Art Nouveau is an art movement that flourished between 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. It is characterized by the use of a long, winding line. Most often, elements of this style were used in architecture, interior design, jewelry and glass design, posters and illustrations. It was a deliberate attempt to create a new style, free from imitative historicism, which dominated most of the art and design of the 19th century.
Title
According to art history, Art Nouveau first appeared in England and soon spread to the European continent. There he was known under different names: Jugendstil in Germany, Secession in Austria, Florel or Liberty in Italy and modernism or Modernism in Spain, in France he was called ar Nouveau (art nouveau). The term "modern" was coined by a gallery in Paris, which exhibited most of the work in this direction.
In England, the direct predecessors of style were the aesthetics of illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, who paid much attention to the expressive qualities of organic lines and movement, presented in the work “Art and Craft” by William Morris, who established the importance of life style in applied art. On the European continent, the development of Art Nouveau style was also influenced by experiments with the expressiveness of the lines of artists Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Part of the development of this trend was inspired by the fashion for Japanese engravings Ukiyo-e.
Famous representatives
There were many artists and designers who represented the Art Nouveau style in European art and American art. Among the most famous was the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He specialized primarily in geometric lines and especially influenced Austrian modernism. The Belgian architects Henry van de Velde and Victor Horta, with their extremely sinuous and delicate structures, influenced the French architect Hector Guimard, another important figure in this artistic direction.
Add to this list the American glass manufacturer Louis Comfort Tiffany, the French furniture and metalwork designer Louis Majorelle, the Czech graphic designer and painter Alfons Muhu, the French glass designer Rene Lalique, the American architect Louis Henry Sullivan, who used Art Nouveau products to decorate their traditionally structured buildings, the Spanish architect and sculptor Antonio Gaudi, perhaps the most original artist who went beyond the usual o to turn buildings into winding, brightly colored organic structures.
Further development
After 1910, Art Nouveau in the art of the 20th century seemed old-fashioned and limited and, as a rule, was used as a decorative style. However, in the 1960s he was rehabilitated, in particular, thanks to large exhibitions organized at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1959) and the National Museum of Modern Art (1960), a large-scale retrospective of Beardsley held at the Victoria Museum and Alberta in London in 1966.
The exhibitions raised the status of this artistic direction, which was often viewed by critics as a passing trend, to the level of other large areas of contemporary art of the late 19th century. Then the direction revived in the styles of pop art and op art. Art Nouveau floral organic lines were revived as a new psychedelic style in fashion and printing, it was used on the covers of rock and pop musicians and in commercials.
Creating a direction
This modern style was considered an attempt to create an international trend in art based on decorative elements. As a direction in art, Art Nouveau was developed by an energetic and brilliant generation of designers and artists who strove to create an art form appropriate to modern times.
In many ways, it was a response to the industrial revolution. Technological progress was met by artists who have mastered the aesthetic possibilities of using new materials in their works. The Art Nouveau style first appeared in art in 1893, when Victor Horta introduced iron and casting as a decorative element in the homes of the bourgeois in Brussels.
Artists who worked in this direction shared the belief that all arts must work in harmony to create a “common work”: buildings, textiles, furniture, jewelry, clothes - everything should comply with the principles of modernity.
What distinguishes art nouveau from other styles
As a trend in art, Art Nouveau is characterized by the use of sinuous, long organic lines along with moderate and dark colors. The most commonly used colors are yellow, mustard, dark red, olive, brown and some purple and blue shades.
Other features are represented by hyperbolas, parabolas and ordinary stucco decorations, which seem to come to life and grow in the form of plants. Decoration as a structural symbol is considered part of the growing strength of nature. Artists create an organic and transparent world with floral elements, including tulips, sunflowers, cornflowers, etc., combined with lines and simple wavy surfaces.
The main areas in which the art nouveau style was manifested
Art Nouveau style in art was considered "total", which means that it includes a hierarchy of various types, such as:
- Architecture.
- Interior Design.
- Decorative art, including furniture.
- Textile.
- Jewelry.
- Silver.
- Lighting and other home decoration.
- Different types of fine art.
- Posters and illustrations.
Architecture
In architecture, the Art Nouveau style primarily demonstrates the synthesis of ornament and structure. This type was characterized by a liberal combination of materials such as glass, iron, ceramics and brickwork. As a special style of art, Art Nouveau in architecture was used to create interiors in which the columns became thick vines with an expanding antennae, and the windows became holes that let air and light in, complementing the whole image. This approach was the exact opposite of traditional architectural values and clarity of structure.
Art Nouveau buildings have the following features: asymmetric shapes, curved glass, the widespread use of arches and curved shapes, mosaics, floral decorations, stained glass and Japanese motifs.
A classic example is Casa Mila, a residential building built by Gaudi for the Mila family (1905-1907), showing how the different parts are organically linked to the basic plan.
One of the highest qualities of Art Nouveau architecture is the use of structural theory to reveal the building's building elements. Very often, iron becomes a visible element of the facade, most often performing a decorative function.
Glass is mainly used in combination with iron. The glass wall also received significant independent development in the modern era. Great preference turned out to be stairs. Glass and iron, they were increasingly used in projects by famous architects.
Art Nouveau designers selected and modernized some abstract elements of the Rococo style, and also advocated the use of very stylized organic forms as a source of inspiration in their works. Thus, numerous elements appeared in architecture in the form of grass, insects, algae and the like.
Art Nouveau Print
Printing products are key in understanding this art movement. For example, the Tropon lithography by Henri van de Velde (1898) shows distinctive color options for printing in the Art Nouveau style: a combination of pale green, bright ocher and orange. The colors were combined with the letters of the word "tropon". A simple composition combines a new style of color selection with curving lines.
Art Nouveau two-dimensional elements have been used in various popular forms, such as posters, advertisements, labels and magazines. The style was considered extravagant due to the use of curved lines (“whip”) and often a floral motif. But perhaps the commercial application of the style gave it a special appeal.
Many beautiful art nouveau posters have survived to this day, because they were often used as collectibles. Technological advances in lithographic printing have made it possible to widely use color printing. This, in turn, made the graphic style of modernity widely available. Advertising posters were published in large numbers so that more copies could be sold to collectors.
Trends in painting
In an attempt to analyze the role that art nouveau plays in the evolution of painting, one should start with a statement that its appearance was a reaction against impressionism (with the exception of German culture). In essence, this style was a protest against the development of surface and line. In the visual arts, Art Nouveau, in fact, meant the end of the illusionist concept of form.
Images are of great importance to the context through how the lines convey the atmosphere of the picture or reflect the significance of the decorative elements. This course can also be perceived as a precursor of expressionism. At the same time, the Art Nouveau style emphasizes not only the decorative side, but also the unique value in the painting as a whole.
Glassware
Art Nouveau in decorative art is represented in various fields. Glass production was one of those areas where he found a great opportunity for expression. Examples include the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York, Emil Galle and the Daum brothers in Nancy, France, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow.
Art Nouveau Jewelry
The main source of inspiration for art nouveau jewelry was nature. The work was supplemented by new levels of virtuosity in enameling and the introduction of new materials such as semiprecious stones and opals.
Jewelers also found inspiration in Japanese art, they demonstrated a more specialized approach to the use of Japanese metalworking skills, created new themes, and approached the image of the ornament in a new way.
Impact on modern design
Although this artistic direction was rapidly losing its popularity (after 1910, the era of Art Nouveau in art ended), its significance in applied art and architecture remains very significant. We can say that this style has every right to occupy a special place in the history of art.
The Art Nouveau movement has had a great influence on illustrators, artists, and the development of print trade in the United States, including the period of the revival of this art movement during the post-war hippie movement of the 1960s. Even today, some of the best examples of the time, made in this style, can be seen in almost the entire visual communications industry - for example, the portrait of Marilyn Monroe for Visages De Renom by New York illustrator Le Katz or the work of Milton Glazer and his studio Push-Pin.
Over the past twenty years, in the Art Nouveau style, there has been some revival in art, due to the development of postmodernism. Artists around the world use its elements for inspiration. They include curving lines, floral elements, natural features and distinctive colors.
Russia
In the Russian Empire, modernity in contemporary art was perhaps one of the most influential artistic and architectural trends, which shaped the appearance of some cities in the form in which we are accustomed to see them: Petersburg and, to a lesser extent, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and many others .
In Russian architecture, this trend was the first bourgeois style, to a greater extent even merchant, which appeared at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. During this period, such a direction in architecture, in the course of its formation and development, repeats the evolution of Russian architecture: from Baroque, inspired by ancient Russian architecture, to classicism, overcoming romanticism and reaching the heights of the Renaissance classics precisely in the 19th century, called the Golden Age of Russian culture.
The first association of artists involved in the development of Art Nouveau in Russian culture was the "World of Art". Its representatives strove for modernity and symbolism and gave priority to the aesthetic principle in art, contrasting it with the acutely social orientation peculiar to the Wanderers. At different times, this association was represented by artists A. N. Benois, L. S. Bakst, N. K. Roerich, M. V. Dobuzhinsky, E. E. Lansere, A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, K. A. Somov and others. They were close in spirit to I. Ya. Bilibin, K. A. Korovin, B. M. Kustodiev, V. A. Serov, M. A. Vrubel, I. I. Levitan, M. V. Nesterov, K. F. Yuon and others.
If the orientation of the work of some artists representing the World of Art association can be regarded as pure aestheticism, then nature was the basis of the work of Serov, Levitan, Serebryakova. They sought to reveal its beauty, introducing it into human life. The same kind of aesthetics was characteristic of A.P. Chekhov. Architect F.O. Shekhtel was considered one of the most prominent representatives of Art Nouveau in Russian art. He, like Levitan, was a graduate of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. It was at the same time that the formation of an outstanding Russian writer, who at that time was a student in the medical faculty of Moscow University, was taking place.
In that era, many prominent figures of Russian art appeared. Shekhtel was engaged in the construction of private mansions, one of the most striking examples of this is the mansion of S. P. Ryabushinsky in Moscow (1900-1902), including all of its interior decoration. Also, the architect was engaged in the construction of apartment buildings, buildings of trading companies, train stations, theaters, cinemas. Art Nouveau in Russia, in the form in which it showed itself in Moscow, is also called the neo-Russian style. An example of this is the facade of the Tretyakov Gallery, which was designed according to the project of V.M. Vasnetsov, made in the same style as the Yaroslavsky station, the author of which was Shekhtel, or the Kazan station, the project of which was created by the architect A.V. Schusev. Russian Art Nouveau in St. Petersburg was characterized by an obvious turn towards neoclassicism, which was later noted also in the architecture of Moscow. The building of the Azov-Don Bank, whose project was designed by F.I. Lidval, looks like an Italian Renaissance palace. The mansion of G. A. Tarasov was designed and built in a similar style in Moscow on Spiridonovka, which was built by architect I.V. Zholtovsky.
Art Nouveau in Russian painting has become the era of the appearance of magnificent works. This direction in Russia was primarily a kind of mentality. The new trend led to the renewal of expressive means used by such outstanding artists as Levitan, Serov, Vrubel, and in literature - Chekhov, who combined classic and modern in his work. Artists, united in the "World of Art", moving away from mobility, became representatives of this style in its most poetic period.