied with classical architecture and design, artists purposely set out to revolutionise art and create something new — hence Art Nouveau.

The movement developed steadily during the s and travelled across borders. An exciting and seductive array of painting , sculpture , metalwork, glass, jewellery and ceramics arose from the period, works of art that continue to influence contemporary artists and designers today. Hello Yellow and Green by Clare Halifax.

Art Nouveau was a compelling and energetic style in the visual arts which spanned from around the early s to the First World War. Art Nouveau artists, inspired by plant forms and nature, took organic subjects and flattened and abstracted them into sophisticated, sinuous and flowing motifs.

Some defining, but by no means exhaustive, characteristics include an accent on the fluidity of line, geometric shapes , asymmetrical compositions, and a bold synthesis of structure and decoration.

Tiagua by Gareth Griffiths. Art Nouveau surfaced during a time of immense technological advancement. At the wake of the Industrial Revolution, Europe's modern identity was one of industry and mass production. The movement both embraced and retaliated against the Industrial Revolution, celebrating craftsmanship and artistic talent while simultaneously incorporating and stylising automation and industrialisation.

In the United States, the Progressive Era was well underway too. Morris, idolised worldwide for his glorious revival of traditional handicrafts, stated that Art Nouveau should give people pleasure in the mundane. That is to say, to infuse everyday life with a new aesthetic.

The movement rejected the excess of the Victorian era and its cumbersome ornamental features. Accordingly, a fearless resurgence of British arts and craft began. The Scream Edvard Munch. Vase Designed by Philippe Wolfers. Monumental vase Georges Hoentschel.

Side chair Edward Colonna. Milk jug Alexandre Bigot. Cabinet-vitrine Gustave Serrurier-Bovy. Dress panel Hector Guimard.

Pendant Georges Fouquet. Inkwell Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat. Washstand Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Tea service Josef Hoffmann. Citation Gontar, Cybele. Art Nouveau: The French Aesthetic. London: Andreas Papadakis, Escritt, Stephen. Art Nouveau. Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer, sculptor and decorative artistwho is best known as the United Kingdom's greatest proponent of Art Nouveau and founder of the Glasgow Style.

Aubrey Beardsley. Aubrey Beardsley was a nineteenth-century English illustrator and author. In black ink he created highly erotic, grotesque, and decadant drawings, much in the style of Japanese woodcuts. Beardsley's work was part of the Aesthetic movement, and was highly influential to the subsequent Art Nouveau movement of the early-twentieth century.

Alphonse Mucha. Alphonse Mucha was a Czech painter, designer and illustrator commonly associated with the Art Nouveau movement. Although largely forgotten in the annals of decorative art, Mucha is perhaps best known for his outspoken Slavic nationalism, which greatly informed his work. In particular, Mucha's The Slav Epic, a series of 20 large paintings depicting the history of Czech and Slav peoples, survives as the artist's greatest masterpiece.

Gaudi's design style has been referred to as "global," indicating a profound attention to every detail of his work, from a building's structure and placement down to its smallest decorative details. Gaudi's masterpiece is the Sagrada Familia, a distinctly modern church in Barcelona. Louis Comfort Tiffany. Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American glass designer, painter and decorative artist, and undoubtedly the American most associated with the Art Nouveau movement.

Rising to prominence in Germany in the late nineteenth century, Jugendstil, which means "youth style" in German, influenced the visual arts particularly graphic design and typography , decorative arts, and architecture. The Vienna Secession. The Vienna Secession was a group of Austrian painters, sculptors and architects, who in resigned from the main Association of Austrian Artists with the mission of bringing modern European art to culturally-insulated Austria.

Art Deco. Art Deco was an eclectic style that flourished in the s and '30s and influenced art, architecture and design. It blended a love of modernity - expressed through geometric shapes and streamlined forms - with references to the classical past and to exotic locations.

It developed largely in response to the Vienna Secession, inspiring others to found a company that catered to artists working in all variety of media, from jewelry and ceramics to metalworks and furniture making.

Important Art and Artists of Art Nouveau. La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Toulouse-Lautrec is one of Art Nouveau's most important graphic artists who were responsible for raising the poster from the realm of advertising ephemera to high art during the s the same decade that saw the establishment of artistic magazines solely dedicated to this medium. The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page.

These also suggest some accessible resources for further research, especially ones that can be found and purchased via the internet.