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| INTRODUCTION TO ART NOUVEAU |
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An international style of decoration and architecture which developed in the 1880s and 1890s. The name derives from the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, an interior design gallery opened in Paris in 1896, but in fact the movement had different names throughout Europe: in France the English term 'Modern Style' was often used, emphasizing the English origins of the movement.
In design Art Nouveau was characterized by writhing plant forms and an opposition to the historicism which had plagued the 19th century. There was a tension implicit throughout the movement between the decorative and the modern which can be seen in the work of individual designers as well as in the chronology of the whole. Its emphasis on decoration and artistic unity links the movement to contemporary Symbolist ideas in art, as seen in the work of the Vienna Secessionists, but the movement was also associated with Arts and Crafts ideas.
In Britain the style was exemplified by the architecture of Rennie Mackintosh, and the design work of the Macdonald sisters. It was in illustration though that the ideas were most keenly felt-- through the new periodicals and presses - the Yellow Book, the Studio, the Savoy, the Hobby Horse - and through the work of Beardsley, Ricketts and Selwyn Image.
In France, despite Guimard's famous glass and iron Metro designs, the movement was best expressed in the applied arts, especially the glassware of Lalique (1860-1945) and Galle (1846-1904). In Spain the style was concentrated in the eccentric hands of Gaudi in Barcelona. In Vienna, architects like Wagner, Hoffmann and Olbrich, and artists such as Klimt headed the movement. In America architects like Sullivan and Wright were influenced by European ideas but conceived Art Nouveau in different terms, whilst designers like Tiffany enthusiastically embraced the movement.
- From "The Bulfinch Guide to Art History"
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