Art Nouveau

ART NOVEAU

It is an international style of art, architecture and graphic design which was most popular within the period from 1890 and 1910. the name of “art noveau” is  French for new art, but it is also known as “jugendstil” in Germany,  which is the german for “youth style”,  “secession” in austria-hungary, “floreale” in Italy and “liberty” in England.

The name of this movement was taken from an art gallery called “maison de l’art nouveau” in Paris.Samuel Bing was his owner. He was a German art dealer. This gallery was famous for featuring exclusively this kind of art, including furniture and decorative objects.

Art Nouveau was most popular in europe but its influence was global, frequently  influenced by localised tendencies.

One of the major visual influences on Art Nouveau was the Japanese art that entered the west after Japan was opened to trade in the 1850's. many westerners were intrigued by japanese art's decorative qualities and conception of space and nature.

The creators of Art Nouveau advocated the end of the distinction between high art such as painting and minor art such as decoration.

Reactions to the cold, mechanical landscape of the industrial revolution and the rigid classical styles embraced by art academies gave birth to the art nouveau movement.

It came to break all connections with classical times, it was  a complete change in the way of thinking about art in terms of a new society and new production methods, sicking to apply art to everyday lifeto make it nicer.  From that time on, art should not overlook everyday objects, an artists should work on everything from architecture to furniture design, also jewelry, pottery, metalwok, graphic design, glassware, textiles and sculpture, to add harmony and beauty to everyday life.

Gustav Klimt "The Kiss"

 AS REGARDS THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS STYLE:

Ø      it combines organic lines, feminine forms and a general return to nature as the inspiration for art.

Ø      typical colourfull flat patterns, -eliminates three-dimension by reducing shading-

Ø      intertwined organic forms of stems and flowers.

Ø      emphasized handcrafting instead of industrial manufacturing  -the idea of merging art with utilitarian objects was partially inspired by a reaction to the ugly manufactured goods that were beginning to dominate daily  life-

Ø      curving lines

Ø      modern techniques with new materials such as iron and steel, -symbolic materials of first industrial revolution- glass, ceramic and concrete.

Ø      principal subjects are birds, flowers and female shapes-

Ø      artifacts are beautiful works of art but not necessarily functional

Women

·        women were often depicted in a highly sexual manner, in confident postures which conveyed a strong sense of power and independence. Art Nouveau artists were also some of the first to use sexy women in advertisements for products such as train tickets, cigarettes and bicycles. Although sexually provocative advertisements are commonplace today, they were new and fresh in the 19th century.

Architecture

• Art Nouveau Architects such as Antoni Gaudi, created buildings with ornamental structural elements, sinuous flowing lines, open floor-plans and ornamental facades. They frequently used iron, steel, glass, ceramic and reinforced concrete. They also made use of technological innovations such as elevators and electric lights.

Sinuous Lines

·         Art Nouveau took its sinuous lines and curves from the natural world. For many artists, the use of lines went beyond ornamentation and decoration. They saw these lines as visual symbols of spiritual energy. This put them in opposition to a contemporary Aesthetic movement, and academic rigid classical art which advocated "art for art's sake." The patterns of Art Nouveau lines took many forms, ranging from the symbolic to the floral and the organic.

MAIN REPRESENTATIVES:

IN BRITAIN

-         Arthur lasenby liberty

-         Charles ashbee

-         Charles rennie mackintosh

IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM

-         Alphonse Mucha

-         Victor Horta

-         Henry Van De Velde

-         Hector Guimard

-         Émile Galle

IN SPAIN

-         Antoni Gaudi

IN AUSTRIA

-         Gustav Klimt

-         Joseph Hoffman

IN GERMANY

-         August Endell

-         Hernann Obrist

Galería Güemes, Buenos Aires

In Argentina, there was a strong predominance of agricultural exportation, being the importation of manufactured products mainly from europe.

Another factor which contributed was Buenos Aires strong dependence on french cultural tendencies.

And then, of course, the strong immigration produced during this period –final XIX century to early XX- the immigrant s hadicraft would leave their mark on architecture, furniture design, decoration and graphic design.

Galería Güemes, Inside 

We can see architecture of Art Nouveau for example in “ Galería Güemes” and in “Confiteria El Molino”  in Buenos Aires.

Then in Rosario, “El Palacio Cabanellas”, “El Club Español”  y el “Edificio Trasatlantica”  works  of  spanish artist Frances Roca I Simo

Nowadays it is considered as an important transition from 19th to 20th century before “Modernism” and recognised by UNESCO for its significant contributions to cultural heritage.

Such as Ccasa Batllo” and “Casa Vicens” of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona among many others.

Work done by Chazarreta and Krause