Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was an extremely influential artistic movement that emerged during the Belle Époque (beautiful age) in Europe, a prosperous time that began in the late 1800s and ended in the early 1900s with the start of World War I. Art Nouveau is characterized by flowing natural forms, ornate details, intricate curving linework, and often mimics forms found in nature.

Prints in the Art Nouveau aesthetic often feature glamourous women, flowers, trees, dancers, and movement. The prints were often commissioned for advertisements or for book and magazine covers. These prints are usually colored with lots of gold, pastel colors, and warm shades of blue, red, orange, and green. The limited color palate of early Art Nouveau prints was greatly influenced by the limited options available for chromolithography, which was a relatively new printing technology at that time. These works later inspired much of the psychedelic art and concert posters of the 1960s.

One of the biggest influences that lead to the birth of Art Nouveau was Asian artwork, especially Japanese woodblock prints. ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ (1831) by Japanese printmaker Hokusai is a great example of this, as it features lots of curving linework, earthy tones, and movement, all of which were later adopted by the Art Nouveau movement. The influence of the Chinese ‘moon gate’ can be seen in this round Art Nouveau window.

The 19^th century featured many revival movements, from Neoclassicalism to Gothic Revival and the Renaissance Revival. Art Nouveau could be seen as a reaction to this widespread revivalism, with artists aiming to do something new and free with their work. This can especially be seen in the work of Antonio Gaudí, a Spanish architect and designer, whose works were revolutionary. Gaudí’s work rarely features straight lines, he apparently believed, “The straight line belongs to Man. The curved line belongs to God.” When looking at his designs, it is clear to see that Gaudí was greatly influenced by the forms of nature.

Antonio Gaudí’s fascination with the natural world also led him to discover the self-supporting nature of the parabola, which he employed in his masterpiece design of La Sagrada Familia. Up until this point, Cathedrals were built with straight walls and domed or half-circle vaulted roofs which created an outwards loading force that required the construction of flying buttresses to counteract. Flying buttresses are expensive, bulky, and block light coming into the building. By adopting a parabolic shape for the walls and roof of La Sagrada Familia, Gaudí was able to make his Cathedral self-supportive and therefore not require flying buttresses. This design choice allowed the Cathedral to have a sleek shape and enabled the creation of a magnificent bright atmosphere on the interior that many have likened to being in a heavenly forest.

Other breathtaking examples of Art Nouveau interior design are the Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, Belgium designed by Victor Horta, and Casa Montserrat Fatjó de Sayrach by Manuel Sayrach. Both of these curving staircases conform to the Art Nouveau style, as do their delicate golden linework on the walls and roof, the textured marble work, and the intricate pattern in the mosaic tile floor.

In addition to the psychedelic art of the 60s, Art Nouveau also influenced Art Deco (it’s sleek, modern predecessor), as well as many others, such as burlesque, fairytale, vector flourish aesthetics.

Source:

Art Nouveau, Aesthetics Wiki, https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Art_Nouveau