Notes
Art Nouveau (French pronunciation: [aʁ nu'vo], Anglicised to /ˈɑːrt nuːˈvoʊ/) is an international philosophy[1] and style of art, architecture and applied art-especially the decorative arts-that were most popular during 1890-1910.
[2] The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art".
It is known also as Jugendstil, pronounced [ˈjuːɡn̩tʃtiːl ], German for "youth style", named after the magazine Jugend, which promoted it, as Modern (Модерн) in Russia, perhaps named after Parisian gallery "La Maison Moderne", as Secession in Austria-Hungary and its successor states after the Viennese group of artists, and, in Italy, as Stile Liberty from the department store in London, Liberty & Co.
, which popularised the style.
A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines.
Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment.
It is also considered a philosophy of design of furniture, which was designed according to the whole building and made part of ordinary life.
[3]The style was influenced strongly by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, when Mucha produced a lithographed poster, which appeared on 1 January 1895 in the streets of Paris as an advertisement for the play Gismonda by Victorien Sardou, featuring Sarah Bernhardt.
[4] It popularised the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris.
Initially named Style Mucha, (Mucha Style), his style soon became known as Art Nouveau.
[5]Art Nouveau was most popular in Europe, but its influence was global.
Hence, it is known in various guises with frequent localised tendencies.
[6] In France, Hector Guimard's Paris metro entrances were of art nouveau style and Emile Gallé practised the style in Nancy.
Victor Horta had a decisive effect on architecture in Belgium.
[7] Magazines like Jugend helped publicise the style in Germany, especially as a graphic artform, while the Vienna Secessionists influenced art and architecture throughout Austria-Hungary.
Art Nouveau was also a style of distinct individuals such as Gustav Klimt, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Alphonse Mucha, René Lalique, Antoni Gaudí and Louis Comfort Tiffany, each of whom interpreted it in their own manner.
[8][9]Although Art Nouveau was replaced by 20th-century modernist styles,[10] it is considered now as an important transition between the historicism of Neoclassicism and modernism.
[9]Furthermore, Art Nouveau monuments are now recognised by UNESCO with their World Heritage List as significant contributions to cultural heritage.
[11] The historic center of Riga, Latvia, with "the finest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe", was included on the list during 1997 in part because of the "quality and the quantity of its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture",[12] and four Brussels town houses by Victor Horta were included during 2000 as "works of human creative genius" that are "outstanding examples of Art Nouveau architecture brilliantly illustrating the transition from the 19th to the 20th century in art, thought, and society".
At its beginning, neither Art Nouveau nor Jugendstil was the common name of the style but was known as this in some locations, and the style had different names as it was spread.
[14] Those two names came from, respectively, Samuel Bing's gallery Maison de l'Art Nouveau in Paris and the magazine Jugend in Munich,[9] both of which promoted and popularised the style.
Other local names were associated with the characteristics of its forms, its practitioners and their works, and schools of thought or study where it was popular.
Many of these terms refer to the idea of "newness".
Before the term "Art Nouveau" became common in France, le style moderne ("the modern style") was the more frequent designation.
[14] Arte joven ("young art") in Spain, Modernisme in Catalonia, Arte nova in Portugal ("new art"), Arte nuova in Italy (also "new art"), and Nieuwe kunst ("new art") in the Netherlands, модерн ("new", "contemporary") in Russia - all continue this theme.
[9] Many names refer specifically to the organic forms that were popular with the Art Nouveau artists: Stile Floreal ("floral style"), Lilienstil ("lily style"), Style Nouille ("noodle style"), Paling Stijl ("eel style"), and Wellenstil ("wave style").
[14]In other cases, important examples, well-known artists, and associated locations influenced the names.
Hector Guimard's Paris Métro entrances, for example, provided the term Style Métro, the popularity in Italy of Art Nouveau designs from London's Liberty & Co department store resulted in its being known as the Stile Liberty ("Liberty style"), and, in the United States, it became known as the "Tiffany style" due to its association with Louis Comfort Tiffany.
[9][14] In Austria, a localised form of Art Nouveau was practised by artists of the Vienna Secession, and it is, therefore, known as the Sezessionstil ("Secession style").
[19] As a stand-alone term, however, "Secession" (German: Sezession, Hungarian: szecesszió, Czech: secese) is used frequently to describe the general characteristics of Art Nouveau style outside Vienna, but mostly in areas of Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century.
In the United Kingdom, it is associated with the activities of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, and is often known as the "Glasgow" style.
Art Nouveau tendencies were also used by local styles.
In Denmark, for example, it was one aspect of Skønvirke ("aesthetic work"), which itself more closely relates to the Arts and Crafts style.
[20][21] Likewise, artists adopted many of the floral and organic motifs of Art Nouveau into the Młoda Polska ("Young Poland") style in Poland.
[22] Młoda Polska, however, was also inclusive of other artistic styles and encompassed a style of art, literature, and lifestyle.
Glass art was a medium in which the style found tremendous expression-for example, the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, and Émile Gallé and the Daum brothers in Nancy, France.
Art Deco (/ˌɑrt ˈdɛkoʊ/), or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s[1][2] and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s and into the World War II era.
[3] The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and jewelry, as well as the visual arts such as painting, graphic arts and film.
The term "art deco" was coined in 1966, after an exhibition in Paris, 'Les Années 25' sub-titled Art Deco,[4] celebrating the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) that was the culmination of style moderne in Paris.
At its best, art deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality,and modernity.
Art deco's linear symmetry was a distinct departure from the flowing asymmetrical organic curves of its predecessor style art nouveau; it embraced influences from many different styles of the early twentieth century, including neoclassical, constructivism, cubism, modernism and futurism[5] and drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Aztec forms.
Although many design movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, art deco was purely decorative.
[6]Art deco experienced a decline in popularity during the late 1930s and early 1940s, but had a resurgence during the 1960s with the first book on the subject by Bevis Hillier in 1968 and later an exhibition organised by him in Minneapolis in 1971.
[1] It continued with the popularization of graphic design during the 1980s.
Art deco had a profound influence on many later artistic styles, such as Memphis and pop art.
Architectural examples survive in many different locations worldwide, in countries as diverse as China, India, Latvia, Colombia, and the United States.
In New York City, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center are among the largest and best-known examples of the style.
In London, the former Arsenal Stadium has the famous East Stand facade.
It remains at the Arsenal football club's old home at Highbury, London Borough of Islington, which was vacated during the summer of 2006.
Opened during October 1936, the structure now has Grade II listed status and has been converted into apartments.
William Bennie, the organizer of the project, famously used the art deco style in the final design which was considered one of the most opulent and impressive stands of world football.
The London Underground is also famous for many examples of art deco architecture.
[46] Du Cane Court, in Balham, south-west London, is a good example of the art deco style.
It was reckoned to be possibly the largest block of privately owned apartments under one roof in Britain at the time it was built, and the first to employ pre-stressed concrete.
It has a grand reception area and is surrounded by Japanese-style gardens; and it has had many famous residents, especially from the performing arts.
Valencia was built profusely in art deco style during the period of economic bounty between wars in which Spain remained neutral.
Particularly remarkable are the famous bath house Las Arenas, the building hosting the rectorship of the University of Valencia and the cinemas Rialto (currently the Filmoteca de la Generalitat Valenciana), Capitol (reconverted into an office building) and Metropol.
In Germany two variations of art deco flourished in the 1920s and 30s: The Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) employed the same curving horizontal lines and nautical motifs that are known as Streamline Moderne in the Anglophone world.
While Neue Sachlichkeit was rather austere and reduced (eventually merging with the Bauhaus style), Expressionist architecture came up with a more emotional use of shapes, colours and textures, partly reinterpreting shapes from the Germany and Baltic Brick Gothic style.
Notable examples are Erich Mendelsohn's Mossehaus and Schaubühne theater in Berlin, Fritz Höger's Chilehaus in Hamburg and his Kirche am Hohenzollernplatz in Berlin, the Anzeiger Tower in Hannover and the Borsig Tower in Berlin.
Art deco architecture was revived in the late-20th century by architects like Hans Kollhoff (see his tower on Potsdamer Platz), Jan Kleihues and Tobias Nöfer.
As a result of the inter-war period of rapid development, cities in Romania have numerous art deco buildings, including government buildings, hotels, and private houses.
The best representative in this regard is the capital, Bucharest, which, despite the widespread destruction of its architecture during Communist times, still has many art deco examples, both on its main boulevards and in the lesser known parts of the city.
[47][48][49] Ploieşti also has many art deco houses.
[50] Like Romania, Lithuania too had a booming Inter-War industrial boom.
One city in particular, Kaunas, primarily grew.
This resulted in the rapid modernization of the city.
At this time it became the temporary capital of Lithuania.
Many buildings around the city were built in the Bauhaus style.
The Vytautas, The Great War Museum, built in 1936, is a large museum located downtown in Kaunas, along with the Central Post Building and the Pienocentras HQ Building (1934) are the three most prominent art deco structures in the city.
Today many of theses buildings still stand, apartment complexes and large government buildings alike survive from this time, even through the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Kaunas.
One of the largest art deco buildings in Western Europe is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg, Brussels.
During 1925, architect Albert van Huffel won the Grand Prize for Architecture with his scale model of the basilica at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.
